“The government is deriding Arriva as though it’s still serving from the opposition benches,” PN deputy leader for party affairs Beppe Fenech Adami says, but admits, when asked if he agreed that Arriva has turned out to be a failure, that the system was no success story.
On the other hand, he points out that instead of trying to rebuild the public’s trust in the public transport system, the government still acts as a party in opposition, questioning whether it’s dawned on Labour that it now has taken over the reins of the country.
The Arriva transport system hit rock-bottom some two weeks ago after three bendy buses caught fire in a spate of two days, heavily depleting the bus fleet when they all were withdrawn from service, among a string of other issues that became the order of the day, such as the number of buses that break down on a weekly basis.
Enemalta NAO report
On a separate note, Dr Fenech Adami has come under fire for “attempting to exonerate former Enemalta minister Austin Gatt from claims that he interfered in the decisions taken by Enemalta’s Fuel Procurement Committee”.
Currently, the Public Accounts Committee, comprising both government and opposition members, (including Dr Fenech Adami) are discussing the National Audit Office’s 340-page report on Enemalta’s oil procurement and the Attorney General’s recommendations.
The government had urged the opposition, which chairs the PAC, to call a committee meeting to discuss the matter after the NAO report came under fire by the opposition for not interviewing those individuals mentioned in the report while it was conducting its findings on Enemalta. But the NAO officials had clarified their position and insisted that the report on the procurement of oil by Enemalta was a Performance Audit and not an investigation.
The latest criticism of Dr Fenech Adami came from Martin Scicluna, a Malta Independent columnist, who wrote that Dr Fenech Adami tried to build a defence for the former minister on the most specious and rickety basis while also attacking the autonomy and integrity of the National Audit Office by wilfully misunderstanding the purpose of the performance audit it had produced.
Asked for a reaction, Dr Fenech Adami puts the record straight: “My aim is to bring out the truth tied to the Enemalta affair, no more, no less.”
Without mincing words, Dr Fenech Adami continues by both praising the NAO report on the one hand while slamming at the same time: “While the report outlines a number of shortcomings that may have existed in the past within Enemalta – deficiencies that may have led to abuse - the Auditor General’s office goes out of its way, as is evident in the report, to link Dr Gatt in such controversial matters.
“The opposition’s biggest objection here is that the NAO did not have the decency to interview those mentioned in the report – individuals such as Dr Gatt who have been linked to serious accusations - to listen to what they have to say.”
Replying to a suggestion that Dr Gatt’s exit from the political scene was a move to shrug off responsibility related to problems that ensued within the transport system, among others, and is no longer responsible now that he bowed out, Dr Fenech Adami says: “Dr Gatt answers to his actions as a former minister but the fact remains that he is no longer in the political scene.”
Darryl Luke Borg
Turning to the Darryl Luke Borg saga – a man who was wrongfully accused of a hold-up and kept in detention for two days – Dr Fenech Adami is amazed over the Police Board’s conclusions.
The subject comes about after I ask Dr Fenech Adami why the PN seems to be focusing on Home Affairs Emmanuel Mallia’s ministry, the police being the hottest topic for discussion, when the PN failed to take certain stands or answer to other controversial issues that cropped up after the general election, such as the transport system, and the mv Salamis issue.
The conclusions of the Police Board inquiry found that Inspector Elton Taliana, who arrested the person who was then convicted in a Birkirkara hold-up, guilty of not having drawn anyone’s attention to the fact that the Criminal Investigation Department officers could have accused the wrong person.
Following the damning Police Board report, Mr Taliana may lose his job.
Asked why there has been no mention of the wrongdoings of the CID inspectors who wrongfully accused Mr Borg of a criminal act (until Tuesday when the Commissioner of Police ordered an inquiry into the CID blunder), Dr Fenech Adami says: “The Police Board’s conclusion is outrageous since the board found guilty a man who arrested the person involved in the hold-up but failed to mention the two CID inspectors who accused an innocent man of engaging in a criminal act”.
He adds: “PN leader Simon Busuttil couldn’t have described the outcome better than he did when he said that it’s a travesty of justice.
“All those police officials involved in wrongly arresting a person and their operations have not been scrutinised by the board while the person found guilty is the one who actually arrested the right person; to me this is the world upside down.”
