The Malta Independent on Sunday
‘This is the moment for the AG to show us she is in favour of true justice’ – Casa
This is the moment for the Attorney General “to show that she is in favour of true justice”, PN MEP David Casa said, in reference to the upcoming court cases regarding the hospitals’ deal.
Charges were filed against many individuals following the conclusion of the Vitals magisterial inquiry, including against former Prime Minister Joseph Muscat, former Deputy Prime Minister Chris Fearne, former minister Konrad Mizzi, Muscat’s former chief of staff Keith Schembri and the Governor of the Central Bank Edward Scicluna. Some are charged with money laundering, others with fraud or misappropriation.
Last year, the courts had annulled the hospitals’ deal in a judgement which had described the deal as being “fraudulent”, a sentence which was confirmed in a Court of Appeal judgement that mentioned collusion.
The Nationalist Party had, in the past, called for the resignation of Attorney General Victoria Buttigieg in connection with the Pilatus bank case.
In an interview with The Malta Independent on Sunday that was carried out on Thursday, before the resignation of Fearne from the post of deputy prime minister, David Casa, who has been outspoken on rule of law issues over the years, was asked whether he has faith in the Attorney General, given that her Office has to lead the prosecution in the Vitals court cases.
While saying that, given her recent past, he shouldn’t have faith in her, “I am hoping that she might start to fix her mistakes. This is the moment for the Attorney General to show us that she is in favour of true justice, that she is in favour of the whole truth emerging, that she is in favour of removing this criminal clique that took over our institutions once and for all. She has this critical moment before her. If she acts now, she will be doing the right thing”.
He said that the PN will keep its eyes on the Attorney General to “ensure that she does her job this time. We will not allow a repetition of what happened with Pilatus Bank. I am ready to use all my tools in Brussels to ensure that this time, the work that was done will not continue to be done for nothing, and those who stole from the Maltese people must face justice”.
Casa said that the country got to know about what was happening thanks to Daphne Caruana Galizia, he said. “Daphne smelt this corruption, this clique many years ago.”
“We will be very attentive to ensure that the Attorney General does her job.”
Casa was speaking before, on Friday, NGO Repubblika filed a judicial protest after the Attorney General stopped the State Advocate from appealing against a court decision which has given disgraced former Prime Minister Joseph Muscat access to part of the Vitals magisterial inquiry report. Repubblika filed the protest to object to this “obscene action” and to insist that, as an organisation, which had initially called for the inquiry to take place, it is given access of the inquiry’s report (procès-verbal).
“These people always put pressure on our institutions when there are corruption cases, and cases tied to this clique. They did the same, pressuring the Financial Intelligence Analysis Unit (FIAU), when it had a report in hand which said that Konrad Mizzi should be charged in court.”
PM’s attack on the judiciary
Casa also questioned where the Police Commissioner is. “How long has it been since you’ve heard from him? How many press conferences did he hold? What is he doing? Let’s not forget that these inquiries took place as the Police Commissioner did nothing,” Casa said, mentioning ones filed by the PN, Repubblika, himself and former party leader Simon Busuttil.
“We had to go to court to do the work our police were meant to be doing.”
The Prime Minister has been critical of the inquiry process, among other things, making insinuations regarding the timing of the inquiry’s conclusion being so close to an election, casting doubts on the process.
Casa disagrees with the Prime Minister’s views and actions.
“It cannot be that such an attack is made on the judiciary when the magistrate was conducting her work,” Casa said, while saying that putting pressure on the judiciary is “extremely wrong“.
“These people always put pressure on our institutions when there are corruption cases, and cases tied to this clique. They did the same, pressuring the Financial Intelligence Analysis Unit (FIAU), when it had a report in hand which said that Konrad Mizzi should be charged in court.”
“Whenever an institution does not listen to and does not do what the clique wants,” he said, “they end up insulting and attacking, as happened against journalists. Journalists were doing their duty by asking questions to know the truth, and what was the Prime Minister’s response? That you (journalists) form part of the establishment that you, as well as I, know doesn’t exist. The establishment that this country truly has is this mafia clique around Castille.”
Inquiry should be published
The Prime Minister had also criticised what he called leaks during the inquiry process. Asked whether these “leaks” concern him, Casa instead turned the target onto Abela, and said that he is informed that the Prime Minister has the Vitals inquiry at Castille and it was “being shown to certain chosen lawyers, so of course there could be leaks”.
