“My father is approaching death. He’s only got mere months to live. Instead of enjoying those months, he spends his time talking to me and worrying about me. I’m never going to forgive them for this, never, never will I forgive them,” Joseph Muscat yelled to hysterical chants of “Joseph, Joseph”. “I always let things go by but I won’t let this go… I will do what’s necessary for myself,” he threatened.
Muscat must be pretty desperate to use his own father’s poor health to incite his supporters to pervert the course of justice. Mind you, he’s even used his daughters to whip up hate against the magistrate. To do that it takes more than just desperation, it takes depravity.
The ‘serene’ Joseph was totally hysterical, yelling at his highest pitch. “They thought that with this inquiry they’d destroy us... but the most depressed person is Bernard Grech.”
Grech isn’t facing prosecution for criminal association, fraud, money laundering and corruption.
Muscat is frantic. He’s resorting to anything to thwart justice – from attempting to halt the inquiry to getting the magistrate removed. Now he’s filed an application to request the inquiry findings be made public. He claimed the case against him is based on “conjecture, lies, twisting of facts and hearsay” and “built on sand”.
He claimed he’s being charged just because “an Indian man claimed to have heard someone else make assertions about him”. That’s why there are 78 boxes of documents of evidence on the AG’s desk. That’s why Steward paid Accutor €3.6 million and why Accutor recruited Malta’s brightest sparks –Muscat and Konrad Mizzi.
Muscat’s latest gimmick is another of his classic cons. The decision to publish the Vitals’ inquiry report rests with the attorney general. If publishing it is damaging to Labour, Victoria Buttigieg will surely keep it under lock and key. That’s what she did with the Pilatus inquiry. She kept it secret to exonerate those who the inquiry recommended for prosecution with her nolle prosequi. That famous press conference with Justice Minister Jonathan Attard clearly demonstrated Buttigieg’s subservience. If Labour truly wanted that inquiry report published, it would already be on the front pages.
Deviously, only handpicked sections of the Egrant inquiry had initially been published when Muscat was prime minister, the rest of it remaining concealed, denying the public the full picture. Ironically, his latest court application states that he wants the Vitals inquiry report published because it “appears to be in the hands of third parties with the risk that parts of it may be selectively published, creating an imbalance”.
Resorting to the courts to seek his rights is entirely legitimate. What isn’t is the threat of bringing the mob down onto the streets on May 28 in classic Labour style. Muscat’s loyal disciple, Manuel Cuschieri, has been ratcheting up the threats. “You need to be ready,” he told the faithful. “I will be there with you, to stand in solidarity with Joseph Muscat…. No more words and talk on Facebook, now is the moment of truth.”
“We’re going to test you to see whether what you’ve said about appreciation and support for Joseph Muscat will translate into action,” he warned. He openly denounced the judicial system, claiming that the “establishment” is undermining the “supposed institutions”.
“We want a normal country where justice works and is effective and where it serves justice, not political persecution of those who were politically successful.”
Robert Abela led the assault against our democracy, openly denouncing the magistrate and the entire judiciary- Kevin Cassar
One of PBS’s board directors, Norman Hamilton, was at it too, fuelling the “Laburisti sal-mewt” on their secret Labour online group. “Leave us alone buddy (ħallina xbin),” he wrote, “do you call yourself Labour while uploading a post stating that if we go to Valletta on May 28 we will be fools? Do you know what you’re saying? Do you want Labourites to abandon Joseph Muscat? On May 28 everybody should be in front of the law courts so Labourites can send a colossal message to the members of the so-called establishment.”
PBS board directors should not engage in partisan political comment. They are meant to ensure their comments on social media and their participation in political activities do not undermine public confidence “in the competence and impartiality” of PBS. But he’s Norman Hamilton. Besides, is there any public confidence in the competence and impartiality of PBS left at all to undermine?
The real problem isn’t Cuschieri or Hamilton.
The problem is that this isn’t just Muscat, Cuschieri, Hamilton and Jason Micallef deriding the judicial system which is holding Muscat to account. This is the entire Labour Party, one of two governing parties and the ruling party, lining up in unison declaring that the magistrate is an “establishment” lackey out to destroy Muscat and that our entire judicial system ought to be dismantled.
Prime Minister Robert Abela led the assault against our democracy, openly denouncing the magistrate and the entire judiciary, labelling them “part of the establishment”.
The rest of Abela’s cabinet have been mindlessly parroting his obscenely anti-democratic rhetoric simply to curry favour with the leader.
The whole Labour Party isn’t just showing up to Muscat’s court case on May 28 to support their friend and former leader. They’re not simply turning up to do the normal thing and demonstrate their belief in Muscat’s innocence and their trust that the courts will see that truth and acquit him. No, Labour is turning up in force to accuse the whole judicial system of being illegitimate and corrupt. The magistrate is corrupt, they yell, and let me tell you about her father and brother.
Labour is declaring that we have a rotten judicial system and that it should be dismantled because the people involved in it are corrupt and beholden to the rotten establishment. They are evil and persecuting our leader because he thrashed them at the ballot box and they hate him and want revenge, they accuse.
Labour’s rhetoric is corrosive to our judicial system and fundamentally destructive to our country’s democracy. This is the pathetic platform on which Labour makes the case to the nation to vote for its candidates on June 8: the judiciary is anti-Labour and the vote is your weapon to beat the living daylights out of them.
Kevin Cassar is a professor of surgery.