Opinion: Edward Scicluna’s own rules

Edward Scicluna has his own rules.  That’s what he told the country, as everybody wanted to see the back of him.

Even Prime Minister Robert Abela demanded his resignation. Everyone knew Scicluna was a deadweight, pulling the country down into the squalid swamp he inhabits. But Scicluna hung on in there, defiant and arrogant beyond belief.

Nobody needed to be reminded that Scicluna has his own rules – the rules of the pretentiously entitled, the rapaciously greedy, and the shockingly shameless.

The court decided there was enough reason to charge Scicluna with fraud and misappropriation in the biggest heist in Malta’s history – a €4 billion international scandal planned, executed, and enabled by Labour’s top brass. Scicluna now faces a criminal trial.

Anybody with an ounce of decency would realise it’s time to go.  Not Scicluna.  He expected to stay on as Malta’s Central Bank Governor to continue to sit on the governing council of the European Central Bank and keep his seat on the board of the Malta Financial Services Authority.

Why? Because avarice drives him. His rabid pursuit of cash blinds him to everything else. He’s shown time and time again that only money matters to him, humiliating himself and destroying his own reputation.

He testified under oath at the Daphne Caruana Galizia inquiry that he supported Konrad Mizzi and Keith Schembri simply because he didn’t want to lose his position.

He knew what he was doing was wrong, and he knew he should have voted against it, but he chose not to.

“I left a €100,000 job as an MEP and my comfort zone.  Why should I resign?”, he told the incredulous inquiry panel. “It was either vote in favour or resign”.

The man has no pride, no shame.

Now, his uncontrollable greed is leading him to humiliate himself further.  Sadly, he’s also humiliating his party, his prime minister and the entire country.

Robert Abela tried the gentle approach first, saying:  “I know Prof Scicluna has a lot of integrity; I know how hard he worked for the country and how he always put the national interest first. I think he can arrive at the right decision”.

But just in case, he told Scicluna what the right decision was: “The correct decision for the Central Bank Governor is apparent in the example set out by the former Deputy Prime Minister. I believe good sense will prevail. I believe the national interest will prevail.”

But only Scicluna’s interest prevailed.  He openly defied the prime minister.  In a self-serving Whatsapp message, he said: “Friends, they are leading us where they want to.  EU rules are clear for every European Governor – they’re asked to resign only if found guilty of a crime.  With all due respect, I’m not going to bow to Bernard Grech’s pressure”.

The pressure wasn’t coming from Grech alone.  It was coming from the prime minister and the entire country. But Scicluna wouldn’t flinch.

As he finally walked out of court, he was asked whether he would resign. He replied: “I have already answered that question… The EU Treaty protects me… from those very kinds of pressure.” Then he quickly escaped into a Central Bank van protected by Central Bank employees.

Isn’t that an abuse of his power, too? With €700,000 in bank deposits, €150,000 in government bonds and a €138,000 pay packet, surely Scicluna could afford to pay for his own taxi home.

Abela should have known Scicluna wouldn’t go quietly. Scicluna had already humiliated Abela before. When Abela asked him to stand down as finance minister so Clyde Caruana could take over, Scicluna refused.

He insisted he would only step down once he was sure he would become Central Bank governor with a higher financial package.

Abela was forced to remove former Labour Party president Mario Vella from his post months before his term was up to make way for Scicluna.  Abela had to wait several months for the European Central Bank to give its approval for Scicluna’s appointment.

Scicluna boosted the remuneration for the Central Bank governor as he waited to take that post.  By the time the European Central Bank approval was received, Scicluna was ready to step into the post with even better remuneration.

Abela shouldn’t have been surprised that Scicluna was humiliating him publicly.  After having deviously hiked up his own salary and forced the prime minister to delay his cabinet reshuffle, he wasn’t going to think twice about embarrassing Abela one more time.

He wasn’t giving up his lucrative financial package without a fight. That’s all that matters to Scicluna.

Finally, even Abela lost his patience with him. “A decision needed to be taken today, and indeed it has,” Abela told journalists. “Tomorrow a notice will be issued in the Government Gazette.”

Abela was removing Scicluna from his position on the Malta Financial Services Authority (MFSA).  More importantly, he was doing it publicly.  The message to Scicluna couldn’t be clearer.

Abela expected Scicluna to resign as Central Bank governor. “Failing that, naturally, a decision will have to be taken. The cabinet is going to meet next Tuesday (today),” Abela said.

Scicluna ignored Abela’s threats.  He steadfastly refused to comply with his demand.

Despite his removal from the MFSA, Scicluna didn’t budge, hanging to his governor’s seat by his finger nails.

Scicluna belongs in the same political trash heap as former minister Konrad Mizzi.

Mizzi, too, openly defied Robert Abela. When Abela demanded Mizzi’s resignation from parliament after more of his rotten deals were exposed, Mizzi refused.  He publicly announced, “I don’t agree that I should resign over allegations and speculations pushed by the Labour Party’s adversaries”.

That’s the exact narrative Scicluna is now brandishing. “I stand tall,” Mizzi said, “and I have nothing to apologise for”. That did not age well.

Abela got tired of Mizzi’s defiance.  He got Labour’s executive to kick him out.  Despite 71 out of 73 Labour executive members voting against Mizzi, he held on to his parliamentary seat to become eligible for an MP’s pension. He announced he’d remain MP and that his loyalty to Labour was unwavering.

This is Labour’s legacy – a bunch of self-interested, entitled money grabbers who would rather humiliate their leader, their party, their country and themselves before they relinquish a single euro of their ill-gotten earnings.