Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1546491
IN light of Daphne Caruana Galizia's brutal assassination, the Yorgen Fenech trial paints a grim picture of the state of our nation. The scheduled State of the Nation conference should prioritise a time for national reflection and measures to re- duce the intersection between organised crime and the state, rather than focusing solely on demographic change and the country's long-term future. By 'organised crime', we gen- erally tend to think of planned and coordinated criminal be- haviour, conducted by people, groups or networks working together continuously. But what happens when the law falters, fails to punish the offender, and, therefore, si- multaneously fails to vindi- cate the victim of that crime? What happens when it is the lawmakers themselves who commit crimes while they are entrusted with an office that is meant to be used to represent the collective interests of their constituents? Indeed, what occurs when lawmakers engage in self-serv- ing agreements that solely ben- efit their political agendas, ul- timately leading to the loss of a prominent anti-corruption journalist's life? What happens is exactly what we've seen unfold in Malta over the last ten years. After all, what is a state if not a powerful group that operates on a large scale? There is no greater tool to commit crimes on a massive scale than a gov- ernment that wields the kind of influence that we see today. Let's not forget that the Daphne Caruana Galizia public inquiry report found and con- cluded that it was a political assassination and that the state was mainly responsible. We had a system of criminal- ity operating across a contin- uum of legality and illegality driven by a strategic network of individual, corporate and state actors. The distinction between legitimate and ille- gitimate businesses became increasingly unclear, as prof- its gained through tax evasion and other criminal activities merged into laundered capital flows. Similarly, the difference between good and bad politics was indiscernible as corruption and abuse of power for person- al gain became an ordinary way of governance. The money, muscle and power troika con- ducted a wide variety of illicit activities systematically to in- crease profits, power and polit- ical influence. This vast crime nexus undermined responsible government and democracy. Concurrently, efforts to im- plement democratic measures aimed at combating organised crime were severely compro- mised by bribery and corrup- tion. Indeed, through such pro- cesses, economic and political commitments to advance the public good were corrupted as democracy and the rule of law were perverted by a plutocracy that developed into a kleptoc- racy and a criminal state. In- deed, systematic theft by the ruling elite through the con- fluence of state and corporate crimes resulted in immeasura- ble harm and the obliteration of a prominent journalist in our country. High-ranking politicians and government officials sought to control and extort crim- inal groups while providing immunity from regulations, monitoring and enforcement. At the same time, intention- ally ambiguous laws and reg- ulations were put in place to be enforced only erratically. Through such processes, tradi- tional methods of crime deter- rence deteriorated. Indeed, the political strate- gy of tolerating local criminal groups brought unexpected re- sults as it let the Trojan horse of racketeering and grand cor- ruption into the walls of gov- ernment. The favourable busi- ness climate attracted finances and investments from all over the world, including the crimi- nal world. The result was a new structural synergy between business, crime and politics. There flourished a web of corruption in connection with the multi-million-euro Elec- trogas deal; the fraudulent privatisation process of three hospitals, where the auditor general found evidence of lack of due diligence on the part of the investors; and the Pilatus Bank laundromat, among other scandals. Malta under former prime minister Joseph Muscat had become a haven for organised crime and corruption: golden visa fraud; smuggling of weap- ons, oil, drugs, and people; ille- gal fishing; money laundering; and allowing Italian criminal groups to operate extensively from the country. The vulnerability of Malta's political institutions to con- flicts of interest and corruption and the systemic lack of equal- ity of citizens before the law were important factors leading to the immunity of the crime nexus. We had legislators act- ing as powerful politicians with connections to law enforce- ment and the judiciary, making them important brokers for or- ganised crime networks. Con- sequently, a permissive legal environment was established and sustained, allowing illicit activities to thrive. Such illegalities could not have been possible without the facilitation of public enti- ties, often at the direction of high-ranking public officials. Being at the very top of a government power structure means your word has the pow- er to influence and shape virtu- ally every major decision that is taken by the collective body you represent. Being a Cabi- net minister means you get to shape a whole domain. Being a high-ranking staffer within one of these illustrious offices means you get to play a piv- otal role in high-stakes, elev- enth-hour negotiations that will directly affect the lives of people. In the hands of benevolent individuals dedicated to serv- ing society and fostering its growth, such a powerful collec- tive can become an indomita- ble force for positive transfor- mation. In the hands of bad people who wish to solely serve them- selves, it is a machine that breeds criminality and impuni- ty and can even go as far as to favour such an atrocity as the brutal murder of Daphne. Corruption, then, was possi- bly just financial, but today it is moral. The consequences of turning a blind eye go far beyond sim- ply letting some corrupt pol- iticians and bureaucrats walk free. The current state of the na- tion warrants an extensive soul-searching exercise. 10 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 6 SEPTEMBER 2026 OPINION Mark Said The state of the nation Veteran lawyer Protestors outside parliament calling for justice for Daphne Caruana Galizia (Photo: James Bianchi/MaltaToday)