The powerful explosive device that killed Daphne Caruana Galizia three and a half years ago rocked open a can of worms that continues to spring forth scandals and filth to this very day.
When Caruana Galizia was assassinated, the mastermind/s may have thought they were immune, even able to get away with murder to stop the journalist and blogger from revealing their ill-gotten gains and sinister connections. How wrong they were.
The time has now come for a reckoning. Those with blood on their hands, whether by direct connection to the murder or by their attempts to cover it up, must shoulder their criminal responsibilities. Criminal justice must be allowed to take its course. That applies equally to the allegations of corruption and high financial crime that have started to make their way through the criminal justice system.
It is equally vital for the country, however, that political responsibility is also shouldered and political justice be done too.
Admittedly, all the alleged wrongdoings we are learning about now and which, finally, are ending up in court, occurred before Robert Abela took over from Joseph Muscat.
Whether by commission or omission, Muscat allowed people close to him, as well as his and their cronies, to line their pockets to the detriment of Malta and its people.
But Muscat, who repeatedly defended colleagues now facing serious corruption allegations and worse, is out of the picture and hides behind the premise that he is no longer involved in politics, bar some Facebook post which can hardly be challenged. Muscat has left the kitchen and is trying to stay away from the political heat.
The onus is, therefore, on Abela to try to put the record straight. He cannot continue to avoid confronting the skeletons that have been set free from inside his government and his party as a result of the latest revelations emerging in the murder and corruption cases being heard in court.
Abela needs, first of all, to set everybody’s mind at rest that if any crooks linger in the corridors of power he will do all he can by law to ensure they are tracked down and named.
He has lost the opportunity to make a detailed statement in parliament and take all the questions that any MP would like to put to him. The allegations about former and sitting cabinet members being involved with the underworld, including in connection with Caruana Galizia’s murder itself, will not disappear.
The accusations against the former chief of staff, once a hero of Labour protected by his boss, will not go away any time soon either.
The people of this country have a right to know. They are entitled to be told how the government is handling the fresh requests for presidential pardons that are being made. They have a right to know if Abela plans to probe Keith Schembri’s past dealings.
The longer he fails to address these issues, the more they will fester. If there is a lesson to be learned from the events of the past three years and the recent developments it is that once the knot starts to untangle you never know what may surface next.
The worst thing Abela can do at this stage is to go on the defensive. He must pick sides: either uphold the principle he professes to champion, accountability, or do what his predecessor did and protect the crooks by his inaction.
This is what led to his predecessor’s downfall, before it blew up in his face, causing political turmoil and more reputational damage to the country.
The prime minister is sitting in a political minefield. The longer he takes to come clean, the more damage will be done when more mines go off.