Didn’t Joseph Muscat brag he’s ready to put his boxing gloves back on and get into the ring? Didn’t he threaten everybody that, when he fights, he always wins? It was all just hot air, empty bluff.
Now that it’s time to get into the ring he’s making excuses – it’s too cold to take his robe off, the ring floor is too hard, the ropes are too high. Invictus Muscat is in a panic, desperately trying to run away from the ring. He’s no longer so cocky about winning.
He’s deploying his usual dirty tricks. He attempted to intimidate the state advocate, telling him: “Let me remind you that you are addressing the former prime-minister.” That was Muscat with his back to the wall deploying his pathetic “do you know who I am” card.
The state advocate doesn’t need reminding who Muscat once was. But that’s remote history. Those were Muscat’s glory days when he could threaten, bully and intimidate people at will.
“I will retaliate and hit you with twice as much force, with all my might, below the belt, where it hurts,” Muscat had threatened Norman Vella. Muscat incited his supporters against Daphne Caruana Galizia, stating “Malta is being tarnished from Bidnija”.
He splashed her face on his party’s billboards and used his attack dogs Glenn Bedingfield and Chris Cardona to go after her.
The only man needing any reminding isn’t the state advocate, it’s Muscat: you’re no longer prime minister, you’re charged with serious crimes, you’re in the dock accused of money laundering, corruption, bribery and setting up a criminal association.
No wonder he’s lost his cool. Wasn’t he “very serene” once? Where’s that serenity gone?
Muscat knows where his future lies if justice is allowed to take its course. That’s why he’s trying to pervert it.
He claimed in court that the Vitals inquiry conclusions were “manipulated by leaks to the media”. That’s true. Muscat was told the police were coming to search his home and he was ready with a dossier in his hands.
He insisted “the inquiry lacks enough analysis and evidence”. He objected to being painted as “the head of a criminal organisation”. He dubbed the police search at his home “theatrical”. He claimed experts on the inquiry were “illegitimate”.
He accused the magistrate of being “biased”. He claimed she “dominated” the inquiry and he attacked the police commissioner for “leaving it in her hands”.
Muscat targeted the magistrate’s father who “shared a post by PN MP Karol Aquilina” that included a photo of Muscat with Keith Schembri and Konrad Mizzi. Is he now embarrassed of his loyal collaborators?
Muscat rehashed his stale arguments that the magistrate should have recused herself because her brother posted comments criticising the government. Muscat had already presented those very same excuses before the court – and then dropped the case. The court had already thrown his case out. But if it’s only straws you’ve left to clutch at, you’ll hang onto them for dear life.
Muscat cut a solitary pathetic figure whining that his rights have been breached.
He hadn’t been given the opportunity to testify, he protested. The truth is that Muscat was invited to attend a court sitting on April 9, 2024. And Muscat didn’t show up. The court session had to be cancelled because the man now ranting and raving chose to stay away.
Joseph Muscat knows where his future lies if justice is allowed to take its course- Kevin Cassar
“When I get into the fight, I win,” Muscat boasted a few days later, on April 30, “and I win not because I’m stronger but because I know I’m telling the truth.” Why, then, if he’s so keen on the truth did he refuse to unlock his iPhone 11? That phone had all the truth locked inside it.
And Muscat chose to withhold it from the police and the magisterial inquiry. That isn’t what a truth-telling innocent man would do.
Muscat didn’t challenge any of the facts brought before the court. He didn’t deny the evidence produced. He’s just frantically trying to wreck the prosecution.
He’s attacking or trying to discredit everybody – the magistrate, the commissioner of police, the court experts, the state advocate, the magistrate’s family, Robert Aquilina. If Muscat knows he’s right and everybody else is wrong, why won’t he unlock his phone? Why won’t he tell us which of the incriminating evidence against him is false?
Muscat finally deployed the sympathy card. “My family has suffered great psychological damage,” he declared.
That’s very difficult to sustain if his own wife keeps uploading social media posts with photos of herself and her husband at the most exclusive places on earth – floating in turquoise waters in the Caribbean, sunbathing in exclusive resorts, in the most expensive European capitals and other far-flung countries, enjoying the snow in a remote cabin, in the African savannah, in gourmet restaurants flaunting their designer clothes and accessories.
The hundreds of images and clips Michelle Muscat has uploaded of the couple beaming and kissing, enjoying themselves in destinations most fellow citizens can only dream of explodes Muscat’s claims of “great psychological damage”.
But it also begs the burning question: How can a couple whose assets are frozen enjoy such a lavish lifestyle? Where is the money coming from for their global adventures? Where did the funds for their lavish wedding anniversary celebrations in Barbados come from?
For years, Muscat pulled off a massive feat of deception. Now only Jason Micallef believes him. “Step by step he’s coming for you, and you’ll get nightmares ‒ you all know who you are behind this political vendetta against Joseph Muscat and his family… some even looked away, not I and thousands more who kept proclaiming his innocence.
He’s going to defeat you, and then he’ll come after you and the majority of the people will be behind him again,” Micallef growled. Which cloud is the Valletta Cultural Agency chairman on?
Micallef hasn’t forgiven Robert Abela for his jibe – “when your time is up, don’t come back”. Micallef’s aggressive intimidating message isn’t for Bernard Grech, it’s for Abela. Micallef bears grudges for life, not just for Christmas.
As for our dear Joseph, that bullying thing works really well when you’re sitting in power in Castille, not so much when you’re the accused in the dock.
Muscat should politely ask his wife to tone down the flaunting of their exotic trips and luxury designer bling on social media. She’s completely wrecking his sob story.
Kevin Cassar is a professor of surgery.