Taking the matter a step further, Dr Fenech Adami claims that “there’s no doubt there has been a concerted organised effort to discredit Inspector Taliana to justify the chief of staff’s improper actions”.
However, following the PN’s calls for the police to investigate the CID officials, the Police Commissioner on Tuesday ordered an internal inquiry to establish what led investigators to wrongly accuse a man of committing a hold-up. He gave the inquiry board two weeks to draw up a report on the mistake made by police officers from the Criminal Investigation Department.
Asked for a reaction tied to the Commissioner’s latest decision, Dr Fenech Adami said: “This is a clear case of two weights and two measures.
“By establishing an internal inquiry, the Commissioner of Police has accepted that the Police Board’s report falls short of explaining why an innocent man was arraigned.
“But while he found no qualms in exposing a police inspector (Taliana) to a trial by media through the Police Board, he is now choosing to protect the CID by falling back to a mere internal inquiry. This is not on.”
In the light of the Police Commissioner’s request to ask service providers for information related to phone logs (also referred to as call profile) tied to a meeting allegedly held at the Home Affairs ministry’s chief of staff’s office, the PN is hammering on the fact that the Commissioner acted illegally, even though he has claimed that the request was made as part of its investigations after a police official allegedly approached a witness in the case – an act considered as a serious crime.
Silvio Scerri, the Home Affairs Ministry’s chief of staff, is embroiled in a controversy that has taken centre stage after he allegedly requested a convicted criminal – Charles Attard, known as iz-Zambi - to act as an intermediary by approaching Mr Borg (the wrongly accused man) and asking him to have a meeting with Mr Scerri.
According to the Commissioner, he requested the logs to determine who made the first call, whether it was Mr Scerri or Mr Borg. After examining the phone logs, the Commissioner of Police publicly said that it was Mr Borg who made the first call to meet with Mr Scerri, a claim the PN has slammed. The Commissioner requested the phone logs of Mr Borg, Mr Scerri, Charles Attard iz-Zambi, and Mr Borg’s mother, basically the individuals at the centre of the controversy.
However, the PN has said that the Commissioner didn’t have to go through the trouble of requesting such logs to solve a “petty” issue, implying that he may have done so to protect Mr Scerri.
In such circumstances, the police do have a right to request such logs, and which also conforms to the European Union directive, excluding wire-tapping which requires a judicial go-ahead.
But Dr Fenech Adami has a different opinion: “The Police Commissioner cannot abuse his position and use an article of the law specifically created to fight serious crimes which carry a prison sentence of not less than one year, and which to date, in this case, is non-existent,” referring to the Commissioner’s claims that a police official tried to bribe a witness.
So does Dr Fenech Adami really feel that the privacy of citizens is being jeopardised just because the Commissioner simply requested service providers to provide him with a call profile to resolve a “petty” issue? Wasn’t the commissioner simply doing his job in a bid to bring out the truth?
“As things stand, service providers were requested by the police to provide a call profile of those involved or mentioned to have allegedly participated in a private meeting; the PN’s calls to the Commissioner to publish the phone logs or at least the police’s written request made to the service providers has been ignored, the rest speaks for itself.
“Police may ask for logs but only in the event it is investigating a serious crime, and the request must be done in writing.
“We have asked the Commissioner to publish the letter indicating the information requested on grounds that a witness was allegedly approached by a third party but to date proof of this hasn’t been published,” he said.
According to Dr Fenech Adami, a lawyer by profession, the written letter should indicate the alleged crime being investigated.
He points out: “The opposition’s job is to scrutinise the government’s operations; a major reality is that Minister Mallia has proved to be incompetent in administering such a sensitive and important ministry.”
If wrongly arresting people has happened in the past, what was so different this time around for the issue to have taken centre stage?
Dr Fenech Adami says that the fact that certain issues have cropped up in the past shouldn’t give us comfort, but admits that Inspector Taliana should have charged the person involved in the hold-up right away.
Questioned whether the PN will continue to seek answers on whether Mr Scerri used a convicted criminal as an intermediary, Dr Fenech Adami says: “All I can say at this point in time is that the PN will continue to do its job so that such events won’t be repeated in the future.”
