During the May Day rally organised by the Labour Party, Prime Minister Joseph Muscat called a snap general election for June 3. Only three months ago, he had given his assurance it would be held on its due date in March 2018.

Muscat said he took the decision in the national interest due to the uncertainty that hit the country in the wake of recent allegations that his wife Michelle was the owner of a secret offshore shell company registered in Panama by the name of Egrant Inc.

The request to open this and another two similar companies, one for minister Konrad Mizzi and another for the Prime Minister’s chief of staff Keith Schembri, was made by Nexia BT, a local financial consulting company managed by the Prime Minister’s consultant Brian Tonna, who was given a desk at the Prime Minister’s office.

A fundamental difference in the method used to open these three companies was that while the ultimate details of Mizzi and Schembri were communicated in writing according to normal practice, in the case of the owner Egrant Inc. these were communicated through a Skype voice message to protect identity.

The seriousness of the allegation that the Prime Minister’s wife owned a secret offshore shell company was compounded by another serious allegation that large sums of money had been transferred from a company belonging to the daughter of the President of Azerbaijan, to Michelle Muscat’s company through an account at Pilatus Bank.

This led to the setting up of a magisterial inquiry to investigate the allegations of corrupt dealings by Muscat and his wife, as well as by Schembri.

Muscat’s position as Prime Minister became untenable as a result of the fact that he was the subject of a magisterial inquiry that carries more than a three-year jail term. The only honourable and gentlemanly way out left for him became that of stepping down until his name and that of his wife were cleared.

But instead Muscat decided to call a snap election without waiting for the inquiry to be concluded. This move was not made in the national interest, as he has stated, but to save his own skin at the expense of tarnishing the country’s reputation.

Had Muscat really had the national interest at heart, he would not have defended the workarounds of Mizzi and Schembri after their Panama companies became publicly exposed last year. Muscat even said that he saw nothing wrong in the opening of these companies when it amounts to a criminal offence.

No wonder Godfrey Farrugia accused the Labour government of machiavellianism, post-truth politics, hypocrisy, anti-truth and lack of maturity

All this proves Godfrey Farrugia right when, in his resignation letter as Labour whip, he said the Labour leadership had failed to curb wrongful behaviour and, instead, justified its mistakes and said that bad things were good. Here I pay tribute to Farrugia for his courageous decision.

Muscat even denied a free vote to Labour members of Parliament on two parliamentary motions of no confidence in Mizzi and another parliamentary motion calling him to request the resignation of Schembri as the person politically responsible for his appointment. In so doing, Muscat imposed his will on Labour MPs to vote against their conscience, as stated by Farrugia in his letter.

It is unbelievable that this is the same Muscat who before the last general elections declared that he will not tolerate any corruption.

Understandably, people have lost their trust in institutions headed by persons politically appointed by Muscat. How could anyone trust the Commissioner of the Police? He failed to carry out his duty of launching immediate investigations into reports there were documents proving illicit payments made to the Prime Minister’s wife in Pilatus Bank at Ta’ Xbiex.

He refrained from taking action to prevent spoliation of important evidence, and instead went to eat rabbit in Mġarr.

The commissioner had also said he failed to see any reasonable suspicion for the police to investigate the activities of Schembri and Mizzi according to recommendations made by the Financial Intelligence Analysis Unit (FIAU). Those recommendations were followed by the resignation of both former commissioner Michael Cassar and FIAU director Manfred Galdes.

Attorney General Peter Grech and the FIAU chairman refused to give any information about whether they had taken any action after being informed of suspicions of money laundering over two payments of €50,000 each that were made by Tonna to Schembri in an account that he holds at Pilatus Bank.

Grech cited obligations of legal and professional secrecy, while Cutajar would not say why no arraignments were made by the police on such serious claims of money laundering.

Farrugia had smelt a hidden agenda of persons close to Muscat, in whom he (Muscat) has trust. Indeed, since Labour took office Malta has been rocked by a string of corruption scandals with the majority originating from the Prime Minister’s own office in Castille.

No wonder Farrugia accused the Labour government of machiavellianism, post-truth politics, hypocrisy, anti-truth and lack of maturity. Suspicious negotiations were also carried out by the government with particular businessmen resulting in exorbitant gains to them that have been interpreted by many as a fulfillment of Labour’s pre-electoral obligations to its benefactors.

A stench of corruption emanates from the payment of an after-tax price of €4.2 million by the government to buy back the lease of the closed-down Café Premier in Valletta without any clear justification or documentation, together with five per cent (€210,000) as a brokerage fee to M&A Investments Ltd., according to an agreement reached on September 24, 2013.

In another highly suspicious case, the Auditor General concluded that the government demonstrated poor governance and lack of transparency when former parliamentary secretary Michael Falzon approved the acquisition of property that Marco Gaffarena bought for €163,056, without establishing what public purpose was to be served, against a compensation of €516,390 in cash and €2,760,000 in land and property as estimated by independent architects.

If ever proof were needed of the institutionalised corruption that has hit the country since Labour took over government, this was given by Malta’s significant drop of 10 places on the Corruption Perception Index published by Transparency International.

It is a pity that, as Farrugia said, Malta should be given a bad name and put in an embarrassing situation on an international level, particularly at a time when the country holds the EU Council presidency.

To think that it was just four years ago that Muscat managed to successfully convince the people that as prime minister, he would ensure that all Maltese citizens would be treated equally independently of their political beliefs, and that they would not need to beg a politician to be given their rights.

Muscat’s pre-electoral catchphrases like ‘Malta belongs to all of us’ and ‘You may not agree with us, but you can still work with us’ deluded many Maltese citizens. These words were like sweet music to the ears of those who had grown disgruntled with the Nationalist administration after three consecutive governments, and believed that Labour was a truly changed party.

In reality Muscat’s nice words were nothing more than smoke and mirrors. As rightly stated by Farrugia: “The people’s confidence towards the Labour ideal should never have been betrayed and used to push the agenda of the few who, it is clear, do not have the national interest at heart.”

Denis Tanti is a former assistant director (industrial and employment relations) in the Ministry for Health.

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