I did not reply to the opinion piece published last week because I felt Martin Scicluna’s mind-numbing arguments spoke for themselves. Besides, I have full confidence in readers to discern between Labour propaganda and independent thought.
This week, however, we had the misfortune of being exposed to more of his wisdom. He informed us that he single-handedly exposed the European Parliament’s report on the rule of law in Malta as “flawed”.
He accused my colleagues and me of “dragging Malta’s name through the dirt on the world stage”, which makes me quite livid. But that does not compare to how disgusted I am by the reference to Daphne Caruana Galizia’s “poison” and “agenda”.
His effort to dehumanise her, precisely in the same manner as those of his ilk in the Office of the Prime Minister did and still do, is nothing short of appalling. He must think that, now that she has been assassinated, the chances of him being taken to task for what he writes are much slimmer.
In fact, this week he compared the oil scandal to the revelations in the Panama Papers. In addition, he points to the ministers under a Nationalist government who had Swiss bank accounts. To his credit, he, at least, left out the Maltese clock.
He omits the fact that court proceedings on the oil scandal started under a PN administration and ground to a halt only when Labour took office.
Neither does he say that those having Swiss bank accounts under questionable circumstances were given amnesties under a Labour government. And, besides, what logic is there in ignoring crimes being committed now by politicians because there was also wrongdoing in the past?
This week, Scicluna has also found a novel way to discredit the evidence in the public domain. Let me briefly explain what I am basing my assessment on.
The reports by the Financial Intelligence Analysis Unit that were leaked following the inaction of police leave little to the imagination where Keith Schembri is involved. The intelligence contained therein is solid.
Information already in the public domain through the FIAU report in my possession shows that a €1 million kickback was planned for the man thatnegotiated with Konrad Mizzi on the sale of Enemalta.
Illicit transactions are always planned through little Pilatus Bank, which invariably receives a mention when money laundering revelations surface.
A European Parliament fact-finding mission was only necessary because our institutions failed to act
We also found out that Mizzi lied about his bank deposits, claiming to have in excess of €300,000 when, in reality, he had less than €95,000. He has lied on every single one of his declarations of assets since 2013.
Was he expecting some windfall from some deal? The Times of Malta reported on this last May 29 and Il-Mument last Sunday. It should be fairly easy to challenge the allegation. Why has Mizzi not issued a bank statement that shows the balance?
And, of course, we should not forget the revelations from the Panama Papers. On Mizzi and Schembri’s instructions, Nexia BT scurried to every possible dodgy jurisdiction on the planet in a desperate attempt to find a bank willing to open accounts for politically-exposed persons that were unable to explain where the money they intended to deposit would come from. Not to mention the now infamous million euro per year they were ready to commit to depositing in such accounts.
Scicluna has selected to ignore all this. He is also wilfully blind to the profoundly dangerous reality that a European Parliament fact-finding mission was only necessary because our institutions failed to act.
The irony of it all lies in the fact that Scicluna’s conclusions are largely the same of those of the mission report: the Prime Minister and the institutions he controls have failed to respond effectively to the overwhelming evidence giving rise to suspicions about a possible link between Mizzi and Schembri to criminal activity.
In my view, people like Scicluna do not believe the contradictions they themselves write. But they probably have their own selfish reasons why they do so. Whatever, they do a disservice to their country and publicly support the crooks that have taken hold of it. A political appointment or the quest of some national honour might be too tempting to resist.
Scicluna was kind enough to forward the speech he gave when he occupied the post of chairman on the National Commission for Further and Higher Education. Then Scicluna had told us that, by now, the ‘American university’ would have over 100 students, over 50 employees and he was confident they would respect the highest educational standards. Instead, there are no students, no faculty, allegations of visa fraud and lots and lots of never-ending construction.
I do not envy the moral acrobatics Scicluna must endure in his pursuit of obtaining whatever iced bun he could be after. For his sake, I hope he gets it, as this would go some way in justifying his rants on the Times of Malta.
David Casa is a Nationalist MEP.