“That is why we expect this inquiry to be published. The PN has a right to have a copy, as does Repubblika. But if this inquiry continues being given only to people in the core, then naturally there will be leaks that favour the clique at Castille. To stop leaks all that needs to be done is that the inquiry be published. As long as the inquiry remains hidden in the Prime Minister’s drawer, used for his partisan aims, naturally there will continue to be leaks. This is wrong and is also dangerous.”
“There were also leaks about the name of the inquiring magistrate, and her photo. These are subtle attacks that are also leaks intentioned to put strong pressure on the magistrate, and that is very dangerous.”
Told that the way the Prime Minister speaks seems like he
doesn’t have a copy of the inquiry, Casa doesn’t believe him. “I believe he has the inquiry, and that is why he is attacking the judiciary to set targets as to how the inquiry is to be utilised when it is published.”
Asked about the potential impact of Abela’s statements, Casa said that the judiciary is the only institution that hasn’t been “taken over” and he warned of the danger of “reducing trust in the judiciary that is doing its job”.
“Where they find a member of the judiciary, or someone not listening to them, they cast doubts. That is why we need European institutions to defend us. That is why in Brussels I speak about the danger of having institutions that were taken over by the government.” He said that there are police officers who want to do their job, “but are not being allowed to“.
The Police Commissioner
Asked what he would do had he been in the Prime Minister’s shoes after news of the charges broke, he said that he would have fired the Police Commissioner and told the Attorney General to act sooner rather than later. “Instead of the Prime Minister saying ‘hold on a moment, the Police Force did nothing, the Attorney General kept her mouth closed, and that now we have to show the world that the institutions are going to start working’... he is instead attacking members of the judiciary, the media, me, Roberta Metsola, all NGOs that don’t agree with him.”
“The Prime Minister wants to protect this clique that took over Castille.”
Asked whether, if the shoe was on the other foot and charges were issued against former or current PN public officials, he believes the PN would speak in the same way it is today. He said he would be doing so. “I will, for sure. The institutions in our day worked. We had defects, everyone does, but there wasn’t a clique intentioned to undermine the work these institutions do or hijack them.”
“This is unprecedented,” he said, adding that the people, including Labourites, were being robbed. “We are talking about €400 million.”
“Instead of allowing the institutions to protect the people, we have a clique that is there to protect those who stole. We have a clique that then attacks David Casa when he goes to the European Parliament to say ‘help us as our institutions are hijacked by a mafia clique’. The messenger is being attacked.”
He expressed that should he secure a seat in the EU Parliament down the line and should a PN government do the same, “I would take up the same fight as I believe in having democratic institutions free from the takeover of any government“.
The President’s statement
During the interview, he also praised the President’s recent statement. “The President did well,” he said. “It is an important moment, a dangerous moment, a moment where we have to protect the judiciary to continue doing its work.”
Referring to the Prime Minister’s statements “attacking” the Vitals inquiry, he asked: “What message is he sending to other magistrates looking into the Panama Papers and 17 Black? What message is the Prime Minister trying to send? He is also trying to intimidate those magistrates who are still conducting important work. That is why the President of Malta said don’t interfere, don’t turn this into a political football in an election. I didn’t start talking about this clique and corruption as we are in an electoral campaign. I have for years been working in the EU Parliament to defend the Maltese people from this theft,” he said.
“I am pleased to see the President defending the interests of the people, as that must come first. It is not true that Malta comes first for the Prime Minister. The clique that took over Castille comes first for the Prime Minister.”
Asked about the PN’s chances of attaining the third seat in the EU Parliament, he believes “anything is achievable. What is important is that the people send a message”. He spoke of the need to have a Malta that is free “from this clique, Malta free from the mafia“.
“Instead of allowing the institutions to protect the people, we have a clique that is there to protect those who stole. We have a clique that then attacks David Casa when he goes to the European Parliament to say ‘help us as our institutions are hijacked by a mafia clique’. The messenger is being attacked.”
Defence spending
The Labour Party has been targeting the PN over the issue of defence spending. Asked whether the EU should ramp up defence spending, he said: “We are a neutral country, and proud of it. But are we to have peace of mind because we are neutral? If in the future Putin were to come and attack Malta, will he go away when we tell him we are neutral?”
“We want to remain neutral, but that doesn’t mean that to be neutral you wouldn’t defend yourself. We are saying that we should be prepared in the case that our country is attacked,” he said. “What does neutrality mean? Does it mean that when atrocities occur in Gaza we wouldn’t speak up and look the other way? Does neutrality mean not talking when Ukraine is attacked by Russia? Foreign Affairs Minister Ian Borg didn’t do that. He condemned the atrocities Putin is doing, so was our neutrality lost? We have an army, are we not neutral because we have an army?” “We are not going to send people to war, that is a complete lie.”