There is an upside to this virus business. Social life has dwindled to next to nothing – not just for us but for our children too: no more sleepovers, no more hanging out with friends. But this means that there’s been time to catch up on classic movies “from the Stone Age”, which my daughter never even knew existed: Forrest Gump, The Truman Show, It’s a Wonderful life, Dead Poets Society, The Godfather.
Last weekend, it was the turn of Moulin Rouge, Baz Luhrmann’s explosion of wondrous editing. Back in the day – I was 25 when it came out – I watched it so many times (on ‘dinosaur’ DVD) that I knew all the lyrics by heart. It is what made me decide that, one day, I’ll live in an attic in Paris with a view of rooftops and be a moody writer.
Anyway, I digress. The point I want to make this week is about one particular song in Moulin Rouge: El Tango de Roxanne, a tango-ified revival of The Police song. As I was listening to it again, singing along with the great Ewan McGregor, I realised that, in my head, I was modifying the name: “Dum-da-dum-da-da / Ros-I-Anne / you don’t care if it is wrong or it is right / Ros-I-Anne / Dum-da-dum-da…”
I suppose my subconscious was channelling our own cabinet MP Rosianne Cutajar who, over these years, has politically tangoed in an abrazo abierto with Joseph Muscat, an abrazo cerrado with Yorgen Fenech and, now, she’s in a tango promenade with Robert Abela.
It’s always been very clear where her bread is buttered. When, in November 2018, the international media revealed that the secret company 17 Black was owned by non-other than multi-millionaire Fenech and alleged he was pumping illicit kickbacks into secret accounts of Muscat’s chief of staff, Keith Schembri and his top minister Konrad Mizzi, Cutajar stood up in parliament to defend them.
“The government bases itself on facts and not allegations,” she implored in that low-pitch voice of hers. She failed to omit the fact that she was very, but very, good friends with Fenech and that they used to send each other hundreds of texts per week and that she was blinded by friendly love and money.
I say money, because, four months later, she acted as an estate agent broker for Fenech. She found him a €3 million property for sale in Mdina (with a little bit, or should I say, Tikka, of help from an associate of hers).
In what way was she out of order? Although not a minister at the time, she was a government employee at the communications office of the Prime Minister (that is, chief trollster). Therefore, she was not meant to have a side job but let’s not be fastidious. Her fellow MP, Glenn Bedingfield, was also a government employee and he spent his days hate blogging while paid from our taxes.
For her senserija trouble, Cutajar received €9,000 from Fenech and another €46,000 from the Mdina house owner. Again, let’s not pick on the fact that she never mentioned the income in her yearly declaration of assets – it’s a form which basically screams ‘leave things out’ and most MPs willingly oblige. Mizzi himself, when top minister, failed to tell us about his secret company in Panama.
Rosianne Cutajar is nothing but a symptom of the sad show of the decadence that is now our parliament and our government- Kristina Chetcuti
In any case, when the Mdina house deal fell through, the owner sought to get back the €46,000 commission fees he paid Cutajar. It seems she won’t give the money back, which is how we got to know about the tidy sum she got from Fenech.
She claims she has always acted “correctly and ethically”. Erm, she was doing business with a man who was flagged and blacklisted by the international media and, in fact, the day the final sale was meant to be signed, Fenech was arrested on board his luxury yacht in connection with the assassination of Daphne Caruana Galizia.
So, last week, she declared: “I’ve never done business with Yorgen Fenech.” If this was not business, then it was a corrupt gift, which, in an ethical world, is worse. That’s Cutajar for you: she tangoes two steps forward and then two steps back.
Was the current prime minister going to do anything about having a cabinet MP involved in shady dealings with an alleged murderer? He passed the buck to the Standards tzar, who’s become a handy buck recipient these days.
I believe that in the scheme of things, Cutajar is absolutely irrelevant. She’s an attention seeker who thinks she’s deceiving us with her silly little ‘no comments’. The truth is she’s a frivolous distraction from the real crimes. To expect her to resign or be fired is almost laughable. How can we even begin to expect her to go when other Fenech buddies – in higher positions – are still not being investigated? What about that cake-eating Zammit Lewis? Or Mizzi, still representing us in parliament? Or Schembri, still out and about scheming and plotting? And what about Muscat – who was the man responsible for the island when a mafia took hold of it?
The truth is that El Tango de Rosianne epitomises all that is wrong with the island at the moment. She is nothing but a symptom of the sad show of the decadence that is now our parliament and our government – funded by our taxes.
The bulk of them were in bed with Fenech when Daphne’s assassination was being planned. Therefore, the only ending to this real-life movie is a close-up of all the key people behind the bars.
krischetcuti@gmail.com
twitter: @krischetcuti