Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1201983
4 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 19 JANUARY 2020 CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 Most ministers who spoke to MaltaToday could not under- stand how Muscat could not have been aware of the actions of his chief-of-staff Keith Schembri and the subterfuge which that December night had greeted them with the alleged letter de- livered by the Fenech family doc- tor, with instructions to frame the now former minister Chris Cardona. "I am starting to believe some of the allegations about Egrant… the ones we rebutted so vehe- mently in public," one minister said, pensively considering the events of the last weeks. At least two other senior min- isters shared a similar sentiment, while saying that they did not be- lieve that Muscat could be part of the alleged assassination plot that has embroiled Keith Schem- bri. Muscat had after all allowed Schembri to be part of Security Service briefings on the murder investigation, and as revealed by the assassination's middleman now turned State's evidence, Melvin Theuma, Schembri is believed to have leaked advance information of the raid on the Degiorgio brothers, who stand accused of executing the car bomb assassination. "I don't believe Muscat is part of the plot. I will not vouch for the other allegations… Keith's actions are tantamount to trea- son. But how could Joseph have been so blind? Yorgen Fenech was always at Castille in and out of Schembri's office and it was well known that he was close to him." But one of Muscat's most faith- ful ministers said: "I want to stop thinking about it. Has he not suf- fered his punishment? How sad this is." Yet another minister was not too kind about Muscat's legacy: "In the last year it was all about him and his obsession to replace [EU Council president Donald] Tusk. Everything stopped and decisions stopped being taken. "What he could not see was that Keith did not want him to leave his post until the inquiries were made public – and these were the magisterial inquiries which would not reveal any- thing, like the 17 Black investi- gation, because they won't get anything out of Dubai. So we were all prisoners of Muscat's immense success… and it was all about Keith." And all ministers who spoke to MaltaToday came down hard on Muscat's decision to fly off to Dubai on a three-day holiday with his family at the height of the crisis. "It was reckless, it was arrogant, it sent the wrong message. I can't understand this attitude. It did not look like the Joseph we knew." Muscat's fall from grace came after that fateful Cabinet meet- ing on the 28 November when ministers were shown a letter reportedly written and prepared by Keith Schembri, and given to Yorgen Fenech by his doctor at his Portomaso apartment while out on police bail. In the letter, Fenech is instruct- ed as to how to pin the blame of the murder of Caruana Galizia on former economy minister Chris Cardona and two of his cronies (see Saviour Balzan MT2). During the Cabinet meeting, Robert Abela, then an adviser to the Cabinet, had been the most animated – at one point standing up and pointed at Joseph Muscat, telling him that Schembri had screwed him. At a later point, Abela once again informed the Prime Minister that someone had communicated with Keith as to what was being said in Cabinet, because Schembri had phoned his wife Lydia Abela, the PL executive secretary, saying he knows what Robert Abela had said about him. In that meeting, deputy prime minister Chris Fearne asked that Evarist Bartolo stand in as inter- NEWS The Energy and Water Agency is developing the NATIONAL STRATEGY FOR RESEARCH AND INNOVATION IN ENERGY AND WATER (2021-2030) This will guide research and innovation in the fields of energy and water over the next decade. The DRAFT Strategy has now been published for public consultation. Have your say by visiting the following link: https://www.energywateragency.gov.mt/research-and-innovation/ The online consultation will close on 31st January 2020. PUBLIC CONSULTATION 'Muscat should have gone immediately' "I am starting to believe some of the allegations about Egrant… the ones we rebutted so vehemently in public"