Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/429113
12 A week is a long time in politics, it has been said, proved right in the past few days as new developments on the shooting incident involving Home Af- fairs Minister Manuel Mallia's driver overtook each other on a daily basis. Three days ago as I sat in Opposi- tion leader Simon Busuttil's office just before interviewing him, I went through the questions I had prepared on the shooting. But on Friday evening, as I was putting the final touches, I received a message from the PN's communica- tions director informing me that the Opposition's media had broadcast a transcript of police calls made about the incident, which shed new light on the case, making the interview obso- lete. So yesterday afternoon, I sat again in Busuttil's office to ask him new ques- tions about the shooting incident, hoping that no new developments would emerge in the following hours. Undoubtedly, not only has the shooting dented the government's credibility, it has also given Busuttil and the PN a new lease of life. Minutes before, an invigorated Bu- suttil held a news conference at the party's television studios, in which he said Prime Minister Joseph Muscat should "come clean" over his involve- ment in what the Opposition has de- scribed as a cover up. What has changed following the publication of the recordings is that Minister Mallia, acting police com- missioner Ray Zammit and the gov- ernment's chief communications director, Kurt Farrugia, were aware of what had really happened as the statement was drawn up which claimed that warning shots were fired in the air. "The Opposition is angry and dis- gusted at Minister Mallia and the Prime Minister's political dishonesty because this has now been exposed clearly. A number of key people knew the whole truth before the govern- ment's official press statement was issued. These transcripts show this very clearly and we cannot but affirm how dishonest this government is," he says. So what should happen now? "Firstly, Mallia must be sacked im- mediately because his credibility is in tatters. Secondly, we now know that acting commissioner Zammit and Kurt Farrugia were aware of what was going on and in Farrugia's case, he is- sued the statement when they were well aware that the facts were com- pletely different. "He knew what the truth was but he still issued a statement which covered up the truth when he should have been setting the record straight." On November 19, a couple of hours after the shooting, a govern- ment statement claimed that Mallia's driver fired "two warning shots in the air" with the bullets, however, lodging themselves in the car, as photograph- ic evidence showed. Thirdly, Busuttil says, "the Prime Minister's credibility is in question because if his communications direc- tor knew everything, how is it pos- sible that the Prime Minister wasn't informed? I have no doubt, it's unim- aginable for Farrugia not to call the Prime Minister over such a serious matter. If the Prime Minister knew and was informed about everything, then he's also an accomplice in the cover up". The PN leader forcefully adds: "I challenge the Prime Minister to put people's minds at rest and publish the call log of his mobile phones to show who he spoke to and who called him in the crucial two and a half hours be- tween the shooting and the publica- tion of the statement. "We're also telling the prime min- ister 'for once speak the truth and nothing but the truth, stop lying and shoulder your political responsibil- ity'." Pointing out that Muscat was elected on the promise of political accountability and transparency, Bu- suttil says "I'm now telling him 'keep your word and shoulder political re- sponsibility'." So should the Prime Minister re- sign? I ask. "There's no doubt that we also ex- pect the Prime Minister to shoul- der his responsibilities otherwise he would be an accomplice in what Mal- lia did. If the Prime Minister knew the truth before the statement was issued then he should shoulder his respon- sibility." But does this mean Muscat should resign? I insist. "He should shoulder his political responsibility. Let's take it step by step and see whether he really knew. I challenge him to come clean and tell the truth for once. Then we'll take matters from there." I also wonder whether the PN me- dia has more details in store and I ask whether the party media will be publishing all the material in its pos- session. Claiming that he does not interfere in the PN media's work, Busuttil is full of praise for his party's journal- ists and the independent media for digging up more information on the case and as he puts it "uncovering the government's deceit". However he answers that "it's up to the party's media whether to publish more details". However I argue that for clarity's sake, and to ensure that no doubts re- main, it would be better if all record- ings are published. But he cuts my question