“Daphne Caruana Galizia was killed when she became irrelevant to all,” Joseph Muscat declared.
Caruana Galizia had hardly started to explore the huge tranche of Electrogas e-mails. Far from irrelevant, she was onto something huge, as those who orchestrated her murder knew. Muscat did too.
But to utter the truth – that, given time, she would unravel all his intricate corrupt plans – did not suit his narrative.
“Whoever committed this crime is stupid,” he declared. Stupid is when you leave your bath tap running and flood the house. Blowing up a journalist about to expose gross corruption is heinously evil, not stupid. Muscat trivialises the barbaric – a calculated strategy.
Like a dominant tyrant imposing his version of reality on a cowed court he continued: “I did not think there would be violence, though there could be a form of teasing.”
Caruana Galizia had been relentlessly demonised, harassed and terrorised by Muscat’s supporters, like mayor Ignatius Farrugia, convicted of harassing the journalist, and fellow MPs like Glenn Bedingfield.
Bedingfield, employed in Muscat’s office, published 1,000 posts about the journalist whom he portrayed as a witch. He uploaded a photo of her car, number plate clearly visible, shortly before her murder.
For Muscat, however, Bedingfield simply “insisted on freedom of expression” – and teasing. Muscat never asked him to tone down his viciousness – because it suited Muscat.
Muscat not only approved but directed the harassment of the journalist as demonstrated by a Labour Party billboard with Caruana Galizia’s face. When asked why, his justification was ridiculous: “The blogger represented the opposition at the time.”
“Malta was being tarnished from Bidnija,” he incited.
Challenged at the inquiry, he falsely replied he was “referring to the leader of the opposition”, who had no connection whatsoever with Bidnija.
Muscat had the audacity to upload Facebook posts even as he testified.
“I never fomented hate,” was one of them. Splashing the journalist’s face on billboards and targeting her in his speeches is fomenting hate.
Muscat believes in “freedom of expression” only when it suits him. When Henley and Partners’ Christian Kälin discussed punitive lawsuits against the journalist with him, “I didn’t object”.
The champion of free speech idly stood by as the private company running his passport scheme sought to gag her with financially ruinous lawsuits.
The whole unreality show was a depressing revelation of the deviousness, evasiveness and falsity of the disgraced former prime minister. His overtly political 20-minute statement heaped contempt on the inquiry board. He made it clear he would decide which questions to answer: “I’m here to answer all questions within the terms of reference”.
That is exactly what he did. Dodging, lying, fudging and bluffing his way.
“Regarding Egrant, I went against the AG advice and published it.” He didn’t – only a distortedly redacted version was published.
“I was always super accessible to all.” He doggedly refused debates, avoided interviews even with the BBC and CBS, sending Chris Fearne and Edward Scicluna to be slaughtered.
He invited media houses of his choice to press briefings. “But I stopped to talk to journalists,” he parried. When the family of a mentally ill man, exploited by Ian Borg who robbed him of his inheritance, asked to meet him, he declined.
His pathetic naive excuses for the misdeeds of Konrad Mizzi and Keith Schembri insulted the board and the nation- Kevin Cassar
His pathetic naive excuses for the misdeeds of Konrad Mizzi and Keith Schembri insulted the board and the nation. Muscat is anything but naive. “Having a financial structure does not mean one is doing something criminal.”
Mizzi “told me he wanted it for family purposes”. “Keith told me it was for business.” “The information came in trickles.”
He knew full well what was going on. From the start. How many times did he deny knowledge of 17 Black, only to reveal at the inquiry that he knew all about it? He bluffed: “I would like to know whether my chief of staff took kickbacks.”
But when asked directly whether he knew the FIAU conclusions on Panama and 17 Black, he failed to answer. He used his old deflecting trick: “I often had discussions with the AG... one of those writing the reports is now accused of perjury.” That was not the question. “It could be that I made the wrong political judgement.”
He continues to deceive and muddy the water: “My predecessor had a member with an undeclared Swiss bank account.”
He was at his most duplicitous with his unashamed defence of his intimacy with a man under the spotlight for money laundering and murder. “Every government must be close to business,” he covered up. “I’m not sorry I was close to businessmen. I saved many jobs.”
The damage he caused cost the country jobs. And a life.
Being close to business does not mean a prime minister being intimate with a money laundering and murder suspect, inviting him to his birthday party at Girgenti, hosting him at his Burmarrad home, messaging him on a private WhatsApp group and accepting his gifts. But it was “the authorities” and “the investigators” who told him to “act normally” – consorting with suspected criminals.
He was finally cornered into admitting about Yorgen Fenech: “There was a friendship.” He suddenly realised the implication: “But I’m friends with everybody.”
He refused to answer why he let Schembri attend secret briefings about the murder despite knowledge of their friendship.
More importantly, Muscat was obliged to declare his own “friendship” with Fenech. Instead, he concealed it and continued to attend briefings even when Fenech, his friend, became a suspect.
When asked why he remained in the chat group, his arrogant reply was: “I think it was a mistake that I left the group.”
As this tragi-comedy nears its end, the spiteful Muscat remains defiant in his self-pity and narcissism. “After all I did for the country,” he grieved, “I was its own victim.”
When first told about the brutal assassination, his first concern was how it would affect him, in his typical vulgarity: “How they’ve screwed me.”
Kevin Cassar is a professor of surgery and former PN candidate.