Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/973467
9 maltatoday WEDNESDAY 25 APRIL 2018 Editorial 'Eerie silence' is not an answer MaltaToday, MediaToday Co. Ltd, Vjal ir-Rihan, San Gwann SGN 9016 MANAGING EDITOR: SAVIOUR BALZAN EXECUTIVE EDITOR: MATTHEW VELLA ASSISTANT EDITOR: PAUL COCKS Tel: (356) 21 382741-3, 21 382745-6 • Fax: (356) 21 385075 Website: www.maltatoday.com.mt E-mail: newsroom@mediatoday.com.mt One of the more uncanny aspects of the current politi- cal situation is that the major players involved – namely, Joseph Muscat's government – seem to be behaving as if nothing of any note is even happening at all. Malta is cur- rently at the centre of an un- precedented storm of global scrutiny and speculation... yet its government continues to resort to exactly the same tactics it always employed in times when no one was look- ing in our direction at all. The Prime Minister's com- ments that he has 'nothing to add' to the revelations of the Daphne Project – or, even more bizarrely, that he will give an answer by rallying the troops on May 1 – are simply incredible, at this late stage in the day. Government cannot continue to refuse to address issues because they are politically inconvenient... this would be outrageous at the best of times, but more so now that EU and global attention is so closely focused on Malta. Already, Muscat has dis- missed new revelations, to the effect that Keith Schembri's and Konrad Mizzi's names appeared in an email by Nexia BT to a Dubai bank, linking their two companies – Till- gate and Hearneville – to 17 Black, which was to be a client company of theirs. Now, evidence has surfaced of a network of over 50 companies and trusts, secretly owned by Azerbaijan's ruling elite, that used accounts at Pilatus Bank to move millions of Euros across Europe. Other revelations (or, to be more precise, allegations) include that Economy Minis- ter Chris Cardona twice met one of the three men accused of Daphne's murder. Cardona has been vociferous in defend- ing himself from these ac- cusations, but once again the Prime Minister has chosen to respond by... not responding at all. Meanwhile, questions are being asked about the legal- ity of Malta's IIP programme and the identity of people making use of it. Suspicions have been raised – possibly needlessly – by Malta's com- mission for information and data protection, which upheld a refusal by Identity Malta to release detailed statistics on the agents of Malta's sale of passports to the global rich. Muscat's only answer to all this, and more, has been that he does not want to comment on the "rehashed" stories be- ing published by the Daphne Project. But whether he wants to comment – or whether it is in his interest to do so or not – is (or should be) irrelevant. The country is owed an expla- nation. Why did Muscat re- tain two high-ranking govern- ment members in spite of the Panama Papers revelations... and why does he continue to defend them to this day? The traditional 'No comment' approach may have worked well for previous governments (and for his own, before the spotlight was turned onto Malta)... but it cannot yield the same dividends today. Nor does it help that the rest of government has rallied to the same cause. Elsewhere, Finance Minister Edward Scicluna said he knew noth- ing about the use of Pilatus Bank by Azeri politicians; Education Minister Evarist Bartolo reacted by dismissing the latest claims as merely an attempt to hurt the Labour Party; Justice Minister Owen Bonnici says he will 'tow the party line'... missing from all these reactions is any form of concern with the affect of all this silence on Malta's inter- national image. What sort of government doesn't respond to such serious issues? How will these non-answers be interpreted... not by Labour's supporters, perhaps; but by the international press, by the European Union, by the Council of Europe, and other global entities that are follow- ing developments here with concern? But it is becoming increas- ingly more evident that Muscat and his government can no longer refuse to com- ment on developments. On Monday, The Guardian said that "Questions over financial deals involving his inner cir- cle have dashed the Maltese leader's hopes of even higher office" and that "questions about Malta's record under his leadership are growing louder". These questions will only keep getting louder, if the answer coming from Malta's government remains nothing more than an eerie silence. It could, however, be argued that 'silence' remains prefera- ble to saying the wrong thing. Muscat has now called for a public show of support on 1 May, at the traditional Labour Workers' Day meeting, to be held in Triton Square. One can perhaps understand that – here, too, Muscat is playing to a musical score that has always worked well for belea- guered Maltese governments (of whatever political hue) in the past. In today's context, however, it can only come across as brute populism, of the kind Europe has good reason to fear. No doubt Muscat will get his show of popular support, but this only represents an 'answer' to himself and his party's supporters. It does nothing to address the issues being raised in the interna- tional domain. Clearly, it is not enough for a Prime Minis- ter to point to the number of people who support him or who turn up for meetings. It is no longer enough for him to say that 'inquiries are under way'. Muscat must be seen to be fighting to clear Malta's name on the international circuit. This is simply not happening, and the country needs to be told why.