Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1286060
6 maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 9 SEPTEMBER 2020 NEWS JAMES DEBONO BERNARD Grech seems to have underestimated the impact of his troubled history with fiscal authorities over the past two decades, thinking that by simply settling his dues he could start off on a new slate, without drag- ging his party into his own per- sonal issues. That is only partly true. He might no longer be in a vul- nerable position when facing government due to an exposed Achilles' heel, but his decision to settle his dues now rais- es two crucial questions: why now, and how? The two questions Grech needs to answer Why now and not before? That's tricky. People are bound to judge a politician's moral in- tegrity based on their actions when they were not above the radar. Grech now claims that he gave up the right to contest the inter- est and penalties he was due for not paying tax the moment he decided to contest for the lead- ership, not to drag the party in- to his own troubles. But that in itself does not suggest any zeal for fiscal morality, which one would expect from an aspiring prime minister hailing from a party whose main platform is good governance. The onus is now on Grech to demonstrate otherwise. He could soon find himself in a position of leader- ship where he will have to set the moral yardstick in his own house. The second pertinent ques- tion is how did he find the money to settle what has been reported as a €33,000 bill? Grech needs to answer these questions fast if he wants to clear his name from a cloud of suspicion and rumours that other people paid this bill. A case of bad judgement? Considering the expectations of change he raised within his own party, he could have an- ticipated criticism by being up- front with a public declaration immediately upon settling his tax arrears and explaining him- self. Instead, it seems he chose to hope for the best, perhaps ex- pecting that nobody would no- tice anything as he unburdened himself of a problem that had been haunting him for some years. Surely settling matters before running for leader was better than to leave this matter pending. It is also true that the party's candidates commission had to scrutinize the aspirants. But Grech could have con- trolled the narrative by setting the agenda. He also failed to answer questions by MaltaTo- day and Illum, losing another opportunity to explain his po- sition. Then the next day on Mon- day, on Facebook, Grech "rec- ognised" that people expected higher standards from those entering the political fray and that he could have tackled the situation better. But he was still short on detail. Signifi- cantly he could not resist the temptation of blaming the sto- ries appearing in the media on Labour being scared of his im- pact on the polls. It smacks of taking refuge in tribal politics and risks undermining the role of the media in keeping politi- cians across party and faction- al divides under scrutiny, with the tired insinuation that the government is using the media for its own ends. Rather than questioning the motivations behind the story, Grech should be busy giving a factual and convincing re- ply to the questions raised by the media. And while Grech emerged damaged, how far can Bernard Grech entered the political scene with one major advantage over both Delia and Labour: an outsider without baggage to raise the bar of political propriety, giving hope to the Opposition. So will revelations on his tax troubles undermine his appeal and how far can his adversaries take advantage of this? Bernard's baggage: bruised