There is a concerted effort from lobbyists in Brussels to destabilize Malta. If there is need of confirmation, the vote taken at the European Parliament to declare Malta a tax haven is a case in point. Luxembourg, Lichtenstein and others are conveniently overlooked. This goes beyond local issues whether related to the Panama Papers or the irresponsible behavior of individuals such as Keith Schembri and Konrad Mizzi. Personally, I see Keith Schembri as a wheeler dealer who made his money under the Nationalist Party, learning the tricks of the trade from individuals who today are protesting in our streets demanding the rule of law. Irrespective of our views on Schembri, Mizzi and Daphne’s assassination, lobbyists in Brussels are all out to gain economic and political mileage at the expense of Malta and by harping on the Panama Papers, hide their ulterior motives. Regrettably, that is the impression being relayed.
What is of interest here, however, is that this current heat on Malta is coming from the European Left, in particular, MEPs from a Socialist and Leftist background. They have no genuine interest in whether in Malta there is rule of law or not. Their motives go well beyond issues of local politics, including the interest of the Opposition to gain political mileage.
Under new leadership, the PN is showing wisdom and cautiousness and has stopped shooting from the hip. Nevertheless, the problem with the PN is that there are still deputies who, for their own reasons, but certainly not in the interest of Malta, are still chained to the old system of doing politics; now obsolete worldwide. Some of these deputies have been listed as potential supporters of at least one of these powerful lobbies operating in Brussels. This type of politics does not impress and will not carry votes with any party indulging in such tactics. The electoral result of 2017 shows that Malta has changed for the better. It is a pity that, for electoral exigencies, Muscat still kept Mizzi and Schembri who are proving to be this government’s Achilles’ heel.
It is perhaps opportune to also mention the Paradise Papers that have revealed the investments in different tax havens of important names. Important names, ranging from Louis Hamilton, Shakira and Madonna to the Queen and her heir and not forgetting multinationals like Apple and Nike are mentioned. Yet nowhere is there such a vitriolic on-going campaign similar to the one Malta is experiencing at present.
Yet duplicity does not stop here. I think it was a mistake on the part of the Nationalist MPs to join a protest that was addressed by Antonio Di Pietro. It only goes to show that they do not have any sense of historical decency. Di Pietro was the person who destroyed the Democrazia Cristiana for political reasons. In Italy, justice started to be used and manipulated for political motives. I still remember Fr. Peter Serracino Inglott telling me about the unjust pressure that he had to endure for giving a job to a number of Italian politicians at our university. I am referring to the Socialists Ando’ and Scotti. These two gentlemen remained forever grateful to Malta for helping them in a moment of need. Their political career was being destroyed by the judiciary for political reasons. I realized how Fr. Peter’s judgement was right when Bettino Craxi died in exile in Tunis. The Italian state wanted to honour him with a state funeral! The family turned down the offer: in fact he is buried in Tunis. I don’t want to discuss Di Pietro’s party issues regarding the issue of receiving tangenti or kickbacks. What concerns me is that, instead of honouring a historic memory, the PN deputies ended up joining political groups staging protests but whose interests do not necessarily converge with that of the PN.
What I find has been a threat to our rule of law is the recent development on the local legal front where no legal firm wanted its lawyers to appear in court to represent the men accused of Daphne Caruana Galizia’s murder. Each and every individual has a right to a defence counsel but that those firms specializing in criminal law shut their doors reeks of mafiosity. Not even during the Inquisition did Malta’s legal system sink so low.
As for the recent letter from a British legal firm received by the Caruana Galizia family who in turn passed it on the government, this too is a threat to our rule of law. The letter highlights two points: First that our legal firms are considered somewhat inferior to those in England. Secondly, it carries a colonial frame of mind. Yet, having a British firm accusing the Malta Police Force investigations as going against human rights is presumptuous and impertinent. The UK has voted to go out of the EU for this very reason. Britain does not want the European Court of Human Rights to override sovereign decisions taken in British courts. I cannot imagine that the British public would appreciate a non-British firm writing such an insulting letter had a similar high-profile murder similar to ours occurred in Britain. Unfortunately, the Nationalist Party who fought colonialism has today reduced itself to becoming a great political lackey.
Our police force has again come under attack and has been accused of having passed on information to the foreign press by the Italian newspaper Il Corriere della Sera. But no one has asked whether the informer actually leaking the news could have been one of the foreign investigating units asked to assist in investigating this case. Given that Italy has always had very close ties with the FBI, I am inclined to think that the chances that this type of news was leaked to the Italian press came from such a source rather than from our local police. It is a known fact that the Italian journals are closer to the FBI than to Europol, also involved in this investigation.
Some years ago, a horrible double murder took place in a flat in Sliema. Maltese citizens are still in the dark about this case. The police has not yet released any information about the finger prints found in that flat where the double murders took place and to whom these finger prints belonged. All those who followed this other tragedy still remember the position taken by Daphne Caruana Galizia regarding this case at the time. She wrote articles upon articles inviting the Maltese public to allow the police to work in peace. I am sure that some of the police officers involved in investigating that crime are today investigating her brutal assassination. But now, the tune has changed. These same investigators are now being questioned about their integrity and a foreign legal firm is alleging that there is no rule of law in Malta! The obvious question that comes to mind is: why is the work of the police officers being questioned now in Daphne’s case yet it was never questioned in the Sliema case? Indeed, in the latter case Daphne Caruana Galizia felt the need to write and appeal that the police be allowed to get on with their job. Curious indeed.
There is an expression in Italian to describe all this: la stagione dei veleni – or the season of poisons. In such an atmosphere, all those lobbyists in Brussels who have interest to hit and damage Malta’s reputation are having a field day.