Prime Minister Joseph Muscat yesterday defended his handling of the shooting incident involving the driver of former minister Manuel Mallia, saying that contrary to previous PN administrations political responsibility had been shouldered.
He noted that, unlike the Opposition leader, he waited to have the facts in hand before drawing any conclusions but then action was taken even if it meant painful decisions.
Dr Muscat was speaking in Parliament during the debate on the conclusions of the inquiry, published on Monday, into allegations that the government had tried to cover up the incident.
On the controversial government press release which had wrongly said that warning shots had been fired in the air, he said his spokesman had acted in good faith as he had relied on the information given to him by the police chief.
Dr Muscat reiterated that the biggest challenge for the police was to regain the people’s trust. The tampering of evidence and the leakages of telephone conversations to the media had also dented its reputation.
Your first instinct is to hide truth
“Though I can understand that the Opposition perceived this incident as an opportunity to score political points, the manner in which its media manipulated some transcripts of telephone conversations was shameful,” he said.
He lashed out at Opposition leader Simon Busuttil for “undermining” the judiciary when saying that the inquiry into allegations of a cover-up was itself part of a cover-up.
Dr Busuttil said the shooting incident was the result of the culture perpetrated by the government that those within its inner circles could act with impunity.
“Your first instinct is to hide truth and the government tried to manipulate this incident,” Dr Busuttil told the Prime Minister.
He denied claims that the PN’s media had manipulated any transcripts to gain political mileage, saying none of the material in its possession had been omitted. The inquiry was a useless exercise because the facts had emerged soon after the incident.
“Nevertheless, it failed to put people’s mind at rest because we did not learn anything on the role the Prime Minister and his chief of staff had on that night of the incident. This raises suspicions that the truth has not emerged completely,” Dr Busuttil said.
He remarked that it had become customary for the Prime Minister to resort to mudslinging tactics whenever he was cornered.
Justice Minister Owen Mallia said the decision not to publish the transcripts of the statements made by the witnesses summoned during the inquiry was made on the advice of the Attorney General. He said their publication could have discouraged people to disclose important information in future inquiries fearing a backlash were it to be published.