PN’s court judgment interpretation
An example about the limits Bernard Grech and his cronies are ready to go to dupe voters into believing something is the exact opposite to the truth was given by the PN leader himself. He did so as soon as he exited the court after the court of appeal had handed down its decision on the Nationalist Party’s legal challenge to the state advocate.
The PN wanted legal action to be taken against the prime minister and other officials for the government to recoup the supposedly €400 million that were paid to Vitals/Steward Health Care, although no one as yet knows the amount until the auditor general finishes his investigation.
Grech called the court of appeal’s decision as “a victory for Malta”. In reality, it is an almost total defeat for the PN’s pleas.
The only difference from the sentence handed down by Mr Justice Toni Abela is where the judge said the state advocate could not act independently on this case. The court of appeal decided otherwise. The court said the state advocate can take legal action independently but the decision whether to take action or not depended on the state advocate himself and no one else.
In fact, the court agreed that the state advocate “should not be subject to the direction or control of any other person or authority”.
The court of appeal certainly did not order the state advocate to take legal action as requested by the PN, contrary to the impression given by Grech. In fact, the state advocate immediately commented about the court’s decision saying: “The court empowered me to act but did not order me to act.”
Truth be told, the state advocate had already taken action against Steward Health Care many months ago in front of the court of arbitration in Paris, where the first decisions have been positive for Malta.
The court of appeal also called for “wisdom” and prudence by everyone in this case. Grech immediately ignored this appeal as soon as he exited the court building.
EDDY PRIVITERA – Naxxar
Betting
Rumours have it that bets are already being placed on how long will it be before Clayton Bartolo lands a very well-paid job and how long will it be before he is reinstated as a Labour MP. One wonders how short the odds are!
CARMEL SCIBERRAS – Naxxar
Online trolls
“If men forbear their neighbours to devour, ‘tis not for want of will but want of power.”
The vicious comments in the online edition of Times of Malta confirm Daniel Defoe’s dictum.
Readers who respond to Labour Party trolls and other conspiracy theorists do not realise that their arguments will never convince their opponents. They are just wasting their time and aggravating themselves in the process.
Nothing delights trolls more than readers who take their bait. The best tactic for dealing with trolls is to ignore them. Let them fret and fume when they see nobody is paying attention to them.
JOHN GUILLAUMIER – St Julian’s