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4 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 27 DECEMBER 2020 NEWS Christmas specials • Politics Has Abela lifted the shield of impunity? 2020 saw Konrad Mizzi kicked out of the PL's parliamentary group, a radical change in the top brass of the police force and the entire 'Panama gang' facing police questioning. But the year ends with government clashing with judges conducting a public inquiry on Caruana Galizia's assassination and the PM putting Rosianne Cutajar's political future in the hands of the Standards Commission. Are we any closer to the truth? JAMES DEBONO ĊIN the space of a year Mal- ta has seen the appointment of a new Prime Minister, a new leader of the Opposition, a new police commissioner, and a new State Advocate and Attorney General. Chris Cardona is no longer a minister and resigned from deputy leader of his party. Jo- seph Muscat is no longer an MP while Konrad Mizzi now sits as an independent MP af- ter being kicked out by his own party. But even more remarkable was that Joseph Muscat, Kon- rad Mizzi, Keith Schembri and Nexia BT's Brian Tonna were all interrogated by the police on different spin-offs from both the Panama investiga- tions and the Daphne Caruana Galizia murder probe. All this stems from Abela's decision to change the top brass of the po- lice force. Reforming the police force One of Robert Abela's first ac- tions upon becoming PM was to remove police commissioner Lawrence Cutajar, whose term in office was characterised by institutional paralysis, with the police failing to investigate the Panama Papers scandal despite evidence identifying 17 Black as a client of Konrad Mizzi and Keith Schembri's secret Pana- ma companies. Cutajar's image problem was further compounded by an inability to speak coherently to the media. The impression was that to reinforce impuni- ty for his closest allies, Muscat had appointed an incompetent commissioner. Therefore, the appointment of a competent commissioner brings the coun- try closer to lifting the shield of impunity for the establish- ment. Cutajar's replacement, Angelo Gafà, not only comes across as articulate chief of po- lice, but also as someone who is not held tied down by politi- cal strings. Moreover, he was also given the tools to get his act in order. In May the police economic crimes unit was assigned 18 more officers as Malta braced itself for the tough Moneyval test in the coming months. A month later assistant police commissioner Alexandra Ma- mo replaced Ian Abdilla as the head of the new Financial Crimes Investigation Depart- ment. "The message is clear – we want to take things se- riously. We know how much Mamo has the people's sup- port and that is what we want. We need someone who has people's trust heading this de- partment," Gafà said upon her appointment. While it remains unclear whether police interrogations will lead to arraignments, po- lice are no longer hesitant in calling in the top brass to an- swer questions. Even beyond the Panamagate and the Caruana Galizia mur- der probe, the police force has been more proactive in other cases involving organ- ised crime, including the fuel smuggling case implicating ex-footballer Darren Debono. The police force has also inves- tigated its own traffic branch, resulting in the arraignment of 32 officers over an overtime racket, which thrived under Gafà's predecessor. Sure enough, Abela is under massive pressure to clean up the country's reputation in the wake of the Moneyval verdict. It may not just be a matter of choice for Abela but also a ne- cessity to equip the police with tools and resources. But the change in the police force also corresponds to the raising of the political bar by Abela. Political accountability In June, Abela established a yardstick of political respon- sibility by kicking former en- ergy minister Konrad Mizzi out of the parliamentary group immediately after new media reports linking 17 Black, the company owned by Yorgen Fenech, to Enemalta's Monte- negro wind farm project. Even more significantly was the way Mizzi was expelled: through a vote of the PL executive called by PL leader Robert Abela af- ter Mizzi refused an earlier re- quest to resign from the parlia- mentary group. The vote was resounding: 71 voting for expulsion, one ab- stention and one against. Yet Abela has so far found it diffi- cult to set a yardstick of polit- ical responsibility which is ap- plicable to all cases. Initially he went as far as forcing Justyne Cutajar to resign for her hus- band's close relationship with Yorgen Fenech, only to rein- state her as minister in last month's reshuffle. The year ends with Robert Abela leaving the fate of junior Minister Ro- sianne Cutajar in the hands of the Commissioner for Stand- ards in Public life after a story linking her to a property deal involving Fenech. Between risk and opportunity The lifting of impunity comes at a political risk for Abela who had presented himself as the "continuity candidate" in the contest for the party's leader- ship. Any failure to bring clo- sure to the Panama saga may well be blamed on his reluc- tance to close in on his pre- decessor and his closest allies. Abela, who still lacks political legitimacy from a general elec- tion, may also be too weak to impose his leadership on ele- ments in his party whose first loyalty is still towards his pre- decessor. In a bizarre balancing act, Abela may find himself fan- ning the flames of partisans divisions in order to ingrati- ate himself with the core vote. This explains why he was so hesitant on congratulating Na- tionalist MEP Roberta Metsola on becoming first vice-presi- dent of the European Parlia- ment, and why he is not keen on a monument for Daphne Caruana Galizia. In this way Abela risks coming across as a more divisive leader than Mus- cat, who could take core voters for granted in his bid to reach out to political moderates. While this path is full of risks for Abela, especially if it col- lides with that of his prede- By removing the shield of impunity, which protected them, he may well have succeeded in eroding blind trust especially with regards to Keith Schembri (right) and Konrad Mizzi, who unlike Muscat who remains popular, no longer enjoy the full trust of Labour supporters.