Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/972198
maltatoday SUNDAY 22 APRIL 2018 2 News JOSEPH Muscat has built his en- tire reputation in Opposition as a decisive leader with no qualms in ditching liabilities sometimes by putting them to new use. But this changed after 2009. 2009 • Jason Micallef – post abolished Micallef was one of Muscat's foremost backers in the lead- ership campaign, but was unceremoniously ditched after the secre- tary-general post was abol- ished in 2009 just a year after par- ty delegates confirmed Micallef in his post in August 2008. Micallef was persuaded not to contest the 2013 election but was deployed as a highly effective head of party media and later he was appointed as V18 chairman. 2012 • Anglu Farrugia forced out Anglu Farrugia was elected by delegates in 2008 as deputy leader for parliamentary af- fairs but was dumped and replaced as with the middle-class friend- ly Louis Grech just weeks before the general election. Muscat took the unprecedented step of asking his party's deputy leader, Anglu Farrugia, to step down, ostensibly for comments he passed insinuating that a decision by Magistrate Audrey Demicoli on corrupt practices during the 2008 general elections, could have been politically motivated. Mus- cat's call was made in the wake not only of those comments, but also of a dismal performance by Far- rugia during a TV debate with his opposite number in the National- ist Party, Simon Busuttil, who had just been elected deputy leader and had outgunned Farrugia. This was spun by the La- bour organ Maltastar as "a lesson in accountability for GonziPN", describing "this resignation as a sharp contrast to the way GonziPN has dealt with blunders by govern- ment ministers". Despite earning Farrugia's resentment, with the latter speaking out in the middle of the campaign about the influ- ence of 'fourth floor' big contrac- tors on Labour, Muscat was magnanimous in appoint- ing him speaker after his electoral victory. 2014 • Godfrey Farrugia resigns after offered transfer In March 2014 newly appointed minister Godfrey Farrugia resigned from the Cabinet after the PM had offered him the social policy ministry, to pave the way for Konrad Mizzi's ap- pointment as health min- ister. The move came a few days after the PM had publicly disowned Far- rugia for erecting a tent next to Mater Dei hos- pital to serve as a re- ception area in the case of an influx of influenza patients. Farrugia was later appointed Labour par- liamentary whip, only to resign before the 2017 general election which saw him elected to parlia- ment in a joint PD-PN ticket. As health minister Mizzi played a vital role in the sale of public hospitals to Vitals, a com- pany which was unable to honour its obligations and which was lately replaced by Stewarts Healthcare. 2014 • Manuel Mallia – sacked and reappointed Mallia, one of the party's star candi- dates in 2013, was sacked from home affairs minister af- ter the publication of an inquiry report into the shooting incident involv- ing his driver. A Board of Inquiry found that although Mallia was not part of an attempted cover- up, it had been his duty to ensure that an official statement about the incident was accurate, or that it was immediately corrected. Yet his dismissal became untenable after the Panamagate revelations. This was underlined by his reap- pointment as competitiveness minister in the 2016 reshuffle that demoted Mizzi to minister with- out portfolio. 2016 • Michael Falzon – accepted resignation In January 2016 the Prime Minister accepted the resignation of par- liamentary sec- retary Michael Falzon following the Auditor Gen- eral's report in the Gaffarena property expropriation scandal. Falzon continued to pro- test his innocence but was not reappointed in a reshuffle which saw the re-entry of Manwel Mal- lia in the Cabinet. He was reap- pointed minister after the general election. 2016 • Konrad Mizzi – retained and reappointed Nearly three months af- ter being outed as the owner of a com- pany in Panama, Mizzi was re- placed by Chris Fearne as Health Minister but re- tained his place in the Cabinet as a min- ister without portfolio in the office of the Prime Minister. He was also removed from party deputy leader but he remained a crucial peg in the energy sector to the extent that he was chosen to chair the EU's energy council dur- ing the EU Presidency in 2017. He was appointed Tourism Minister after the 2017 election. He also retained responsibility for private public partnerships. 2016 • Keith Schembri – retained Chief of staff Keith Schembri was retained in office and con- firmed in his role after the 2017 election despite pending magis- terial investigations over alleged kickbacks from the IIP scheme. Muscat always emphasised that his Chief of Staff was involved in business before he entered politics and before the Labour Party was in government. He also insisted that he was directly accountable to him and was not an elected of- ficial. Before the election the PM de- clared that unless Schem- bri is under a criminal investigation, he should keep his position. Faced with the latest revela- tions, a spokesperson for the PM replied "if any wrongdoing is found, the persons involved would shoulder their responsibility." 2017 • Evarist Bartolo – no questions asked Education minister Evarist Bar- tolo, one of the few voices in Cab- inet calling for Mizzi's resignation who had lamented the "laws for gods and laws for animals" dur- ing Panamagate, found himself in the eye of the storm after the arraignment of a former canvasser with accusations of corruption, brib- ery and fraud while acting as an official of a government agency under Bartolo's wing. While argu- able whether the actions of an un- derling who was ultimately pros- ecuted deserved the maximum censure, Muscat's silence on the case underlined his weakness in censoring the actions of Cabinet members after Panamagate. One singular exception was his deci- sion not to appoint Gozo Minister Anton Refalo after the 2017 gen- eral election. On the island of gods and animals Joseph Muscat has a track record of disposing of political liabilities but stubbornly refuses to dismiss Konrad Mizzi and Keith Schembri. JAMES DEBONO looks at the different fortunes of disgraced politicians before and after Panamagate Eminence grise: Keith Schembri is the architect of Labour's electoral success and enjoys the Prime Minister's trust 17 BLACK Understanding how the offshore Tillgate Hearnville PANAMA By designating 17 Black as a potential 'target client', the Panama companies could have "billed" the Dubai company for services rendered, for example, consultancy fees, so as to enable a payment to their bank of choice New Zealand trusts With their ownership held by middlemen and sheltered by trusts in New Zealand, the money would theoretically be held by the trusts 2.