Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1278887
5 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 16 AUGUST 2020 NEWS Attorney General whose inaction on Panama Papers stunned nation calls it a day Peter Grech resigns MATTHEW AGIUS ATTORNEY General Peter Grech presided over a spiral- ling deterioration of Malta's rule of law – at least, as far as the Panama Papers are con- cerned, the genesis of corrup- tion inside Joseph Muscat's of- fice in Castille. When Keith Schembri, the former chief of staff, and en- ergy minister Konrad Mizzi were outed as the owners two out of three suspicious Panama offshore companies set up by Schembri's auditors Nexia, no police investigation ever took place. Grech, who yesterday submit- ted his resignation, stood by, preferring to act as a servant loyal to the government of the day than to rock the State with an investigation that could have changed Malta's history. Grech's resignation was an- nounced by the President of Malta yesterday afternoon. A copy his resignation letter was not included with the state- ment. He will have occupied the position for exactly 10 years. Just last month, Prime Min- ister Robert Abela had hinted that a new AG may be appoint- ed in the "near or not so near future". Abela thanked Grech for his service. Justice minister Edward Zammit Lewis will now be establishing an appointment commission which will issue a public call for applications: the first of its kind after countless Attorney Generals were hand- picked by Malta's prime min- isters as close legal confidants. Grech, the last in this line of AGs, was appointed to the top post in 2010 as a replacement for Silvio Camilleri, who was sworn in as Chief Justice with- out having served as magis- trate, by direct appointment of PM Lawrence Gonzi. Grech's long career at the AG's office started in 1983, becoming dep- uty AG in 2005. Grech survived the custom- ary purge of civil servants when a new administration is sworn in, despite having played such a stubborn role in the historic censorship of the Alex Vella Gera short story Li Tkisser, Sewwi. His apparent zeal to seek criminal conviction for Vella Gera and Mark Camill- eri when he appealed the case, seems to have not irked Labour on election in 2013. "He was free to write what he wanted without self-censor- ship," Grech had raged against Vella Gera in his appeal against acquittal for obscenity charg- es. "But the author must real- ize there are others living with him, whose ideas, preferences and tastes are unlike his; a soci- ety that must be protected, and its morality preserved. And there's God above everything and above everyone, and God is certainly bigger than the big- gest of egos of even more fa- mous writers." Grech's fear of God was a closely-kept secret in the years to come. After 2016, the Pana- ma Papers would make him a new kind of loyalist, seemingly unwilling to have the scandal- ous reveal of secret offshore companies investigated by the police. From then began the numerous, unstinting calls for Grech to resign. Grech's tenure was dogged by frequent criticism that he treated political corruption with kid gloves. In 2017 the PN accused Grech of having re- neged on his duty to prosecute former minister Konrad Mizzi and Keith Schembri, among others, on suspicions of mon- ey laundering and kickbacks suggested in reports drawn up by the Financial Intelligence Analysis Unit. Earlier this year, PN MP Ja- son Azzopardi had memora- bly lashed out at Grech, after the inquiry into the murder of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia heard former Head of the Economic Crimes Unit, Ian Abdilla, claim that Grech had asked police to 'go slow' on corruption investigations. "I have no words strong enough to denounce your spineless, amoral bootlicking of this government. You inten- tionally advised and warned police not to prosecute for cor- ruption Konrad Mizzi, Keith Schembri and Joseph Muscat in order to avoid unrest in the country. You contributed to Daphne's murder. Every day you continue in office is a filthy disgrace on your office," Azzo- pardi had said at the time. Grech had denied the accu- sation as an "outright lie and calumny". In his reaction to the news of Grech's stepping down, Azzo- pardi raised questions as to the timing of the resignation, ask- ing why it would only be effec- tive in three weeks' time. Ad- ditionally, the PN demanded that the government be swift in publishing Grech's resigna- tion letter. "The least the peo- ple have a right to is to know why, after so many calls for his resignation falling on deaf ears over the past years, it was only today, of all days, that the At- torney General announced his resignation with no explana- tion and will still remain in of- fice for the next three weeks." Opposition leader Adrian Delia echoed these sentiments, saying that Grech "should have resigned a long time ago…. He had chosen to defend foreign companies against the best interests of the nation," said Delia, insisting that whoever is appointed as the new AG should enjoy trust across the board. Civil society organisation Repubblika, which had long been requesting Grech's re- moval, said it believed it was in the public interest that the reasons for the resignation are published immediately and that Grech's decisions and the operations of the Office should be reviewed. "We augur that Dr Grech's replacement will be a person of integrity who will uphold the law above all else, and will not bend to any polit- ical will or partisan interests." Savouring victory: Keith Schembri (left), one-time chief of staff to disgraced PM Joseph Muscat, smiles at the swearing-in of the 2017 Labour Cabinet. His direct role in opening a secret network of offshore companies in Panama was never investigated, and Attorney General Peter Grech (right) bowed down to his political masters