US President Donald Trump had once famously said that he could stand in the middle of New York’s 5th Avenue, shoot someone and get away with it.
We have the distinct feeling that there are a number people in government - namely the Office of the Prime Minister’s Chief of Staff Keith Schembri, Minister Konrad Mizzi and even perhaps Minister Chris Cardona – who could safely make the same claim, if they had the audacity to do so.
But while they certainly have plenty of audacity to spare, they are not quite that brazen when it comes to the public eye.
The latest revelations from the multinational Daphne Project have shed new light on the financial machinations employed by Schembri and Mizzi. They have made still more serious accusations based on that Financial Intelligence Analysis Unit report that detailed investigations into a number of kickbacks apparently received by Schembri and Mizzi in connection with the infamous LNG tanker so hideously berthed in Marsaxlokk, and to the privatisation of Enemalta.
This newspaper had last year reported extracts from the damning report, which never saw the light of day for one reason or another, but the new revelations have actually monetised those accusations, and they have supported those accusations with documentation.
The rule of law in this country is indeed becoming more questionable with each passing month, and that delegation from the European Parliament that had blasted the state of the rule of law in Malta is now set for a follow-up visit in the wake of these new allegations.
This situation is now beyond concerning, it is becoming humiliating on both the national and European levels.
Protesters took to the streets yet again yesterday to show their discontent and to demand action over the latest revelations.
But in the meantime we have not heard much from the government, apart from blanket denials from those under suspicion. One of those denials, from Schembri, did, however, speak volumes. The chief of staff admitted that he knew of the infamous 17 Black company, but insisted that his private companies ‘make dozens of business plans such as these’ for potential clients. He insisted that those plans had never come to fruition.
Now if that were the case, why is it that he only mentions his knowledge of that company now after all that has come to pass, and only after, as the adage goes, things got real with these newest revelations?
Since the onslaught of the Panama Papers, the FIAU reports and everything else that has been thrown at it, the government’s reaction has, by and large, to completely ignore the situation.
But the fact of the matter is that all these concerns are mounting and growing in a situation that is quite beyond the government’s control. The best it can do short of taking any real action is to bury its head in the sand, which it has consistently done, instead of taking any kind of remedial action to address this rapidly degenerating situation.
As for such remedial action, there are several avenues open to the government. But what would make a really good starting point would be to being addressing the problem from its root: by sacking Keith Schembri and Konrad Mizzi, the genesis of the cess pool in which we as a country have found ourselves.
But somehow we do not believe this is any kind of option for a Prime Minister who appears to care more for his inner circle than for the national interest.
The question is: just how many of these straws will it take to break the camel’s back?