While on the subject of the Police Force, the next question is related to the number of police officer transfers which took place since the 9 March election. The PN had said that 251 transfers had been issued since the election and until June 27, dubbing the moves as “vindictive”.
Didn’t the PN do the same while in government, I ask Dr Fenech Adami, and while on the subject, what is his opinion on the recent transfers of certain individuals who formed part of the Armed Forces and Civil Protection Department, such as David Attard, an AFM captain who resigned soon after being transferred to the detention centre, and John Gera and Patrick Murgo?
“Police should not be transferred for political reasons; it’s unfair to state that the PN engaged in politically-related police transfers.
“But what has happened in the last few months was done to accommodate Labour-leaning police officers.”
Dr Fenech Adami doesn’t stop there. He emphasises that “we also have a Police Commissioner who provided legal services to Labour in the past and it’s only natural he would lean towards Labour; the appointment of a police commissioner under a PN-led government was never politically controversial”.
“Like in every sector, Labour has stirred controversy, and the Police Force is no exception.
“This is a party in government which is going against its own political cry – it is one that doesn’t look at an individual’s track record but at the party he/she supports.
“To accommodate its own people, the PL in government has put aside individuals such as Attard, Murgo and Gera, among others who have a lot to offer, ones that are in no way politically affiliated,” he laments.
Immigration
Replying to a suggestion that the PN failed to take a stand on other serious issues such as immigration, such as the mv Salamis tanker saga, he says: “Despite being an unpopular move, the PN took a courageous and bold step on the migration push back issue – an issue where Malta’s international obligations were about to be breached; the tanker saga was a different matter altogether when compared to the situation that unfolded a few weeks before, referring to the push backs the government was barred from adopting by the European Court of Human Rights.
The tanker, which was carrying gasoil, had picked up a number of migrants near Libya and disobeyed orders to turn back and take them to the closest safe port of call, which was in Libya, and instead headed on to its destination, Malta. The mv Salamis standoff came to an end after Italy accepted to take the migrants.
Turning to the Independence Day celebrations, synonymous with the Nationalist Party, the activities of which officially kicked off last week, I ask Dr Fenech Adami if he agrees with Prime Minister Joseph Muscat’s call for national holidays to be celebrated by all (as one nation) including Freedom Day and Independence Day.
The PN deputy leader says that there already exists a consensus between both parties related to national holidays which should be celebrated at national level and this does not exclude political parties organising their own mass meetings to mark such historical events, as happened in the past.
“Last year for instance, Labour organised a mass meeting to mark Independence Day.”
PN’s activity over summer
Asked why the PN seemed rather quiet during the summer months and if Independence celebrations will serve as a tool to relaunch, Dr Fenech Adami points out that both parties did not organise any political activities during the month of August intentionally after having agreed to do so, however he adds that this didn’t mean that no politically related work was done.
“The new PN team was put in place before the summer months; we have been working to reorganise ourselves and the month of September will see an intensive increase in political activity in the run-up to Independence Day where people will witness the results of work performed by a newly revamped PN.”
Since the PN has two deputy leaders for the first time, I ask Dr Fenech Adami how the interaction is faring between himself, deputy leader for parliamentary affairs Mario de Marco and secretary general Chris Said, and if the deputy leaders’ roles have overlapped at some point in time.
“We are an absolutely wonderful team and each of us has his own role; I know exactly what my role is and have been involved in the decision-making process and reorganisation of the party and Independence Day activities.”
Dr Fenech Adami does not rule out there may have been a few overlaps, but stresses that the important thing is that “we work together, each official having his own definite role”.
Does Dr Fenech Adami believe the PN can win back in next year’s MEP elections a great majority of votes it lost in the March general election?
“The PN will do its utmost to try and reach out to the majority of the electorate, not only to individuals who voted for the PN in the past, but to those who voted for Labour for the first time during the March election and those who never voted for the Nationalist Party.”
MEP elections
What does he think of Labour’s MEP team of contestants and will it be a challenge for the PN?
“I am not too impressed with the current list of names contesting the MEP elections on Labour’s ticket,” he says, adding that he is expecting other names to join the list, but points out that the work by the MEP candidates only started a month ago in the run-up to the May elections and there’s a lot of work to be done.
