I was worried that having to stay home for long periods because of COVID-19 could be very boring. I was wrong.
The explosive news during the last week of October filled up all my time.
We started off with the Joseph Cuschieri affair. I will not go into the details of the visit of the four to Las Vegas, the capital of casinos and other vices. All Malta knows about it by now. What interests me is the immediate reaction by Robert Abela.
His brazen-faced answer to the media was: “Did Cuschieri have a conflict of interest back then? Did the trip impact his role at the MFSA? From what I have read and been told so far, there exists no conflict of interest.”
The cheek of this prime minister, feeling smug by answering as any sly and slimy lawyer would do, is simply too much to stomach. I am, therefore, forced to repeat the question in my previous article in Times of Malta: “Dr Abela, are you naive? Or are you simply thick?”
Following Abela’s statement, The Shift News revealed that Cuschieri got an extra €15,000 behind the MFSA board’s back. It also stated that the only member of the board who knew what was going on behind the backs of the other board members was John Mamo, the chairman, as he was the only one defending Cuschieri’s actions.
So we ended up with a situation whereby Abela, the son of President Emeritus George Abela, and John Mamo, the son of the late President Sir Anthony Mamo, both defended the trip to Vegas by Joseph Cuschieri, the son-in-law of President George Vella.
All we needed was a fourth President’s son to make up a foursome worthy of Pavarotti and Co.’s Quattro Tenori. Instead, what we have is Joseph Brincat, son-in-law of the late President Anton Buttigieg, spoiling the perfect foursome broth, since, a year ago, Brincat asked Cuschieri in court to explain his “illegal” actions after he had sacked a senior official, amid accusations that he was running the authority as a personal fiefdom.
All Malta has been whispering the name of Yorgen Fenech’s political partner for months in private gossip but naturally never in public- Arnold Cassola
The second bomb of the week was exploded by Jason Azzopardi when, on 103FM, he repeated the accusation that a parliamentary secretary travelled with Yorgen Fenech and accepted gifts from him in 2019 after Fenech was outed as the corruptor of politicians through his Dubai 17 Black company.
Now, I realise that a fully paid trip to romantic Paris is a very big temptation even if the partner, simply put, is a multi-millionaire businessman who lavishes his money with politicians. But if the said millionaire is known to be a corruptor of politicians then I, as a politician, would certainly not want to have anything to do with him.
Of course, since all Malta has been whispering the name of Fenech’s political partner for months in private gossip...but naturally never in public, Azzopardi’s assertion did not really make any news.
What did was his declaration that Abela has been aware since March 2020 that a member of his cabinet – “not a lawyer” – has been implicated in a crime by Vincent Muscat, also known as Il-Koħħu. The search for the non-lawyer serving minister started in earnest.
What rendered the news even more interesting was the revelation by The Sunday Times of Malta a day after that “in the hope of securing some form of leniency, Vincent Muscat has told police investigators he can name an individual, believed to be a former high-ranking Labour politician, who helped plan a heist on HSBC’s Malta headquarters in 2010”.
So, basically, we have a past politician and a present minister involved.
According to Kenneth Rijock, the former politician is easily recognisable: “He is an individual who has a thing for Eastern European and Russian prostitutes”. The present one, though not so flamboyant, is on everyone’s lips.
In view of all this, rather than explain why Abela refutes Azzopardi’s statement or why, if true, he has not taken action to remove the present minister, Abela just states that Azzopardi is obstructing police work.
Unbelievable.
The final juicy news of the week: according to Il-Mument, it is confirmed that Joseph Muscat and family will flee to Dubai, where he will be employed by Sky Gourmet... the partners of Silvio Debono’s DB.
If this is true, now we know the real reason why Konrad Mizzi and Muscat gave the Pembroke ITS for peanuts to Silvio Debono.
It all started with Muscat selling ITS in St George’s Bay for peanuts.
It will sadly end in Dubai with his having sold his soul, dignity and self-respect.
Arnold Cassola is an independent candidate and ex secretary general, European Green Party.