“In this country, there is no impunity,” Robert Abela declared in parliament. Abela is seriously deluded or shamefacedly dishonest.
Just a day earlier, Abela’s parliamentary standards committee members were guaranteeing impunity for Rosianne Cutajar, enabled by the Speaker whose life mission is protecting Labour’s interests at the country’s cost.
The Standards Commissioner had spent months investigating Cutajar’s involvement with Yorgen Fenech. He interviewed several witnesses and corresponded with the police commissioner.
Some of the voluminous documentation collated in his meticulous investigation was included in the report. Two large volumes of documents with witness statements and recorded witness submissions were not, although the commissioner recommended their publication.
Other sensitive documents were kept in the commissioner’s office but could be examined only by committee members there. These included chats between Fenech and Cutajar.
What is evident is that the commissioner’s work was thorough and detailed. His conclusions were clear. Cutajar was guilty of breaching ethics when she pocketed thousands in a property deal involving Fenech, which she failed to declare.
The commissioner recommended the report be sent to the Tax Commissioner for investigation.
But when the report was discussed at the parliamentary committee, the usual suspects, Glenn Bedingfield and Edward Zammit Lewis, refused to adopt it. Speaker Anġlu Farrugia, Labour’s loyal poodle, effectively rejected the report with his casting vote.
His excuse? He couldn’t be sure of the conclusions and more witnesses were needed. Two weeks later, Farrugia was again casting his vote in Labour’s defence as Labour’s MPs doggedly prevented Opposition members from calling witnesses. Impunity for Cutajar was ensured.
Cutajar admitted accepting a €9,000 “birthday gift” from the man accused of a journalist’s murder. She admitted picking up a five-figure sum in cash from the owner of 17 Black, which is linked to Keith Schembri’s and Konrad Mizzi’s offshore companies.
Cutajar’s putrid conniving with Fenech, mentioned 18 times in the Caruana Galizia report, is a microcosm of the filth that the three judges condemned.
Cutajar epitomises the “money-friendly” approach that the report claims led to Caruana Galizia’s assassination.
Cutajar stood up at the Council of Europe, days after her ‘birthday gift’, to try to prevent a public inquiry into the journalist’s assassination.
Yet, Robert Abela instructs his MPs to prevent the adoption of the commissioner’s report and to ensure Cutajar is protected. If this is not impunity, what is?
Abela has a golden opportunity to implement his declared intent of “wanting to change”. This is his chance to show that sordid, incestuous relationships with criminal business will not be tolerated.
He cannot even bring himself to let Cutajar face the deserved consequences of her revolting intimacy with filthy money, let alone expel her from the party. He directs his MPs, aided by the Speaker, to thwart justice, undermine fairness and propagate Labour’s legacy – guaranteed impunity for friends.
If Abela protects Cutajar, mere small meat, what is the likelihood that he will withdraw protection from the moneyed big beasts? How can he implement the inquiry report’s ground-shattering recommendations? His assertion that there is no impunity is a brutal kick in the teeth, leaving the nation profusely bleeding.
Abela cannot even bring himself to let Cutajar face the deserved consequences of her revolting intimacy with filthy money- Kevin Cassar
The country despairs as people like Silvio Valletta, who enjoyed luxury trips to watch Champions League finals with the man he was meant to investigate, and who allegedly leaked confidential information, runs free.
Worse still, the inquiry reported that Valletta committed perjury. Valletta claimed that Ian Abdilla told him he would not interrogate Yorgen Fenech. In fact, it was Valletta himself, on orders from Schembri, who told Abdilla not to interrogate Fenech.
Lawrence Cutajar, roundly condemned in the report for his frightful inaction, still evades justice.
Abdilla, mentioned 32 times in the inquiry report and who failed to act on FIAU reports on Adrian Hillman and Schembri, also enjoyed impunity. Instead of being kicked out of the police force for his wilful incompetence, he remained assistant commissioner until his recent suspension.
Joseph Cuschieri, ex-Malta Gaming Authority and MFSA chief, notoriously photographed bare-chested with Fenech on the latter’s yacht and who travelled with him to Las Vegas on a lavish holiday, was simply allowed to suspend himself and then to resign.
His resignation, he brazenly declared, “should not be interpreted as an admission of wrongdoing”.
Cuschieri’s travelling partner, Edwina Licari, drafted Fenech’s letter for his casino licence which Cuschieri had seen and which he replied to, reassuring Fenech that the casino licence would be extended.
Not only does Cuschieri enjoy impunity, after his resignation from MFSA CEO he remained as director of government-owned company Safe City Ltd.
James Piscopo, former Transport Malta and later Lands Authority CEO, allegedly held €600,000 in a secret offshore account. That information was leaked through Fenech from Schembri.
While heading the Lands Authority, Piscopo’s business partners and Fortina Hotel owners were given a concession that earned them €60 million.
Piscopo quit his Lands Authority role but is now advisor to the Zammit Tabonas who prosper under Labour. Piscopo too enjoys complete impunity. He was even rewarded with the chairmanship of ARMS Ltd and board membership of Enemalta.
Tax Commissioner Marvin Gaerty, Cuschieri and ex-MEPA CEO Johann Buttigieg are singled out in the report as examples of individuals enticed by favours and money to abuse their power to serve businessmen’s interests.
The list goes on: Heathcliff Farrugia, Carmelo Abela, Edwin Brincat ‘il-Ġojja’, Johann Cremona, Kenneth Camilleri, Kittiwake’s Paul Apap Bologna, Ian Borg and Zammit Lewis, who proudly shared his efforts to shield 17 Black from justice with its owner Fenech – all savouring impunity. Even those charged in the oil scandal in 2013 still enjoy impunity.
The country is unrecognisable from what it was just months ago, Abela insisted. That is pure fantasy.
We still have a prime minister who guarantees impunity even for those who provided impunity for murderers and money launderers and who shattered the rule of law.
Boasting there’s “no impunity”, Abela determinedly shields the culprits.