Autocrats abuse pardons. The first thing Benito Mussolini did when he gained power in 1925 was to pardon all the violent blackshirts who helped him gain power. In 1978, Augusto Pinochet, the Chilean dictator, pardoned all human rights abusers. Donald Trump has promised to pardon those convicted over the January 6 violent insurrection. He pardoned his campaign staff members – Steve Bannon, Roger Stone and Paul Manafort.

Robert Abela offered a pardon to those found guilty of criminal fraud in the disability benefits racket, abusing his power and perverting the course of justice. He’s done it for one reason – to win back the votes of people involved in the fraud and thousands of their close relatives.

Abela knows those thousands were mostly Labour voters and hailed from Labour districts. He knew they felt cheated by Labour. Most were determined to punish Labour at the ballot box come June 8. They had been reassured repeatedly that “it’s our government” and you’re safe – nobody will get caught, nobody will be prosecuted, everybody’s doing it, Labour will protect you. That’s exactly what Abela has just done.

Abela is dismantling our democracy. The judiciary is the third pillar of our democracy. But, in one fell swoop, Abela usurped the power of the judiciary and castrated the rule of law, deciding who to pardon.

Abela’s flagrant abuse of power is disturbing. Abela had a massive conflict of interest. So did Michael Falzon. So too did Andy Ellul whose former driver, Roger Agius, is one of the people accused of orchestrating the scam. Agius also received disability benefits himself and, despite being required to give up his driving licence, was still driving Ellul around.

None of those cabinet members should ever have made any decision about pardons in this case. They had every interest in covering it up. That’s exactly what Abela and Falzon did for years. They knew exactly what was going on. They knew about the massive fraud and the millions of euros stolen from the public purse since 2021. Yet, they kept quiet, hoping it would all go away.

Abela kept Silvio Grixti as Projects Malta consultant in his own office, paying him tens of thousands of euros from our taxes despite knowing what Grixti was up to. Grixti was also a Transport Malta consultant, earning €50,761, a consultant at the health ministry, earning another €23,123. He was kept as medical board member at the Lands Authority. He was also on the welfare committee.

Abela kept Grixti happy and quiet. Now we know why.

Now, Abela has tarnished the new president, in her first public act, by embroiling her in his autocratic scheme to exonerate fraudsters who robbed the nation of millions of euros.

“Why did you give them a pardon,” the incredulous reporters asked.

“The absolute majority of those who illegally received severe disability benefits have already paid a price. The consequence is they have to fully pay back what they were illicitly given,” Abela replied.

That’s not paying a price, that’s just returning what they’d stolen. Abela’s argument implies it’s absolutely fine to steal, as long as you pay it back, if you get caught, that is. Well, that’s an improvement on what Anton Refalo did. He was found in possession of a national historical artefact, which he placed in his back garden, and, when this became known, no action was taken and he still has it.

Robert Abela is dismantling our democracy- Kevin Cassar

“Many of the 300 who can apply for the presidential pardon are vulnerable people,” was Abela’s next justification for his political pardon. He explained what he meant by “vulnerable”: “Some are materially deprived, others are sick, the rest have social problems.”

That’s absolute nonsense. Does being materially deprived entitle you to steal and get a Labour pardon? Does being sick entitle you to a political pardon for your crimes? If so, Abela should pardon Vince Muscat, il-Koħħu. Muscat is disabled. He’s blind from one eye after having been shot at three times in an attempted murder in Msida. One bullet is still lodged in his brain. That’s how devious Abela is.

As for “social problems” as justification for a pardon, that’s just more of Abela’s contempt. The vast majority of people accused and indicted of most crimes have “social problems”. When a hungry homeless man stole a can of tuna, he wasn’t pardoned, and God knows he had “social problems”.

“I’m not acting as their defence lawyer but many of these people are so vulnerable that they were not even aware they were doing something wrong,” Abela pleaded on their behalf. Abela is a lawyer. He knows full well that ignorance of the law is no excuse. That’s a fundamental legal principle: Ignorantia juris non excusat. Abela is trying to fool the nation.

He also tried to pluck at our heart strings – “Let’s not play down the trauma these people have been through… society has a role to be merciful,” he implored.

Of course, it’s not society that’s being merciful – it’s Labour Party leader Robert Abela. He’s not doing it out of the goodness of his heart. We know how cruelly he treated Jean Paul Sofia’s mother. He’s doing it out of cold cynical political calculation. He’s abusing of his power as prime minister to aid and abet the Labour Party leader.

The reporters weren’t fooled. “Why didn’t you wait until after the election,” they challenged.

“It has absolutely nothing to do with the election,” he lied. “Justice delayed is justice denied – every day without justice to the people means we continue to oppress them.”

He showed no such rush to seek justice for us the taxpayers, cheated of millions of euros, when he protected  Grixti, when he covered up the scandal for years.

He didn’t rebuke the courts, the attorney general or the police commissioner for putting off Grixti’s prosecution for years.

If it hadn’t been Times of Malta that broke the story, Abela would have gladly kept the whole scandal secret. He had over two years to tell us about it. He didn’t. When the story leaked, he played it down: “Anyone who thinks this is breaking news, it’s not.”

Abela is a devious cheat, a real present threat to our democracy, a true autocrat who abusively roped in the president to try and avoid the humiliating loss of his fourth MEP at the next European election. Meanwhile, Joseph Muscat wallows in schadenfreude waiting for Abela’s devastating defeat, ready to step back in.

Kevin Cassar is a professor of surgery.