Justice delayed is justice denied. While it does invoke a feeling of political retribution, Keith Schembri’s arrest is but a reminder of how justice was missing in action for so many years, giving Muscat and Labour all the leeway to run roughshod over all those calling for clean governance in the interest of the people. 

The former chief of staff was this week kept in custody over what is arguably the minor sin in a series of allegations including graft on passport sales, alleged involvement in money-laundering, allegations relating to the Daphne Caruana Galizia murderers, allegations relating to the interference of murder investigations as the former chief of staff of the most powerful offices on the islands. 

Put in that context, this week’s development is the tip of the iceberg. It is the tip we can now see beyond the expertly cultivated smoke-screens by labour propaganda. A hundred metres of ice still lies beneath. If the tip of the iceberg took us five years to expose, how long will it take to lay all of the above to bear? 

For as we said, justice delayed is justice denied. This is all the more relevant in politics where elections are won or lost over credibility. In the past years, that credibility has been hinging on corruption allegations vehemently denied by labour. The people choose to believe labour so far. Now, thousands have realised they were grossly misled. Their trust has been abused. 

Credibility on corruption is also relevant to thousands of jobs on the islands right now. We have heard it from many politicians – Malta is an island with little natural resources. Our biggest resource is the integrity and versatility of our workforce. With this home grown narrative we attracted a services industry worth billions. Literally. Every year the financial services industry alone contributes in excess of 1 billion euros of value added to our economy. That is basically double the contribution of the construction industry all over the island taking official NSO figures as reference. 

The Moneyval report identified nine areas with shortcomings which, if not addressed, would lead to a black-listing of Malta as a financial jurisdiction. Foremost among Moneyval’s findings is that ‘Maltese authorities appear unable to quickly pursue high-level and complex money laundering cases related to financial, bribery and corruption offences’. The emphasis there is on ‘quickly’. The financial word is built on trust and integrity. Where that integrity is at risk with fraud and money laundering, a sound jurisdiction needs to act fast to weed out the bad weeds from the lot. Is five years quick enough? How much damage can be done to the system meanwhile? I guess those are the kinds of questions that will fall on the less empirical kind of assessment to be considered by the Financial Action Task Force when it is to decide on Malta’s black listing in the coming months. 

What we can see meanwhile is that the deep damage done to Malta’s reputation by the Labour government is being borne by growing sectors of society in an effort to avert a negative final decision by Moneyval and the FATF. This week for instance, many estate agents attended a four day course on their trade. They did not learn much when it comes to negotiation skills, but they were made aware of their new responsibilities when it comes to Money laundering. 

The estate agents, sensara, lawyers, notaries, insurance brokers, financial operators and yourself as consumer are now carrying a heavier burden of responsibility for implementing money laundering rules. None of this is wrong per se. The only question that begs answering is whether those responsible for leading us here are carrying their part of the burden. 

Keith Schembri’ s arrest could point to a jubilant yes. That would be misleading. Political responsibility is to be sought in those in power. The Prime Minister’s adamant refusal to recognise the shortcomings of his party and his government on this speaks volumes. It confirms that the sector of society mainly responsible for Malta’s reputational damage – i.e. the labour party led government – keeps refuting to answer for its misdeeds. 

The main news the day after Keith Schembri’ s arrest confirms the danger of the Prime Minister’s attitude. Minister Justyne Caruana was found to have regaled a 5000 euro a month contract to a close associate. No competition, no analysis of qualifications, just a monthly cheque for being in the good books of the honourable Minister. 

Caruana’s incident added to Rosianne Cutajar’s and another one a month of that kind should tell the Prime Minister that the phenomenon is not tied to an incident or another, but to an attitude of those in government. So while they send the FIAU to fine a local SME to the tune of a million euros for failing to do a proper due diligence on a client, the same government fails to keep itself in check. Justice will indeed continue to be denied.