Former Trump advisor, Stephen Bannon, refused to testify before of the special House Committee investigating the January 6th insurrection at the Capitol. Did the committee just let him off? Did they refer the case to the friendly speaker for a decision?
No. The committee kicked off his prosecution. And Bannon could end up in jail.
“Mr Bannon declined to cooperate with the select committee and instead is hiding behind Trump’s insufficient, blanket and vague statements regarding privileges - we reject his position entirely”, Chairman Bernie Thompson said in his statement. “The Select committee will not tolerate defiance of our subpoenas, so we must move forward with proceedings to refer Mr Bannon for criminal contempt”.
That no nonsense approach is a warning to others who might be thinking of refusing to testify. It is also a sad reminder of how Labour rendered the Public Accounts Committee pathetically edentulous - and how it managed to let off the shameless brazen Konrad Mizzi without as much as a slap on the wrist.
Four times the disgraced former Minister defied calls to appear before the Committee. Four times Labour protected him. The PN members of the committee recommended that Mizzi should, at least, be censured and his absence reported to the House. But Labour MPs, led by the bullish Bedingfield, refused. Instead they resorted to their protector, Speaker Anglu Farrugia. They insisted they should refer the case to the Speaker to make a ruling. Like a conjuring magician Farrugia will figure something out, soon enough, to condone Mizzi’s contempt for the nation.
When threatened with a motion before parliament, Mizzi promised he would attend, only to back off at the last minute, blaming his lawyer’s unavailability. And accused the opposition MPs of arrogance.
When Bannon ignored the select committee’s subpoenas, Representative Jamie Raskin commented: “This is a matter of utmost seriousness, and we need to consider the full panoply of enforcement sanctions available to us”, including jail. Those called to testify could argue that the process is “politically motivated”. Stanley Brand, a congressional ethics expert commented that “no court has recognised that as a reason in itself”.
Konrad Mizzi however did just that. “I regard the call of the PAC as nothing more than a partisan political exercise pushed by the PN” he wrote on his Facebook page. He asserted that this was an attack on “the project which shifted energy generation from polluting heavy fuel oil to cleaner gas”.
“This project has brought so many benefits to the Maltese and Gozitan people as well as to the economy of our country” he claimed. The National Audit Office report dispelled his false claims. It found that energy generated by Electrogas, on average, cost 50.64 euro more per unit than the interconnector. To add insult to injury, government was bound to buy 85% of the annual contracted quantity of either power or gas, irrelevant of requirements. The Maltese taxpayers were obliged to pay Electrogas for energy they didn’t need and didn’t use.
Konrad Mizzi’s shamelessness is beyond belief. The Electrogas project, he claimed, “has been scrutinised by the NAO which has completely dispelled the opposition’s allegations”.
Of course the National Audit Office did no such thing. The NAO report on Electrogas is a 500 page indictment of Mizzi’s insolent brass neck. Mizzi appointed Nexia BT’s Brian Tonna to oversee the final assessment of the bids for the power station. Two other Nexia BT employees sat on that committee. Nexia BT had set up Konrad Mizzi’s Panama company which, according to them, would receive millions of dollars from Yorgen Fenech’s 17-Black.
Nexia BT were also the auditors of GEM, the company through which Tumas Group and Gasan group hold their shares in Electrogas. And if that weren’t a monumental conflict of interest, 8% of GEM’s shares were held personally by Yorgen Fenech through another company audited by, yes, Nexia BT.
The NAO had even more serious concerns. The 360 million euro government guarantee on the Electrogas loan was “irregular” and “posed significant risk”. The late inclusion of a security of supply agreement meant that the winning bidders were guaranteed to make profits, huge profits. Besides, they would carry no risk at all. All the risks, the NAO report stated, were transferred to the government - which means that Mizzi burdened the Maltese taxpayer with huge unnecessary financial risks.
Mizzi’s fake boasts that the tendering process was “fair and transparent” and a “model of best practice” was thoroughly rubbished by the NAO. The Electrogas bid, according to the NAO, did not even comply with the minimum requirements to win the contract on “multiple instances” - far from a “model of best practice”.
For somebody who is so proud of his massive achievements, Mizzi is rather timid about answering questions. Mizzi refused to answer over 100 questions at the Daphne Caruana Galizia inquiry. “I am not duty-bound to prostrate myself in front of my political assassins,” he commented with cruel insensitivity. The inquiry, he deviously insisted, was “being used to pursue a purely political agenda”.
Konrad Mizzi knows he is in control. He is certain of his position of power. Minister Clyde Caruana says the right things - “Good sense dictates that an individual should answer any queries parliament may have - he (Konrad Mizzi) should respect any invitation from parliament”. Even Robert Abela says the right thing - “Mizzi should appear before the committee” - but does the wrong one. He directs his MPs to protect him at every turn.
Mizzi can resist for now. But that won’t last. Donald J Trump fought every step of the way to prevent Congress from getting his tax records. The case went all the way to the Supreme Court. Years after initially requesting them, Congress finally got those tax records. It might be years yet, but Mizzi will testify. In William Faulkner’s words, “the past is never dead - it’s not even past”.