Was he surprised that former CPD head Peter Cordina will be contesting the MEP elections on Labour’s ticket?
“I was not aware Mr Cordina worked so closely to Labour as to propose his candidature on Labour’s ticket but although I was surprised he has every right to do so.”
Do you feel Labour MEP Claudette Abela Baldacchino should be allowed to throw her hat in?
“Ms Abela Baldacchino is accused of allegedly committing a crime; for the sake of the PL’s credibility and the institution itself, she should not be allowed to contest the MEP elections.”
The Labour MEP is facing fraud charges but despite the charges the Labour Party accepted her nomination to contest the casual elections to fill the vacant MEP posts back in April this year. Ms Abela Baldacchino was among those elected to represent Malta in the European Parliament.
PN’s financial situation
On the PN’s debts, he says “the PN has a string of commercial entities; during the last three months decisions were taken internally for its commercial companies with the aim of reaching a break-even point.
“September is the first month since the party faced financial troubles that its commercial operations will reach a break-even point and will start to make a profit.”
Did you expect that certain PN employees would have turned to Labour’s TV station for refuge after they were told that they may be made redundant or not paid for their services for a longer period of time than expected? Do you blame them after having served the party for such a long time?
“Everybody has a right to earn his living in any desired setting; what I can say is that I hold no qualms on the issue but naturally everyone must shoulder his or her responsibility.
“I suppose the case you are referring to is of John Busuttil and I believe that the programme he will be presenting on One TV is in no way politically-related.”
Does the PN intend bringing back the employees made redundant once the party is back on its feet financially? Certain workers have been saying that the PN hasn’t faced them and has abandoned them? Do you agree that workers made redundant from the PN’s printing press have now joined those who voted against the PN in the last general election, and will vote against the PN come next election?
“We were placed in our positions to specifically execute measures, unpopular as they may be, to strengthen the party’s structures; the situation was explained to all those who faced redundancy and the majority of these individuals fully understood the situation, at least as far as I know.
“Dr Said faced all the full-time employees whose jobs were terminated so it’s not as if the workers made redundant were left out in the cold.
“The PN should ensure that any move it makes tied to employment in the future is done diligently so that the party’s financial problems will become a thing of the past.”
Has Labour changed?
Does Dr Fenech Adami feel that Labour has changed over the years when compared to the 1980s?
“I would like to think Labour’s thinking has changed, however the government is failing to emerge with innovative ideas, going along thinking it can continue to run the country on automatic pilot.
“To this government’s dismay, this does not work when you are leading a country.”
Dr Fenech Adami admits that in the same way it’s rather new for the PN to be serving from the opposition benches the same goes for Labour to be serving from the government benches: “The PN is used to serving from the government benches following a 25-year stint, minus 22 months, while the PL had sort of gotten used to the idea of serving from the opposition; this is all relatively new for both parties.”
Turning to the prisons, has the government created a precedent by ordering urine tests on prison officials? Will this lead to private companies following suit and conduct random tests on their employees?
While Dr Fenech Adami says that as things stand it is possible to request urine tests in sensitive settings such as the prisons, despite the law enabling such a right is not so well regulated, but expresses concern if the same is applied in other sectors since this can easily lead to abuse.
Traces of cocaine were found in the urine of two prison officials around two weeks ago. The surprise drug tests on prison staff were ordered by Minister Mallia in a bid to reform the running of the prisons.
CAREER PROFILE
Beppe Fenech Adami was born on 5 August, 1968 and studied at St Aloysius College. He graduated as a lawyer from the University of Malta in 1993.
He is a long time member of the Nationalist Party, having started off as a grassroots campaigner and having served as a member of the Youth Movement and the National Executive for many years.
Dr Fenech Adami was first elected as a Member of Parliament in 2008; he contested the 8th district. In March 2010, he was appointed Parliamentary Assistant to the Ministry of Justice and Home Affairs. In the previous legislature, he was a member of the Standing Committee on Foreign and European Affairs and participated in the Standing Committee on Privileges.
In 2013, Dr Fenech Adami was re-elected to parliament and, following the general election, was elected deputy leader for party affairs.
He is married and has three children: Edward, Thomas and Robert.