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PN MP Simon Busuttil has, in his last address in Parliament, hit out at the law courts for what he claimed is their failure to de- liver justice. In his farewell to speech to Par- liament on Tuesday, the former Opposition leader slammed the delays in magisterial inquiries, that he had asked be started, on corruption and money laun- dering cases involving people in power. He accused magistrates of sleeping on their jobs, and there- fore failing to ensure justice is done. Busuttil will be stepping down at the end of February to take up the post of secretary general of the European People's Party. He served as a PN MEP from 2004 to 2013. He was elected to Parliament in the 2013 general election, and was later elected leader of the Nationalist Par- ty, taking over from Lawrence Gonzi. Following his party's ma- jor defeat in the 2017 election, Busuttil stepped down as PN leader, when he was replaced by Adrian Delia. He used his final parliamenta- ry speech, which he dedicated to Daphne Caruana Galizia, to touch on topics related to cor- ruption, democracy, the func- tioning of Parliament and the courts, and his personal experi- ence in politics. "Our democracy is in a coma; it is on life support. This is not a state of normality as Robert Ab- ela wants us to believe," Busuttil said, as he underlined that Caru- ana Galizia's assassination "was the biggest hit to our democracy, but it was not the only one" Parliament, he said, was not carrying out its functions prop- erly, and MPs should acknowl- edge this fact. "Government backbenchers are bought out with public posts that make them unable to scruti- nise their government," he high- lighted. Busuttil said there was still too much blind loyalty to political parties in Malta. "Don't let them abuse your loyalty. If a party does something corrupt, don't contin- ue clapping for it. A political par- ty is not a football team, it should have to work for your loyalty." On how he felt when former tourism minister Konrad Miz- zi, ex-OPM chief of staff Keith Schembri and former prime minister Joseph Muscat re- signed, Busuttil said it was as if "we had been banging on a wall to push it down for a long time, and just as we were about to turn and go home, [PN MP] Jason Azzopardi came and kicked the wall down." Busuttil promised that his fight against corruption would not stop. In a long thank you list, Busut- til also mentioned the Opposi- tion leader because "on this side there is one faction, not two". "One faction against corrup- tion and in favour of justice for Daphne." He closed off with a quote sometimes attributed to Mahatma Gandhi. "First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win." 24 maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 19 FEBRUARY 2020 NEWS In farewell speech to Parliament, Simon Busuttil hits out at law courts