“Nobody believes you,” Beppe Fenech Adami told Konrad Mizzi on TimesTalk in March 2016 after his Panama company revelations.

Mizzi fiddled with his fingers, eyes darting erratically from side to side. He had negotiated a multi-million-dollar deal with SOCAR. He had travelled with Joseph Muscat, Keith Schembri and Kurt Farrugia in secret, without any civil servants or the press to deal with Aliyev.

Mizzi filed a libel suit the following day. But his bluff evaporated when the case was called in November 2018. He failed to turn up.

It took another two years before Labour finally conceded that Mizzi had conned the party and the nation. And kicked him out.

Labour’s delayed action was triggered by revelations that Yorgen Fenech had made €4.6 million out of the corrupt Mozura wind farm.

Robert Abela feigned fury : “I am disgusted. These investigations must lead to prosecutions,” he insisted.

Over a year has elapsed since Abela’s bold statement. Six have elapsed since Mizzi’s Panama company was exposed. Mizzi remains a member of parliament – no prosecution.

Malta is now greylisted. There is only one reason for that. Like Mizzi, Abela and his government cannot be believed. His word counts for nothing. Deceitful and totally untrustworthy, the government and institutions are populated by spineless apparatchiks who, faced with the choice between doing what’s right and protecting their interests will invariably choose the latter.

During long years of Labour corruption, Edward Scicluna kept quiet. He knew about Muscat’s “kitchen cabinet”, which included Mizzi and Schembri, who “bypassed the system”. He denied involvement in all the rotten projects including Electrogas, claiming his role was only at a very late stage to provide “a bank guarantee”.

Despite his serious concerns about Muscat’s stinking deals, he supported the government in a vote of confidence. By his own admission, he did not want to give up his salary. He had already given up a €100,000 post in Brussels, he informed us, so he was not going to sacrifice his ministerial pay and perks – just to reveal a few hundreds of millions of  euros in corrupt deals.

Despite denouncing Muscat after the latter’s humiliating fall, Scicluna was equally culpable. He abusively appointed Silvio Valletta to the FIAU, flouting the law, according to a claim by a Nationalist MP. He also dishonestly claimed that FIAU reports were written to be leaked.

He dismantled the FIAU, sacking two of its officials when their investigations yielded embarrassing results. When PANA, the European Parliament committee investigating money laundering, demanded justification for their sacking, Scicluna simply stated that the termination was lawful.

Shamelessly, he raised the salary of the Central Bank governor before taking the role himself. Having contributed to Malta’s greylisting as minister, he remains silent as Central Bank governor in the face of that greylisting. His mere presence seriously damages Malta’s prospects of restoring its name.

Evarist Bartolo, the foreign affairs minister, cannot be trusted to do what’s right either. When he was presented with overwhelming evidence of his canvasser’s corruption, he failed to report the matter to the police.

“Nobody believes you,” Beppe Fenech Adami (right) told Konrad Mizzi on TimesTalk in March 2016.

The then CEO of the Foundation for Tomorrow’s Schools, Philip Rizzo, had warned Bartolo in 2015 about his canvasser’s corruption. Bartolo not only failed to act but accused Rizzo of lying after having tried to dissuade him from reporting the wrongdoing, according to Rizzo’s account.

Although Bartolo denied shielding his canvasser, the court lambasted him for failing to report the case to the police.

Bartolo also failed to act in 2016 when Schembri and Mizzi were revealed to have secret offshore companies. It took him three years to finally “regret not taking a stronger position”.

Of course, it was too late then. It is too late now.

Bartolo continues to damage Malta. On the eve of Malta’s greylisting, the minister undiplomatically took a swipe at the United States: “Big countries have a way of getting away with murder,” Bartolo accused.

Malta was greylisted because Robert Abela, his ministers, his Central Bank governor are untrustworthy- Kevin Cassar

Sharing a Financial Times article on the west’s hostile approach to China, Bartolo attacked “the west” for “self-righteously lecturing the rest of the world”.

Like Scicluna, Bartolo’s unfitness for office is manifest. So is his even greater unfitness for salvaging Malta from its current FATF predicament.

Justice Minister Edward Zammit Lewis is equally unfit. Despite having exchanged over 700 messages with Fenech, he claimed no professional, no non-professional and no commercial relationship. Fenech was only an acquaintance – “konoxxenza”.

Zammit Lewis had to eat his words when the communication with Fenech was revealed. He had enjoyed a luxury holiday with his family in Fenech’s Evian-les-Bains Hilton hotel. He never revealed who paid for his luxury stay in the French Alps.

Fenech is accused of complicity in the murder of Daphne Caruana Galizia but also led the scandalous Electrogas project and profited handsomely from the corrupt Mozura wind farm. All along, Zammit Lewis was enjoying Fenech’s hospitality, dining with him and exchanging frequent messages.

How can Scicluna, Bartolo or Zammit Lewis convince the FATF, Financial Action Task Force, of Malta’s commitment against corruption and money laundering?

By swiftly resigning and disappearing. Those like Edwina Licari, Johann Buttigieg and Marvin Gaerty, who compromised themselves through their damaging links with suspected criminals, must go too.

But that all depends on one man – Abela. How can Joseph Muscat’s consultant be trusted with steering Malta out of the grey list?

Like Scicluna, Bartolo and Zammit Lewis, Abela was conspicuous by his inaction as Malta hurtled towards that greylisting. Now that he holds power, he dawdles.

What has he done about the damning SVPR-deal report? What has he done about the abusive appointment of police officers? What has he done about Brigadier Jeffrey Curmi’s illegal appointment? What has he done about Carmelo Abela?

As Robert Abela brags about his honesty with the public, he conceals his own income, his tax returns, his spending on his yacht, spending on public relations and the cost to the taxpayer of his army of persons of trust.

Malta was greylisted because Abela, his ministers, his Central Bank governor and other key people are untrustworthy.

Nobody believes them.

Clawing ourselves out of the FATF greylist with these people at the helm will be an uphill struggle.