Ageing without grace

Joseph Muscat turned 48 last week. His 49th-year resolution was that he will make more noise, create more havoc. He will give up his two years of “quiet”. “If there is anybody who thought I will be intimidated or that I will be silenced, the result will be the opposite”.

Two years since his forced resignation, with more filthy corruption exposed, Muscat’s entire edifice is crumbling. Everything is suddenly unravelling fast. What looked like an economic miracle turns out to be no more than a fraud-laced bubble.

As the end nears, Muscat has erupted, attacking with equal ferocity and virulence former friends and foes. His damaged personal mythology set off his terrifying display of unbridled aggression.

What flipped him? His grandiose self-delusion of omnipotence and impunity was shattered by the morning raid at his home. Muscat must have watched in horror his successor warmly congratulating Roberta Metsola, holding both her hands in a graceful truce.  This was his chosen one, the one his wife had canvassed for in order to guarantee his own impunity. Here he was, scheming with his arch-enemy, Metsola, the one who humiliated him with her famous snub. The very hand that refused to shake Muscat’s, was now clasped in Abela’s. Et tu, Brute.

Muscat suddenly realised he was on his own and subject to the same laws that all the rest of us are. He panicked. Muscat’s bizarre reaction was not the response of the guiltless.

The innocent man would not fear an investigation.  He would welcome it knowing it would prove his innocence and exonerate him. He would want it to run its course. He would co-operate fully accepting he has no special privileges, expecting and demanding to be treated like the rest.

If Muscat felt that his rights had been breached, he had every right to pursue legal avenues to seek redress. Inciting and inflaming his loyal supporters is not one of them. Issuing ominous threats isn’t either.  Attacking the magistrate, naming and shaming her on his Facebook post certainly isn’t. Wasn’t it Muscat who kicked Anglu Farrugia out for criticising a magistrate?

If Muscat has no faith in Maltese justice, he could resort to the European Court of Human Rights, a right long denied its citizens by Muscat’s hero, Dom Mintoff and his Labour Party. Cynically, Joe Brincat, as a minister in Labour’s government, had signed the protocol allowing Maltese citizens access to the European court on Election Day 1987,  but only for abuses occurring after that date. The European Convention Act came into force on 19 August 1987 under a PN government.

Like a blast from the past, that very same Joe Brincat is back claiming Muscat’s human rights were breached –  the 7am search at Muscat’s home was far too early. Brincat quoted a 1994 court ruling that a search conducted at Lorry Sant’s home at 7.30am breached his right to privacy as it was far too early and inconvenienced him. Muscat’s human rights have been breached, according to Brincat, because like Lorry Sant he was disturbed far too early. Bizarre but true.

But being woken up early was not Muscat’s only gripe. He was annoyed because he had offered to testify.  He had even prepared a file full of documents.  But instead of taking Muscat’s word for it, the magistrate chose the route of “theatrics”, Muscat charged. His grasp of reality is pathetically tenuous. Police don’t simply take the word of suspects.  They don’t just politely collect convenient documents the criminal suspect chooses to hand over. If they did, there wouldn’t be very many convictions.

Who would provide evidence to seal his own fate? Criminals hide damning evidence.  They desperately attempt to evade justice and pervert its course. And it’s likely the magistrate and the police have some pretty compelling evidence that Muscat might well be doing the same. Who would risk the king’s wrath otherwise?

Muscat’s rage stems from his sense of entitlement – that he is above the law and cannot be treated like any other. His obsequious sycophants, Jason Micallef, Manuel Cuschieri and Robert Abela, reinforce his attempts to undermine the rule of law.

The wily manipulator of the masses played his trump card well – the sympathy trick. The mobile phones of his teenage daughters, he lamented, were confiscated.  It worked.  The whole nation was ablaze.  This was just heartless callousness, the evil cruel magistrate. Abela, was left no choice but to be dragged in. In a highly emotional state, Abela levelled thinly veiled threats at the magistrate and the judiciary.

He warned that the judiciary must work hard to retain the trust of his government. Taking his cue, ONE published photos of the magistrate to help the mob identify her.  What’s more, Abela boasted he was a court expert and knows children shouldn’t be touched.

Abela hadn’t been too fussed when Brian Tonna’s six-month-old grandchild had his assets frozen when Tonna was charged with money laundering. Surely the baby had no part in his grandfather’s alleged crimes. Abela didn’t defend him. Abela never uttered any protest when Keith Schembri’s, Manuel Castagna’s or Malcolm Scerri’s families were similarly targeted.

Hadn’t Robert Abela boasted “in this country, there is no impunity for anyone”? He was the one who in February 2021 bragged, “it is a mistake for anyone to believe they enjoy impunity”. “Justice is blind” he declared in English to reach an international audience. It seems justice is no longer blind, not when it reaches Joseph Muscat. Abela is on the attack. He believes that checks and balances mean he can intimidate the judiciary when his controller gets searched.

The Times of Malta, The Malta Independent and even Malta Today were appalled at Abela’s abuse of power to defend Muscat. Yet Abela doubled down, repeating his threats to the judiciary and damaging the nation further.

It is not only Muscat’s flock but the entire nation that pays the price.  The nation is the collateral damage of Muscat’s circumvention of justice, left dealing with his threats and intimidation. The country is condemned to watch Muscat ageing in disgrace.