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2 maltatoday EXECUTIVE EDITOR Matthew Vella mvella@mediatoday.com.mt Letters to the Editor, MaltaToday, Vjal ir-Rihan, San Gwann SGN 9016 E-mail: dailynews@mediatoday.com.mt Letters must be concise, no pen names accepted, include full name and address maltatoday | SUNDAY • 1 AUGUST 2021 To be effective, the inquiry must have consequences Editorial IN fairness to the Prime Minister, Robert Abela managed to hit nearly all the right notes in his public reaction to the damning Daphne Caruana Galizia in- quiry report this week. The inquiry concluded that the Maltese State had to bear responsibility for the 2017 assassination of Caruana Galizia: specifically, for having "created an atmosphere of impunity, generated by the highest echelons at the heart of Castille and which, like an octopus, spread to other entities and regulators and the Police, leading to the collapse of rule of law." Nonetheless, contrary to the expectations Robert Abela himself had raised earlier – when, for instance, he had publicly questioned, for no good reason at all, the inquiry board's impartiality last September – the Prime Minister struck a very different tone when it came to actually accepting the inquiry's conclusions. In a live press conference, Abela said he would apologise for the shortcomings of the Maltese State, and for "having fostered the environment that led to the assassination of Daphne Caruana Galizia." That admission, alone, marks a clear departure from the Prime Minister's former stance: both in- sofar as the public inquiry was concerned… but also – more significantly still – from the Labour govern- ment's entire position regarding its own culpability for what happened in 2017. Furthermore, Abela's apology to the Caruana Gal- izia family also signals a sorely-needed change in approach. Although he could go much further than merely apologising – by, for example, giving offi- cial recognition to Caruana Galizia's role in expos- ing high level corruption – this gesture still marks a welcome change, from the days where the shrine in memory of the slain journalist, erected in front of the law courts, was regularly vilified (and vandalised) by Labour supporters, with the connivance of the au- thorities. On this front, the change is truly of an epochal na- ture: as reflected also in the Caruana Galizia's accept- ance of said apology. Of course, a lot more would have to be done, if we are to truly progress from words into action. All the same, however: by accepting the report's damning conclusions, with more than just a hint of genuine remorse… Abela may well have kickstarted a process that may, in time, even lead to some form of national closure. Unfortunately, it was the brutal assassination of Daphne Caruana Galizia that allowed this first seed of change to germinate. The horrible irony is pain- ful to accept: a journalist who touched upon a ma- fia of politics and business had to become a martyr for what could be one of the Maltese nation's most far-reaching of governance reforms. As Paul Caruana Galizia pointed out: "What's im- portant is that government really implements these reforms [recommended by the inquiry report]. It would be a shame if an independent inquiry's recom- mendations are turned into a partisan cherry-picking exercise." And it is from this perspective that Abela's re- sponse has so far been somewhat lacking. Almost immediately after offering his apology to the Caru- ana Galizias, Robert Abela went on to declare that most – if not all – of the inquiry's recommendations have already been implemented. Abela's mantra is, in fact, that his government has already carried out important reforms, in matters such as judicial and police appointments: and to be fair, this may even be the case. But it still does not address the core complaint raised by the public inquiry, that is, the 'culture of impunity' that Abela himself now freely admits was in place until at least 2020. There is, of course, a paradox in all this. Surely, Robert Abela will be aware that his own acceptance of the verdict, also implies that some form of action – ideally, going beyond mere apologies – will now have to be forthcoming. After all, the State's failure to take action against those involved in government corrup- tion – among other criminal acts – did not exactly end with Abela's own rise to power. To this day – with the exception of Keith Schem- bri; and even then, only in one specific case – there have been no prosecutions of any of the politicians exposed in the Panama Papers, or who were involved in any of the known corruption scandals of the Mus- cat administration. So while it is undeniably significant that the Prime Minister now wears his badge of distinction from Muscat with pride – when he had promised 'conti- nuity' from his predecessors, only 18 short months ago – it is debatable, to say the least, whether this change is anything but skin-deep. Moreover, Abela's claims that "The way the State functions today isn't even recognisable from how it was in January 2020", and that "The State that the inquiry evaluated works completely different today", do not really stand up to scrutiny. If Abela truly intends implementing the reforms demanded by the public inquiry – and above all, to lead the nation into some form of closure – it will take more than just 'hitting the right notes'. As the President of the Republic put it, in his own reaction: "this report can, and must serve as the point of departure for a national healing process for the trauma this brutal assassination has precipitated since 2017." But that objective can only realistically be achieved, if the inquiry itself is seen to have real, tangible con- sequences. 31 July 2011 GRTU-owned company inflated waste figures for 2009 GREEN MT, the GRTU's waste recovery scheme, inflated its 2009 waste collection fig- ures by collecting waste from local councils which had no contractual agreement with the scheme. The report reveals that the waste collect- ed from these councils helped the company reach the established quota needed to obtain a permit to operate from the Malta Environ- ment and Planning Authority. Moreover, the Hamrun and Tarxien coun- cils have told MaltaToday that they were not even aware that GreenMT had collected waste from their locality in 2009. Since recycling schemes like GreenMT have to reach a quota in order to qualify for a MEPA permit the GRTU's company had an interest in maximising the amount of waste collected during that period. Eligibility for tax exemptions by businesses who were members of the GRTU's scheme also depended on the scheme reaching these targets. Collecting waste from localities with which it had no agreement helped Green MT to honour its commitment to these businesses. The quarterly reports for the period be- tween July and September 2009 presented to MEPA show the GRTU company de- claring the recovery of material generated from B'Bugia, Hamrun, Tarxien, Zabbar and Zejtun, localities which had no contractual agreement with Green MT. According to Green MT, all the waste col- lected was invoiced by Wasteserv Ltd when it was sent to the Sant Antnin recycling plant. When contacted by MaltaToday, Green MT Director Joe Attard confirmed that grey bags were recovered from these local coun- cils and that Green MT paid for the collec- tions. "During the said, period the mentioned lo- cal councils were not in agreement with any other scheme," Attard told MaltaToday. Green MT also says that during that peri- od it also collected recyclable material from other councils in Malta. ... Quote of the Week "Muscat considers the assassination solely from a purely political point of view. He considers that the perpetrator was ignorant because he did not appreciate that, politically, he did not have to do so because the victim had become irrelevant." The report of the Public Inquiry into the murder of Daphne Caruana Galizia on for- mer prime minister Joseph Muscat MaltaToday 10 years ago