The judge’s ruling on the prime minister: unfit for office

A sitting judge openly accused the Prime Minister of putting “great pressure” on court employees and “threatening the employee” at the Judge’s office, he would “have her fired” simply because he wanted to make even more money than he was already making.

Judge Lawrence Mintoff declared, under oath, that “for Dr Abela, money was more important than the independence of the judiciary”.  If Abela, while still a lawyer, was threatening court officials to have them sacked, how much worse would he behave as Prime Minister? Mintoff soon found out.

Faced with those serious accusations, Abela’s lame defence was that the Judge “never said that I ever interfered with a court sentence”. He didn’t.  He just revealed that Abela threatened court staff to have them sacked if they didn’t accede to his demands to enrich himself.

More bizarre were Abela’s comments that he has “full faith” in the Judge and that Mintoff’s comments were “sparked by his desire to serve the country”.

If proof were needed that Mintoff’s allegations were true, Abela’s endorsement of the Judge provides it in bucket loads. If Mintoff were lying, Abela couldn’t possibly have “full faith” in him. Abela didn’t challenge or dispute Mintoff’s honesty and integrity – he confirmed it.

Mintoff didn’t just expose Abela’s serious character flaws. He exposed his obsession with money, his bullying of public officials, his willingness to intimidate and threaten court staff for personal financial gain, and his total disrespect for the independence of the judiciary.

Mintoff also called on Abela to abstain from any “negotiations, consultations, deliberations over who should serve as the new Chief Justice”.  By declaring Abela’s disqualification from joining those discussions, let alone choosing the Chief Justice, Mintoff demonstrated Abela’s total unfitness for office.

The Judge revealed that Abela has no respect for the Constitution he is meant to serve and lacks any basic appreciation of the key pillar of that Constitution – the separation of powers.

Mintoff declared, under oath, that the Prime Minister personally requested to meet him on 11 February, “stating that we need to talk”.  At that meeting, Abela discussed the appointment of the Chief Justice with Mintoff.  Abela also made comments demonstrating his petty political partisanship, even over such a serious matter as the appointment of the Chief Justice.

Abela and his party previously accused Opposition Leader Alex Borg of putting partisan considerations before the national interest.  Yet Mintoff’s revelations exposed Abela’s hypocrisy in his obsession with political point-scoring and by choosing to appease his party diehards before his duty to the nation.

Mintoff stated, under oath, that Abela told him he would not accept anybody nominated by the Opposition for the post of Chief Justice because he “would lose support of his diehards” and because “Alex Borg would grow in stature”.

The Judge went on to give the Prime Minister a lesson in decency.  Mintoff explained to Abela that when the two sides agree on any issue, “the merit belongs to both sides, not one or the other”. But Abela insisted that “partisan considerations enter into these matters”.  Mintoff repeated several times, “I do not agree that partisan pique should creep into such a sensitive issue”.

When Mintoff pointed out to Abela that the appointment of his father as President of the Republic had been a win, not for one side or the other, but for the whole country, Abela retorted that “it was a mistake for Lawrence Gonzi to appoint George Abela President”.

Malta’s Prime Minister considers the honour bestowed on his father to serve the country “a mistake”. Abela even confided in the Judge that he didn’t agree with the appointment of Joseph Azzopardi as Chief Justice. Yet Abela went on to make Azzopardi Standards Commissioner through an anti-deadlock mechanism, in another fit of pique with the Opposition.

But that was not all. Abela, according to Mintoff, accused the Judge and former President Marie Louis Coleiro Preca of being complicit in determining the tax on the Paqpaqli case in which Abela was the defence lawyer, simply because Abela didn’t make as much money as he wanted out of it.

Abela even kept communicating with the sitting Judge through WhatsApp after their face-to-face meeting.

Judge Mintoff’s letter, sent to all Cabinet members, the Cabinet secretary and the President, was described as a “bombshell”. That letter should have been fatal for any Prime Minister. It reveals not only Abela’s total unfitness for office but that he actively contravened the spirit and letter of the Constitution.

Partit Momentum are right to call on Abela “to step aside in the national interest and to safeguard the integrity of our democratic system”.  Party Secretary General Mark Camilleri was absolutely right when he insisted, “Malta deserves institutions that serve the people, not Prime Ministers who use the institutions to serve their own greedy and egoistic needs”.

Carmel Cacopardo, Green Party Deputy Chair, put it best: “A Prime Minister who has the minimum of respect towards his country would have submitted his immediate resignation”.

But this is Robert Abela, who, according to a sitting Judge, cares more about money than an independent judiciary. This is a man who threatens a court official to get her fired because he wanted more cash. This is a man who asks a sitting Judge to meet him to discuss Party politics and the appointment of the Chief Justice. This is a man who puts the support of his Party diehards before his oath to the Constitution.

Mintoff knew full well that sending that explosive letter would spell his own downfall.  Indeed, the Chief Justice has already requested an investigation into Mintoff for sending it. But, unlike the Prime Minister, the Judge realised it was his duty to speak up.

As he’s done before, Mintoff chose to do the right thing and expose the simple truth that Robert Abela is so unfit for office he shouldn’t be making any decisions for the country.