Labour turns on its own

Labour just couldn’t take it.  Former Labour Economics Affairs Minister and MEP John Attard Montalto publicly denounced Attorney General Victoria Buttigieg and called for her resignation.  He wrecked Labour’s false narrative –  that all calls from the Opposition, NGOs and civil society for her removal were just politically motivated.

Crucially, Attard Montalto, a Labour stalwart, declared the truth – that Vitals (the corrupt deal on public hospitals) was a disaster for the country and that disgraced former prime minister Joseph Muscat’s prosecution can no longer be handled by an Attorney General who keeps messing up. 

So Labour deployed its attack dog, Neville Gafa.  In a thinly veiled threat to the former Labour Minister, Gafa wished Attard Montalto a speedy recovery, adding “it is important that we take care of our health – both physical and mental”.  

Labour is out to destroy Attard Montalto, spreading lies that the former MEP is both mentally and physically unwell.  The latest message from one of Labour’s mouthpieces is that Attard Montalto has lost his mind, that he’s too sick, that he’s just talking nonsense and that he should be ignored. Attard Montalto must be neutralised, his opinion must be completely discredited. 

Attard Montalto’s daughter sprang to his defence.  Her father, she insisted, isn’t mentally sick.  He knows what he’s saying, and he’s had the courage to stick his neck out and contradict Labour’s falsehoods.

Attard Montalto struck at the core of Labour’s deception.  The Vitals concession was not just a mistake. It wasn’t a simple error of judgment after all.  The prosecution of those suspected of engineering that fraud cannot be led by a partial Attorney General. As Attard Montalto pointed out, we cannot allow an Attorney General to remain in post when she is so deviously selective over who gets prosecuted and who doesn’t.

He denounced the “seriousness of her grave mistake” when she botched a request to the Swiss authorities for information about the Vitals case. What Attard Montalto is really condemning is  Labour’s control of the Attorney General in order to undermine the prosecution of Labour’s former leader.

Attard Montalto deserves praise for his courage – it takes courage to stand up for the truth when that truth conflicts with Labour’s narrative. And if he had any doubts about the vicious repercussions his position would earn him, they were swiftly dispelled. Within 24 hours of the publication of his article, Attard Montalto was targeted with scurrilous rumours. 

It’s not just the Opposition, or civil society or the courts saying the Vitals deal was a scam.  It’s Labour’s own faithful.  It’s not just the Opposition denouncing Labour’s continued shielding and protection of an Attorney General hell bent on thwarting justice. It’s Labour’s own former MEP. 

He’s accused Victoria Buttigieg of “gross negligence”.  He denounced her for compromising the nation’s chances “to retrieve almost half a billion euro fraudulently given, taken and pocketed”.   He’s called on Abela’s government to “appoint a new Attorney General… in the interest of the nation”.

But it’s not just incompetence and gross negligence that Attard Montalto accuses the Attorney General of.  He charges her with selective application of the law.  He insists that “when the Attorney General wants, she knows how to pounce”. 

He insinuates that the Attorney General messed up the request for help from Swiss authorities, not through incompetence but intentionally.  She’s doing exactly what Labour wants.

The ultimate objective of Labour’s relentless targeting of court experts and the magistrate is to exculpate its former leader, its senior ministers involved in the scam and the Labour party itself. 

The final aim is to bury the truth of how Labour betrayed the country, how it looted the nation to enrich a handful of untouchables at the expense of the country’s health and finances.

Attard Montalto proclaimed the truth – about Vitals, the Panama Papers, 17 Black, Electrogas, the Montenegro windfarm and even “the heinous assassination of Daphne”.  He is denouncing the hijacking of his own beloved party by a gang of crooks.

“In any other country”, Attard Montalto laments, “these events would have shaken its foundations”. 

Attard Montalto’s honest opinion piece has also revealed something far more sinister about Labour – it will not hesitate to turn on its own when they dare speak the truth.