Friday, February 1, 2019

Tmid Editorial: Court ruling - Simon Busuttil’s fight

Simon Busuttil does not want to give up his fight.

The Nationalist MP says he is considering taking his battle to Europe after the Maltese courts - not once, not twice, but three times - turned down his request to have a magisterial inquiry launched about Tourism Minister Konrad Mizzi and OPM chief of staff Keith Schembri.

He says he has full respect of the decision taken by the courts, but he has not accepted the outcome, mulling other legal ways via which he can attempt to achieve his aim.

Mind you, he is not wrong to think that the Mizzi and Schembri should have resigned or, once they did not do so, should have been dismissed by Prime Minister Joseph Muscat. We have said this over and over again - they should have been shown the door the moment the Panama Papers were revealed. And we still insist that there should have at least been a thorough investigation by the police after reports drawn up by the Financial Intelligence Analysis Unit.

We believe, as Busuttil does, that both Mizzi and Schembri were treated lightly by Muscat, who was more forceful in his handling of other ministers who committed far less serious misdemeanours when compared to these two.

Busuttil has every right to continue fighting for what he believes in. To his many followers, including people who think that he should still be leading the Nationalist Party in spite of the massive election defeat two years ago, he should pursue every avenue that could lead him to his target and they will continue to encourage and support him in every endeavour.

His detractors, on the other hand, think that he is flogging a dead horse and causing harm to his own political party.

This is where the situation gets even murkier.

We have noticed that the Nationalist Party media has not given any coverage to the latest developments in court associated with Simon Busuttil. We have also noticed that the PN has issued a series of press statements since the court decision was made public, but none of them has been about the ruling, let alone in support of its former leader.

The PN's total absence and silence on this front exposes a party that does not want to have anything to do with Busuttil's stance on this matter. It can be interpreted as a sign that the PN does not agree with what Busuttil is doing.

Busuttil's own relations with the new leadership have been strained since before Adrian Delia's rise to the party's top spot, and continued afterwards, not least after Busuttil insisted that he retains his seat in Parliament and later after the publication of the conclusions of the Egrant inquiry.

The fact that the PN and its media have ignored this week's events concerning Busuttil and the court decision reinforces the idea that the party wants to keep its distance from its former leader, at least on this particular issue.

It is unlikely that the party will intervene - publicly or privately - to stop Busuttil from continuing on the road he has taken. What is clear is however that the party does not want to be seen anywhere near its former leader on this matter.




from The Malta Independent http://bit.ly/2CZYQOF
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