Egrant has become the many-headed Hydra

Far from being killed off, the Egrant affair has become a many-headed Hydra, in full respect of the mythology in which once a head is cut off, others replace it.

Some have raised questions as to the way the entire thing was handled. There is a very simple logic at play: the terms of reference for the inquiry were drawn up by the victim, Joseph Muscat, just as the publication of its results are being handled by him. That’s a very strange way of proceeding.

We do not have access, so far, to the entire report but even what we have seems to raise some issues which at least need to be clarified.

This is not being said to undermine the credibility of the magistrate but rather to remove any doubts which may have been raised. It has to be pointed out that both the PM and the Opposition Leader want the inquiry report published in full.

But whatever the inquiry and its report say or don’t say, another Hydra head as a direct result of Egrant is the continued spillover into the PN ranks.

To summarise, when party leader Adrian

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Delia echoed prematurely what had just been said by Prime Minister Muscat, he almost found himself ousted in a palace coup that has left him practically without power in his own party. But now a survey has found that more PN supporters back Delia’s thesis on Egrant than back Simon Busuttil’s.

So, while the PN parliamentary group, by backing Simon Busuttil and refusing to countenance his enforced resignation, says one thing, the rank and file of the party support Delia as against Busuttil.

We have party secretary general Clyde Puli telling journalists that Egrant was ‘devastating’ for the PN, but many PN spokespersons made quite different claims regarding Egrant and the Muscats in other times.

The prime minister has claimed, including last Sunday, that Simon Busuttil was actively involved in the Egrant conspiracy. He did not say whether this results from the inquiry conclusion or from additional information he may have. This could be a taster of what’s coming as the promised investigations delving into the genesis of the spin get going and people start getting investigated. That’s another Egrant Hydra-head.

The prime minister also claimed on Sunday that Simon Busuttil is now the head of the PN and that the whole party is now bound to its former leader in the Egrant ‘lie’.

He could say that and expect to be believed because Adrian Delia, for all the bravado of the first hours, has been backtracking like mad ever since and the ‘mediation’ by party big-wigs last week served to further weaken his authority. Delia is thus just another Hydra-head which is in the process of being sloughed off.

He is also perceived to be soft by the fact of his keeping around him people who were in the forefront of the Egrant allegation. If indeed Egrant was a conspiracy, Delia should be the first to hold an internal inquiry in his own party and to weed out those who may have been responsible. Retaining Busuttil minus his spokesperson role shows at best weak leadership and opens up the party to Star Chamber tactics in the future. We have no idea what’s coming up.