The annual Corruption Index, issued on January 31 by Transparency International for 2023, reflects the extent to which corruption has been fuelled under the Labour government.
Malta plunged 11 positions since 2012 to 54th position, reaching an all-time high corruption level, and has been classified as a flawed democracy with a mere 51 percentile score compared to the average 73 attained by full democracies. Denmark placed first as the cleanest country, scoring a 90 percentile.
Malta’s ranking in the Press Freedom Index by Reporters without Borders has similarly suffered a colossal ranking drop since the Labour Party came to power. From 45th place in 2013, the country plummeted to 84th place in 2023, the lowest score yet and six positions lower than the previous year. Consequently, the country’s press freedom started to be categorised as problematic.
A resolution adopted by the European Parliament last October took stock of the serious and persistent threats to media freedom, judicial and police independence and the freedom of assembly in Malta while it showed its preoccupation about the state of impunity that has persisted in the country, with no convictions in cases of high-level corruption.
Disgraced former prime minister Joseph Muscat inflicted unimaginable harm on Malta’s image as a democratic country by weakening the rule of law and nurturing a culture of impunity in which political corruption flourished freely.
Robert Abela continued in his predecessor’s footsteps by defending and downplaying acts of institutionalised corruption committed by fellow Labour cronies. The European Parliament has been appalled by his actions as clearly stated in its October resolution.
Recently, Abela continued to demonstrate a lack of integrity by saying that he is open to having Rosianne Cutajar back in the Labour Party despite her serious breach of ethical conduct by failing to disclose her conflict of interest in a speech that she delivered to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe.
Robert Abela continued to demonstrate a lack of integrity by saying that he is open to having Rosianne Cutajar back in the Labour Party
In her speech, she defended the controversial €420 million deal signed in May 2014 by disgraced former energy minister Konrad Mizzi with Electrogas Malta Ltd without disclosing her relationship with Yorgen Fenech, who is charged with being an accomplice in the murder of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia and who was one of the directors of the company.
Cutajar, who was paid €28,000 in terminal benefits when she resigned as a parliamentary secretary after exposure of her role as a broker in a deal on a €3.1 million sale of a palazzo to Fenech, continued pigging out from public coffers by raking a gross income of €19,195 over a period of around eight months for a ghost consultant job at the Institute of Tourism Studies. The auditor general concluded that her employment was illegitimate and breached regulations.
On April 3, 2023, Abela totally excluded any possibility of allowing Cutajar to contest the next election as a Labour Party candidate or even her return to the party fold, claiming that it raised the bar in terms of ethical standards.
However, all of a sudden, in his desperation for votes with the European Parliament elections around the corner, Abela had a change of heart and decided to do away with ethical standards by showing his disposition to accept Cutajar back in the Labour Party.
Abela looks to be as changeable as the weather. He keeps making one U-turn after another. His words carry no weight.
Abela is even open to have former education minister Justyne Caruana back in the party despite having similarly breached ethical conduct by gifting her friend, Daniel Bogdanovic, a lucrative contract with her ministry, forked out by the taxpayer for a job beyond his capabilities.
Abela went on to demonstrate his weakness by bowing to the possible candidacy of Muscat for the European Parliament elections on behalf of the Labour Party. He has stooped so low as to accept to have Malta represented by a failed political leader who stepped down as prime minister in disgrace. The same person who was voted the 2019 Person of the Year in Organised Crime and Corruption by the Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project, a global network of investigative journalists.
Muscat swept to power 11 years ago with catchphrases like “Malta Tagħna Lkoll” (Malta belongs to all of us) and “L-Aqwa Żmien” (The best of times) but, as his term of office progressed, it became increasingly clear that the phrases that he coined were deliberately deceptive and intended only to mislead citizens that they would be going through a period of prosperity, whereas it became quite evident that he only had his close-knit group of friends in mind in his road map.
Muscat abused the extensive powers conferred upon him by the constitution and exploited its shortcomings to hijack core State institutions with the ultimate aim of affording protection to those involved in corrupt activities.
Within just 72 hours of Labour’s ascend to power, Mizzi and Muscat’s chief of staff, Keith Schembri had already made their first move, through their personal financial advisor Karl Cini, from Nexia BT, to open a secret offshore shell company in Panama under a tax evasion scheme.
The lack of legal action against Mizzi and Schembri, together with the scandalous sale of Maltese passports scheme introduced by Muscat, contributed substantially to the year-long placing of Malta on the FATF’s grey list with harmful consequences for Malta-based businesses.
On October 16, 2017, the culture of impunity seeded and nurtured by Muscat culminated in the gruesome murder of Caruana Galizia, who played a critical role in exposing the corruption within Malta’ political scene and the country’s links to offshore tax havens.
An independent public inquiry into her murder held the Maltese State responsible and singled out Muscat for enabling a culture of impunity and the entire cabinet collectively for their inaction in the lead up to the assassination. The report also demonstrated the vulnerability of journalists in Malta.
If we seriously want to restore Malta’s reputation, we just cannot keep doing nothing about corrupt politicians.