More information keeps emerging about bribery and backdoor deals that flourished when Joseph Muscat was prime minister.
Daphne Caruana Galizia paid with her own life for her critical role in exposing the deeply entrenched corruption within Malta’s political scene.
On October 16, 2017, she was brutally blown to pieces by a powerful bomb placed under her car, after she exposed allegedly illegitimate payments made to persons close to Muscat.
Last November, public outrage was triggered when it became known that there were political links between Daphne’s murder suspect Yorgen Fenech and the corridors of power in Castille.
The mass street demonstrations that followed led to Muscat’s downfall.
Like President Milo Đukanović of Montenegro and President Inham Aliyev of Azerbaijan, Muscat won the title of person of the year for organised crime and corruption.
Muscat’s favourite minister Konrad Mizzi spearheaded murky energy deals with these same two countries that rank among the worst kleptocracies in the world, putting the government under fire over allegations of kickbacks.
Parallels can be drawn between Malta’s massive corruption scandals and the corruption uncovered by prosecutors in Italy in the early 1990s known as tangentopoli (Italian for ‘bribesville’ or ‘kickback city’).
In 1992, leading prosecuting magistrates Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino were killed by car bomb explosions ordered by Cosa Nostra chief Toto Riina. The two magistrates were a thorn in the side of this criminal organisation, having brought to justice and handed down lengthy prison sentences to some of its most powerful leaders.
The murder of Falcone and Borsellino brought about an enormous public outcry and they became an iconic symbol of the struggle against Cosa Nostra.
That same year a pool of magistrates commenced judicial inquiries named mani pulite (Italian for ‘clean hands’) into tangentopoli in Milan. Antonio Di Pietro was the main judicial figure in these inquiries.
Milan was the heartland of political support of Bettino Craxi, the secretary of the centre-left Italian Socialist Party (PSI).
It had been estimated that during Craxi’s tenure as prime minister between 1983 and 1987, €66 million were paid annually in political bribes in Milan. Half of the money went to the PSI.
Mani pulite quickly snowballed into a nationwide judicial assault on political corruption involving politicians, bureaucrats and entrepreneurs. By the end of 1992 nearly 100 of the 945 Italian MPs were placed under investigation and the number rose to 300 during 1993. Within two years, six former prime ministers, more than 500 MPs and several thousand local and public administrators were placed under investigation. Eventually, half of the country’s lawmakers were indicted.
During Craxi’s premiership Italy experienced a financial boom particularly in the north. The country became the fifth largest industrial nation and gained entry into the G7 Group. The GNP rose by over 2.5 per cent a year while inflation was reduced. This achievement was aided by a global economic recovery and collapse in the oil price.
Craxi led the PSI to great successes over a period of 16 years. He was an effective communicator and under his leadership the PSI saw its vote increase substantially to 13.6 per cent in 1992 general election.
However, at the same time the party saw most of its historical traditions as a working-class trade union based party come to an end. The presence of the party in big state-owned enterprises increased substantially, while it became heavily involved in corruption, organised crime and illegal party funding.
The Craxi era was characterised by arrogance and abuse of power. Craxi attacked the independence of the judiciary and did nothing to advance political reform.
Robert Abela seems unable to allow a mani pulite type of inquiry which risks having Joseph Muscat placed under criminal investigation- Denis Tanti
The estimated value of bribes paid annually in the 1980s by Italian and foreign companies bidding for large government contracts reached 6.5 trillion lire ($4 billion dollars).
The political scandals revealed by the mani puliti inquiries led to the resignation in disgrace of prominent political figures, and the demise of most of the traditional political parties that ruled Italy such as the Christian Democratic Party and PSI.
Craxi resigned as secretary of the PSI in February 1993 after he was placed under criminal investigation for bribery and corruption. He was accused of receiving a tangente (Italian for ‘kickback’) of $7 million on a loan which was organised to help bail out the ailing Vatican-affiliated Ambrosiano Bank.
On April 29, 1993, the Italian parliament denied an explicit request by the Court of Milan to authorise Craxi’s investigation. This instigated public outrage leading to massive, nationwide spontaneous rallies.
Craxi’s prosecution was finally authorised in December 1993. He admitted in court that his party had received $93 million of illegal funds, justifying this by saying that others were doing the same.
Craxi fled to Tunisia in May 1994 and was tried in absentia, convicted of corruption and sentenced to eight-and-a- half years in prison. He faced arrest if he returned to Italy and died in exile in January 2000.
On its part, the Maltese government failed to show the will to build similar resilient anti-corruption institutions to combat the country’s tangentopoli. Individuals occupying senior government positions allegedly involved in corruption have not been brought to justice.
Disgraced Muscat took advantage of country’s extremely weak system of checks and balances to give impunity from prosecution to the likes of Mizzi, Keith Schembri and Brian Tonna, all of whom were involved in the Panama Papers scandal.
A resolution adopted a year ago by the Council of Europe declared that Malta’s government institutions, criminal justice system and law enforcement bodies do not comply with European standards on the rule of law.
Prime Minister Robert Abela has followed his predecessor’s steps by keeping the police force under the government’s direct control. Angelo Gafà, who was placed at the helm force by Abela knows quite well that he can be ousted from his position any time if he does not live to his master’s expectations.
Abela’s hands are tied. He seems unable to allow a mani pulite type of inquiry which risks having Muscat placed under criminal investigation.
Denis Tanti is former assistant director in Ministry for Health.