“Today, I filed a request for Magistrate Gabriella Vella to relinquish her role in the inquiry…, for it to pass to another member of the judiciary who can secure impartiality, both as perception and a matter of fact (sic), in this case which has now turned political.”

More of Joseph Muscat’s depraved crookedness had been exposed the day before by the OCCRP, in partnership with The Shift and Times of Malta. The Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project is an investigative reporting platform for a worldwide network of independent media centres and journalists.

It provides media outlets and journalists with a range of cri­tical resources and tools, including digital and physical security. It’s worked on the Pandora papers, the Suisse secrets, the Pegasus project and other major investigations. They have investigated Ilham Aliyev, Vladimir Putin, Nicolas Madu­ro, Milo Djukanovic, Rodrigo Duterte, Jair Bolsonaro, Aleksander Lukashenko and, of course, Muscat.

The OCCRP obtained documents revealing that Muscat benefitted financially from a ‘consultancy’ agreement with a company funded by millions of euros from Steward Health Care. They revealed that he is being investigated over the €540,000 deal. They revealed that investigators are also looking into Muscat’s consultancy services for a Chinese-owned, Malta-registered company involved in the Malta visa programme.

“Whoever is trying to frame me with the collaboration of others will need to face justice,” the panicked Muscat threatened. The OCCRP must be trembling in their boots! He threatened that “I will fight for… those cooking up conjectures to suit their political agenda to pay”.

“Today, there were leaks from the inquiry,” Muscat accused. “Those who presented false documents, those who are framing me and my wife, in the same way as in the Egrant case that nobody is speaking about any longer…,” he rambled on.

“I will continue to fight those who can never forgive me for putting them in opposition and will remain in opposition,” he menaced.

What does the OCCRP have to do with the opposition? But Muscat has completely lost it. He is in utter panic. He doesn’t know what he’s saying. “Therefore, even with the long arm of the institutions and of certain freemasonry that exists, I will not give up – I will continue to work to expose this evil.”

So desperate is Muscat that he is accusing the world-renowned OCCRP of releasing “false documents”.

Muscat is lashing out blindly. He is viciously attacking Magistrate Vella. “She was comfortable in ordering the police to enter on my family (sic) in our home but not in hearing what I have to say,” he moaned. He levelled wild accusations about “the publication of information that seems to be originating from the inquiry”.

Muscat wants Magistrate Vella to recuse herself. Why? Because, according to Muscat, a relative of the magistrate, ‘Dottor Aldo Vella’, shared Repubblika’s call for a protest against corruption on November 15, 2019. And because another rela­tive, ‘Dottor Massimo Vella’, on his Facebook page uploaded posts commenting “against the party” and “the leader” and the hospitals concession mess.

Muscat wants the magistrate removed because “members of the immediate family of the magistrate promoted propaganda by those who filed for the inquiry and even expressed themselves publicly”.

Muscat wants the magistrate to step down immediately and to be replaced by another member of the judiciary.

But, on November 14, 2022, Justice Minister Jonathan Attard was categorical: “There is no room for forum shopping in the Maltese courts.”

Joseph Muscat is alone, in a world of his own- Kevin Cassar

Lawyer James d’Agostino, from the state advocate’s office, condemned “forum shopping” and stated that, if this were allowed, “anyone could adopt such course of action to remove any magistrate not to one’s liking”.

The state advocate described a similar petition as “a personal attack against the magistrate”.

The notorious Attorney Gene­ral Victoria Buttigieg’s office declared that “forum shopping should not be tolerated because it is an abuse of the judicial system”. “This attitude should not be tolerated as it effectively constitutes a frenzied attack on the judiciary,” she warned in October 2022.

Even the Labour Party emphatically declared in August 2016 that “these are tactics of those who form part of an elitist establishment which believes they have a right to divide and conquer, these ferocious attacks on the institutions are being made out of desperation” when the PN requested a change of judge.

Even Owen Bonnici, Muscat’s loyal friend, was clear: “Every politician in our country is obliged, through his words and actions, not to undermine the public’s trust in the judiciary.”

Perhaps Muscat should take his former justice minister’s advice. Sadly, he is beyond advice now. He is raging, launching hysterical bizarre accusations. “I will make sure that those manipulating facts are pursued through justice when time comes,” he threatened.

Why would the OCCRP manipulate facts? What interest does the OCCRP, an institution recognised for its integrity and correctness, have in ‘manipulating facts’? The only person manipu­lating facts is Muscat.

Muscat needs help. Somebody should calm him down and explain to him that the game’s over. He should come clean and admit his guilt. Or, at least, stop making a fool of himself. “I always worked, I performed legitimate, documented work and, contrary to others, I declare my income and pay taxes.” Now what has that got to do with the price of eggs?

The man is completely deluded. He thinks he’s still in control. “I will choose when and how I reply,” he defiantly declared. Hasn’t Muscat got one loyal friend to point out to him that’s not the case at all?

Is there nobody Muscat trusts who will open his eyes to how embarrassingly ridiculous he is? It is time for Muscat to turn himself in.

“Are you afraid of being arrested,” one journalist asked him. “I have no fear,” Muscat replied, “those who are fabricating lies should be afraid because their lies will be exposed.”

“I am ready to fight all this, even if I remain alone.”

Sadly, he is alone, in a world of his own.

Kevin Cassar is a professor of surgery.