We’ve only got Muscat to thank

Faced with an unstoppable avalanche of sordid details about the corrupt machinations in Muscat’s Castille, the man responsible for that web of wickedness expects our gratitude.

Joseph Muscat dared to claim credit in the middle of a jury that exposed the revolting details of the wheeling and dealing at his former office.

“I can only state that until now everybody agreed that the crucial step in this case was the decision taken in a few minutes to ask for the intervention of the American authorities – one decision, without fear or favour”.

The man has no shame.

As more grimy details were provided under oath, Muscat had the temerity to portray himself as the one who managed to bring the culprits to justice. No other government managed to achieve this, Muscat bragged. Only his amazing foresight, wise judgement and principled decisions led us “to where we are today where the executors were condemned, and the mastermind is facing trial”.

In Maltese we have a colourful expression to describe the disgraced former Prime Minister –  and it has to do with faces and backsides. The man who transformed the Office of the Prime Minister into a pigsty of unimaginable filth now expects us to thank him because he claims he called in the cleaners.

Joseph Muscat didn’t contact the FBI himself as he is trying to imply. Neither did Keith Schembri. The person who actually contacted the FBI immediately after Daphne Caruana Galizia’s assassination was Superintendent George Cremona, then head of the Malta Police anti-Terrorism Unit.

Cremona gave sworn testimony that he contacted the FBI at around 4.30 pm on 16 th October 2017, just 90 minutes after the journalist was blown up. He testified that he did this on his own initiative because he believed the murder required international expertise. He only informed Police Commissioner Lawrence Cutajar after he had contacted the FBI. He produced documentary evidence, including his correspondence with the US Embassy and his communications with the FBI liaison in Rome, demonstrating that he was the one who requested FBI assistance.

That testimony is significant because it directly contradicts claims made by Keith Schembri.

Schembri told the public inquiry that he was responsible for suggesting or securing FBI involvement after discussing the matter with Joseph Muscat.

Keith Schembri didn’t contact the FBI as he claimed. Joseph Muscat played no part in that request. Superintendent George Cremona was the one who called the FBI – on his own initiative.

Yet Joseph Muscat is trying to shield himself against the anticipated mega-fallout from the overwhelming incriminating evidence emerging from the trial.

Muscat is trying to take the credit for bringing in the FBI. He’s trying to push the narrative that he wanted the murder solved and took steps to solve it because he had no involvement or prior knowledge of any plans to eliminate his nemesis, Daphne Caruana Galizia.

The truth is that Muscat did everything in his power to suppress the truth. He viciously resisted the public inquiry into her murder. Only European pressure forced him to accept that public inquiry. His government did its utmost to keep Silvio Valletta at the helm of the investigation. Muscat’s AG appealed the court’s decision to remove Valletta from the investigation. Muscat was still communicating directly with the accused right up to his arrest. Muscat hosted Keith Schembri at his house on the eve of his arrest and continued to discuss details of the investigation with Schembri even after the latter’s arrest and his resignation from Chief of Staff. Muscat continued to praise and defend Keith Schembri – still does, despite the fact that even Muscat’s wife had to deny claims made by Schembri under oath.

Muscat promised that he would leave “no stone unturned”, yet investigations not only remain unfinished but some have not even started.

What’s even more bizarre is that Joseph Muscat even insinuated that he has absolutely nothing to do with the disgusting cesspit of iniquity that he created at Castille. He commented that it was the Leader of the Opposition Alex Borg “who chose to drag me into the middle of it”.

Isn’t it somewhat late to extricate yourself from this utter mess? Enough has already come out. And that’s only a fraction of what really happened in Muscat’s festering sewer.

And yet, despite the mountain of evidence about the state to which Muscat reduced the Office of Prime Minister, a significant proportion of the public buries its head in the sand, refuses to see, refuses to listen, refuses to acknowledge the serious damage that Muscat inflicted on an entire nation. That segment of the public may not have much to blame, being fed the constant fodder of propaganda by Labour’s media machine. But his political party has much to answer for.

Labour must see what all the rest of us can see. Instead of choosing to break cleanly and definitively with its former leader, Labour chooses to keep propping him up. Labour chooses the sweet satisfaction of being gloriously wrong and to keep endorsing the slimy rottenness of its former leader. Why?

Presented with irrefutable evidence of Muscat’s repeated suspicious decisions and appalling judgement, Labour simply doubles down in its support for him – a delicious example of mumpsimus.

A semi-literate medieval monk spent decades saying “mumpsimus” instead of the correct “sumpsimus” during Mass. Yet when it was pointed out to him that he was using the wrong word he obstinately declared “I will not change my old mumpsimus for your new sumpsimus”. And Labour does the same.

It is darkly fascinating how in the face of Muscat’s multiple colossal “blunders” Labour still hangs on to its adulation of its perfidious icon. Confronted with sworn evidence of the putrefying mess Muscat created within the walls of Castille, it is disturbing to see Labour still protecting him, defending him and fighting his corner. When will the Labour party realise it’s time to cut him loose.