Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/975483
27 maltatoday SUNDAY 29 APRIL 2018 Editorial MaltaToday, MediaToday Co. Ltd, Vjal ir-Rihan, San Gwann SGN 9016 EXECUTIVE EDITOR: MATTHEW VELLA Tel: (356) 21 382741-3, 21 382745-6 • Fax: (356) 21 385075 www.maltatoday.com.mt E-mail: dailynews@mediatoday.com.mt Out with the truth, and with the lies Quote of the week "As long as the V18 organisation fails to distance itself from the offensive tone which particularly relates to the relatives of the murdered journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia, the decision remains in place." Sister ECOC Leeuwarden-Fryslân declares it won't send official reps to Malta There is a certain consistency in how the Prime Minister reacts to events. In April 2016 – when Panamagate rocked the coun- try with revelations about Energy Minister Konrad Mizzi and OPM chief of staff Keith Schembri – Joseph Muscat had used the annual May 1 Labour rally as a means to bolster party support. The mass meeting was held against the backdrop of a Cabinet reshuffle, which saw Muscat retain Mizzi (as 'minister with- out portfolio') and Schembri, in spite of their ownership of offshore companies in Panama. More significantly, Mizzi himself was given a hero's welcome by the crowd, and was even seen posing for photographs with the party faithful. It was a bizarre spectacle, even if the full extent of the Panamagate implications had clearly not yet dawned on the crowds pre- sent for that meeting. Either way, implicit in the Prime Minister's behaviour was the belief that his mammoth popularity at the polls would be enough to allow him to weather the storm. (And In the short term, at least, he was proved right.) One year later, Daphne Caruana Galizia unleashed the Egrant allegations... which, though unsupported by hard evidence, seemed to resonate with all the circum- stantial evidence supplied by the earlier Panama revelations (although doubts about the veracity of this allegation seem buttressed by Muscat's inisistence to resign if an inquiry finds him connected to this company). Once again, however, the full impact could not be appreciated at the time - and up to a point, still can't to this day. The whistleblower had yet to be given a name and a face; and Muscat himself was buoyed by polls which indicated unprec- edented personal trust ratings. From this angle, and with the hindsight of the election result, it could be argued that the event was mismanaged by the Opposition that sought to capitalise on Egrant to dethrone Muscat... all the same, Muscat's reaction was to resort to a 'trial by popular vote'. He called an election a year early in response to those allega- tions; and it is evident, even from the way he interpreted his landslide victory, that he considered the popular verdict to have absolved him of all potential wrongdoing. Another year later, the backdrop scenario remains largely unchanged... save for a few important details. The first is that Caruana Galizia – who first broke the impending Panama story in February 2016 – was mur- dered last October, precipitating a global outpour of condemnation and suspicion, resulting in Malta being subjected to un- precedented international media scrutiny. The second game-changing event is that the 'Daphne Project' has since uncovered more damning revelations: establishing a link between a mysterious Dubai com- pany called 17 Black and the two Panama companies owned by Keith Schembri and Konrad Mizzi. In deflecting these revela- tions, both Mizzi and Schembri seem at various points to contradict each other, or their own previous versions. At this stage, it is simply unreasonable to maintain the pretence that everything is proceeding as normal. As long as there was a flicker of reasonable doubt, Muscat could cling to his argument that he 'would await the con- clusions of the ongoing inquiries'. Clearly, however, that argument cannot continue to hold water today. And yet, Muscat's response has been almost identical to his reaction to Pan- amagate two years ago. "The best reply we can give [to the Daphne Project] is on May 1, when the people will unite as one in Valletta to convey our message," he said on radio last Sunday. This is problematic on numerous fronts. One possible interpretation is that Muscat intends to use his Mayday speech to give some sort of 'reply' to the international press. If so, it is a strange way to commu- nicate his government's position in such circumstances. For one thing, the mass meeting is a party event... not a govern- ment one. Muscat will be speaking in his capacity as PL leader, to an audience composed of party supporters. That is certainly no substitute for official com- munications by a Head of State to a global audience. Another, less flattering (and, sadly, more plausible) interpretation is that Muscat intends to present the mass-support he will surely get, as some 'answer' in itself. If this is the case, it would be a worrying development. Popular shows of force are unlikely to impress a sceptical internation- al audience that already – perhaps unfairly, thus far – views Muscat as populist and militant. Rallying the troops on Mayday will surely only reinforce this image... which, if Muscat were serious about de- fending both his own reputation, and that of our country, should be the last thing on his agenda. The biggest problem, however, is that no amount of crowd adulation will have any impact on the underlying questions raised by the recent revelations. The truth or otherwise of a situation cannot be ascer- tained by the number of people who attend a mass-meeting. This charade has gone on long enough: the only reply Joseph Muscat needs to give is full disclosure about those secret offshore companies. Out with the truth; and out with the liars, too.