Labour supporters are fascinating.

They find out that the PL deputy leader has built himself what amounts to a hiding place for considerable sums of money and, instead of asking questions and insisting on being told the truth, they rush to defend him in a flurry of foolish ‘so what?’ comments on the Internet.

So what? Seriously?

First of all, Konrad Mizzi’s hand was forced by Daphne Caruana Galizia who publicly and firmly told him through her blog that she would expose him if he did not come clean. We have no reason to believe that he would have volunteered the information otherwise, not when we remember the secrecy surrounding his wife’s contract.

It seems that, even so, Mizzi did not tell us all the truth.

It seems that the trust fund was not set up ‘just in case’. It’s not like getting a money box just in case you have some spare change, after all.

It seems that, apart from the trust fund, there is also an undeclared Panama-registered company.

These are the methods employed by shady businessmen and Labour supporters would be insane if they allow their party to be taken over by such characters.

For Labour supporters, even the much-maligned Austin Gatt (crudely referred to as AG) suddenly becomes an alibi for Mizzi’s deviousness. In this they are led by the Prime Minister himself who uses the usual cunning gimmick to deflect attention.

The thing is, however, that Gatt’s Swiss account came to public knowledge days before the general election and before he stepped down as minister and MP. There is no doubt that Lawrence Gonzi would not have shrugged it off with a ‘no problem’ remark had he known about it earlier. Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando can attest to Gonzi’s inflexible zero tolerance to any underhandedness and Simon Busuttil has already shown the same resolve.

In all normal democratic countries, people become concerned when it appears that ministers are amassing wealth while in office, and Konrad Mizzi’s actions have all the signs that he is doing just that. Labour’s determination to close both eyes in the face of this behaviour will have a long-lasting impact on Maltese politics and on the country as a whole.

Antoine Vella

Balzan