Networking with the police at Gay Pride
Joseph Muscat is whining all over town because the prime minister’s chief of staff rang the police commissioner, which was completely acceptable.
He is completely in chaos, at once accusing the prime minister’s chief of staff of protecting Mr Engerer and at the same time accusing the government of exacting his revenge on him for leaving the Nationalist Party.
So which is it to be.
But given that Muscat thinks himself the standard-setter on acceptable behaviour involving the police – his adviser is probably his sidekick former inspector Anglu Farrugia – then what does he think about this?
“On July 9, Cyrus Engerer met the police inspector involved in the case at the gay pride march in Valletta and asked him to speed up the case.” – The Times, yesterday
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I think Joseph Muscat is accusing Edgar Galea Curmi for calling the police, and based on that alone.
Galea Curmi said he called the inspector on a personal level, as he is Engerer’s godfather I believe.
[Daphne – He said nothing of the sort. He called the police commissioner, not inspector, because Cyrus (disingenuously, as we now know) told him that he was the victim of political vengeance and Galea Curmi, as the prime minister’s chief of staff, was actually obliged to make sure that the police commissioner had not been subjected to attempted pressure.]
However, in a position like EGC’s, even a personal-level call can be misinterpreted to be one coming as the PM’s right-hand man.
[Daphne – Unlike Lomax, I do not think it was a personal call. When serious accusations like that are made – of political pressure on the police – the prime minister’s chief of staff or equivalent is in duty bound to tackle it. The difference here is that Cyrus had access to Galea Curmi and did not have to go through a battery of secretaries to reach him. If anybody abused his position, it was Cyrus, by not going through the proper channels.]
On a personal level, in that position of being asked for help, I would have picked up the phone too.
But I also would have thought long and hard if I should or not.
Personal feelings probably would have won, but I would also expect flack for it if anybody found out, and I would not be surprised in the least.
Point to stress, as I said earlier, is that in a position like Galea Curmi’s, a well-intended personal-level call can be misinterpreted to be one coming as the PM’s right-hand man to a police inspector.
[Daphne – Police COMMISSIONER. The difference is crucial because it was one chief of staff to another. Had he rung a police inspector then it would indeed have been abusive.]
Li kieku Cyrus Engerer mar ghand Galea Curmi u dan ma cempilx lil kummissarju x’kien jghid Joseph Muscat meta Cyrus jghidlu li dan cempilx lil kummissarju, kunu certi li Joseph Muscat kien jghid li Galea Curmi kien jaf li kienet qed issir pressjoni fuq il pulizija biex il kaz jinkixef ghax Cyrus mar mal partit laburista.
Yes, that’s exactly my point: “On a personal level, in that position of being asked for help, I would have picked up the phone too”. However, I still wonder whether he should have dealt with it himself – fact is that it added grist to their mill.
Whatever the case, I think the whole issue now has been blown totally out of proportion, particularly now that it has surfaced that Cyrus himself has, overtly, tried to exert pressure on the Commissioner of Police.
My bad. I somehow had it stuck in mind for some weird reason that it was an ‘inspector’.
Now it makes sense, and you are right.
While we here in Malta are discussing the goings on of Cyrus Engerer , we seem to be oblivious to the world around us:
The US can go bankrupt
The Euro still has problems with the Greek debts
Trouble in Kosovo
Killing of innocent people in Denmark
A civil war in Libya
Oppression in Syria
Floods in Korea
Japan is still on its knees with the tsunami and nuclear fallout
NOTW and phone-tapping
Floods in Korea
Famine in draught stricken Somalia
Dr Gonzi even found time to visit and convince a hunger striker to start eating , while reassuring him that he will tackle the transport problem.
I’m fed up of primadonnas trying to draw the limelight, can we have the silly season.
How about we start bragging again against Arriva and Austin?
Bragging is a wrong choice of word .
perhaps you meant killing of innocent people in Norway?
Norway , it was , you’re right, thanks.
John, and you have two entries for “Floods in Korea.” Is that like floods in the two Koreas?
Ciccio, I wrote about the floods in Korea twice because either I was tired or it was a Freudian slip.
I visited Seoul three times.
Edgar Galea Curmi seeking reassurance from the Commissioner of Police that a police investigation was not the result of any political interference amounts to “interference” with a police investigation according to the LP.
Cyrus Engerer urging a police inspector actively engaged in the investigation to expedite matters is not “interference”
Hawwadni ha nfhem!
On the one hand we have a party extremely well known for throwing mud, making false allegations, having dozens of pending libel cases both against their MPs and the party’s media, a leader who does not know his a** from a hole in the ground and for the cherry on the cake, he is surrounded by turkeys.
So the chances of soaring like an eagle are next to nil.
On the other hand, we have a career civil servant known to be as straight as an arrow, a government which at the slightest allegation refers the issue to the Commissioner of Police, and yet Joseph Muscat thinks that he knows better though he still has to refer one single case of perceived (in his own mind) corruption with proof to boot, to the police for their action.
The last person on earth to set standards (and impose them on others), is Joseph.
Amen!
Did I see correctly, or was that Jose Herrera standing next to Joseph Muscat when he said that he does not trust Judge Manche?
If I am correct can anyone answer the following:
Do you become an MP because you have lost the value of shame or do you lose it when you become an MP?
Jose Herrera never had it in the first place.
What a country! The Cyrus case really intrigued me. My conclusion is the following:
Cyrus knew the police were reviewing his case. As a Nationalist politician, his career would be over (just like Nikki Dimech’s). So he ran to Labour, knowing that as the facts emerge, he will be perceived as a victim.