short and says "there's no doubt that Mallia knew everything before the statement was issued, as did Kurt Farrugia and Ray Zammit". He adds that from the very first day, he believed that the inquiry was "use- less" because "the most it can do is confirm what we already know, that there was a cover up". The publication of the transcripts, he adds, vindicates the Opposition, who from the very beginning claimed that the government covered up the truth. Whatever the inquiry's conclusion is, Busuttil argues, it will make no dif- ference because "we were right from the very beginning. It was never a question of whether Mallia fired the shots himself, it's a question of who should shoulder political responsibil- ity. Mallia should surely shoulder his and if he was informed of what was going on, Muscat should also shoul- der political responsibility." I turn to the arraignment of Police Sergeant Leeroy Balzan Engerer who this week was remanded in custody after pleading not guilty to tamper- ing with evidence in the shooting in- cident. Is he a scapegoat? I ask. "What's cer- tain is that compared to the gravity of what really happened, the matter concerning the police sergeant who allegedly deleted a file is an attempt to deviate attention. What's important is not what the sergeant did but what Mallia did, what his driver did, what the acting commissioner did and what Kurt Farrugia and Joseph Mus- cat did. We are politicians and we're interested in what the politicians did. The people did not vote for the ser- geant but they voted for Manuel Mal- lia and Joseph Muscat." But what has kept Muscat, who has in the past shown a ruthless streak in dealing with internal problems, from taking action against Mallia? "The reason is that Muscat is hos- tage to his own electoral prom- ises and he's hostage to people who helped him win the election, such as Manuel Mallia. Now he has ended up being Mallia's defence lawyer. What an irony, to have a Prime Minister put himself in such a situation." The Opposition has tabled a no- confidence motion in Mallia, but given the government's nine seat ma- jority in parliament it's unthinkable that the motion will be approved. So what does the opposition think it will achieve? "Our job is to uncover these things, we'll do everything within our power but then it's up to the people to reach a conclusion. But as a party in oppo- sition, we're going one step further and if the people vote us into power we'll ensure that institutions are truly independent and protect the people, not politicians. We will ensure that meritocracy is upheld by having a parliamentary committee scrutinise key public appointments. We are putting forward a number of propos- als from now, to show that we have learnt a lesson and have a desire to build politics on honesty and serious- ness. I did not enter politics and be- come party leader to warm my chair but to change the way politics is done in Malta and I'm determined to do so." Hard as it is to discuss other issues, I point out that the shooting incident has overshadowed the 2015 Budget which the PN dismissed as being so- cially unjust. Why is this? I ask Busut- til. "With so many scandals emerging in the last few weeks, the budget has been ignored by the people," he says, adding that the people are "angry and disgusted" with the series of scandals involving Labour ministers and MPs, including Luciano Busuttil's conflict of interest in the adjudication of a contract by a local council and Min- ister Helena Dalli's involvement in what the PN claims is an illegal con- struction of a farmhouse by her com- pany. "Muscat says he is angry but it's not true, otherwise he would have taken action. The people are the ones re- ally disgusted and that's why they're ignoring the budget." He says that the budget is socially unjust because it does not distribute wealth fairly and vulnerable sectors such as pensioners were given a bad deal. Busuttil says that despite weekly shopping expenses for pensioners ris- ing from €50 to €81 "they got nothing beyond the 58c cost of living increase and the €35 one off bonus". But was his party's proposal to grant people a €170 tax cut fair? "We proposed the cut for people who did not already enjoy a tax cut and a lump sum for those who do not pay income tax, but all they got was a Interview By Jurgen Balzan maltatoday, SUNDAY, 7 DECEMBER 2014 Honesty is the THE ARMIER SHACKS The former PN government had a plan to rehabilitate the areas, which look like a slum, and build new units which would be open to all, not to those who stole the land. But we dragged our feet, which was a mistake and if we were in government today we would implement that plan 'EXPOSED CLEARLY' The Opposition is angry and disgusted at Minister Mallia and the Prime Minister's political dishonesty because this has now been exposed clearly. A number of key people knew the whole truth before the government's official press statement was issued