What do you call somebody who shoots himself in the foot? And what do you call someone who, with the same bullet, shoots both himself and his consultant, Joseph Muscat in the foot? Michael Stivala.

When it was revealed that Stivala, a construction magnate who benefitted handsomely under Muscat’s government, recruited Muscat as his consultant just weeks after stepping down as prime minister, Arnold Cassola uploaded an angry post: “Muscat payback time – under Muscat’s premiership

Stivala was gifted various illegalities. Now Muscat is Stivala’s consultant.”

Stivala, the Malta Developers’ Association president, thought he could bully Cassola into submission. He thought he could silence Cassola by dragging him to court, threatening him with hefty fines.

Stivala thinks he’ll always get his way because he’s wealthy and has friends in high places. He accused Cassola of attacking his “professional and personal integrity, honour and reputation... through completely false and untrue allegations”. As Stivala found out, you can’t buy the truth. And you can’t bury it either, no matter how rich.

Even worse, or to use the court’s words, multo magis, we now have a court ruling confirming the multiple illegalities Stivala was allowed to commit for years to the “detriment of the public” through Muscat’s “actions and inaction”.

Stivala was taken to the cleaners by the court. The judgment is a masterpiece, a brutal castigation of the sheer arrogance of a man who tramples over ordinary citizens because of “the administrative and political decisions that were taken or not taken while that person (Muscat) occupied public office”.

But Magistrate Montebello also delivered a stunning rebuke of the former prime minister who, the court pointed out, was given “the title ‘2019 Person of the Year in Organised Crime and Corruption’ by the OCCRP”.

Stivala’s misguided decision to sue Cassola didn’t just leave him with egg all over his face. It led to a humiliating condemnation of Muscat’s modus operandi.

“These arrangements,” the court commented in reference to Muscat’s multiple suspicious ‘consultancies’, “objectively and practically raise issues of conflict of interest and concerns regarding the real reason behind these consultancies… the reader cannot but perceive a conflict of interest or a lack of ethics in this arrangement”.

“Only two months after Muscat resigned as Malta’s prime minister, and while still an MP, he started being paid as a consultant to a prominent developer who held a key position in the developers’ lobby during Muscat’s administration and who carried out controversial developments that were irregular. It is impossible not to create the perception in the minds of reasonable, ordinary persons that this arrangement resembles a quid pro quo, which means that this consultancy could have been compensation or reward for the decisions taken under Muscat’s administration from which Stivala or his companies benefitted,” the court concluded.

The court pointed out that “it has been proven that, with effect from 2013, the responsibility for the administration of the Planning Authority as well as the coordination of planning, policy and priorities were assigned to the OPM, that is, Joseph Muscat... Muscat was being paid… a short time after his resignation, by other companies which, under his government’s administration, received public funds or land in what were described as controversial or suspicious circumstances”.

Thanks to Stivala’s decision to sue Cassola, we know that Muscat contacted Stivala just weeks after his resignation. At the second meeting between them, “details of (Muscat’s) payment” were discussed. Muscat was forced to admit on the witness stand that he’d known Stivala since he was opposition leader.

He admitted having meetings with Stivala even while prime minister. The court confirmed that, despite Stivala’s multiple irregularities and illegalities during Muscat’s premiership, the authorities failed to enforce the law.

The judgment is a terrible indictment of a Labour leadership that has long ditched its socialist principles- Kevin Cassar

Stivala failed to abide by regulations while developing a St Julian’s property, turning the sea at Balluta Bay a murky brown with construction debris, making it unsuitable for swimming. Despite several reports lodged with the ERA, it took the authority a full month to order cessation of works.

Stivala operated an illegal bar and grill in Gżira for five full years. Despite multiple complaints by residents about noise, smells and refuse, no enforcement action was ever taken. Stivala was forced to admit he was aware of the illegalities. He’d submitted an application (PA6706/22) to sanction those illegalities.

Muscat’s government passed a special parliamentary resolution to transfer a substantial part of the Gżira promenade to the Hotels Consortium Sliema Strand Lido, of which Stivala was part.

No public call was issued. Stivala admitted submitting an application to sanction illegalities committed in the lido’s construction. An illegal decking area and glass railings were added on the roof despite being specifically prohibited. They’re still there.

The court found that, in 2019, “despite multiple reports by residents to the competent authorities, no enforcement action was taken to stop the work” at Moroni and Parisio Streets. Stivala illegally demolished part of an old farm, destroyed an old water reservoir and uprooted mature trees. The court noted that “those works continued for four whole weeks, causing inconvenience to neighbours and risking their health”.

When Stivala’s companies made use of millions of euros worth of electricity, an amnesty was awarded by Muscat’s government. Stivala finally paid just €1 million which, the court noted, accounted for one-fifth of the total sum paid as part of the national amnesty. “For the court, the fact that Stivala’s company benefitted from the amnesty indicates a situation which, even to a person of low intelligence, was clearly not a legal one.”

Cassola was absolutely right. There was nothing false in his post, as Stivala claimed. On the contrary, the court concluded, it was “honest opinion” based on “a state of fact”. The court dismissed Stivala’s claims and ordered him to pay all costs.

That judgment is a shot in the arm for law-abiding citizens who value the rule of law. It’s a triumph for Cassola. But it’s a victory for all ordinary citizens and a deserved blow to the arrogance of wealthy developers and the shady powerful politicians who collude with them to extort public land and funds for their personal benefit and who enable those illegalities. That judgment is a terrible indictment of a Labour leadership that has long ditched not only all its socialist principles but any sense of shame.

That court has confirmed our desperate reality – with Labour in power, the wealthy can break the law with impunity, can steal our money and our land and will then shamelessly share their loot with the very Labour leaders who enabled their profitable illegalities.

Kevin Cassar is a professor of surgery.