A police source describes what took place the day Police Commissioner Zammit stopped the arrest/arraignment of John Dalli
The Commissioner of Police, Peter Paul Zammit
I reproduce verbatim the account I was given. The relevant news dates are as follows. Police Commissioner Zammit said on 8 June that there was no case against John Dalli and the investigation is being dropped. It was reported in the media on 9 and 10 June. On 11 June the news broke that Inspector Angelo Gafa, the chief investigator on the John Dalli case, had been moved to the Security Service, known ordinarily as the ‘secret service’.
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Ha nighdlek kif graw l affarijiet ezatt;
Peter paul Zammit baghat ghal Dalli wahdu l ufficju u wara qallu li kellu jighdlu baghat ghal ispettur gafa peress li uh kien qed jmexxi l investigazzjonijiet rigward dan l kas, filfatt kellu lest mandat t’arrest lest iffirmat min magistrat kit ukoll statement lest b’50 mistoqsija.
Xhin tela l ufficju tal kummisarju qallu li l mandat ma kellux bzonnu u l istatement ma kellux ghalfejn jiehdu ghax ma kienx hemm kas,
Telaq Dalli u kien hemm argument shun bejn gafa u l cop peress li gafa ried jaghmel l investigazzjoni kif suppost.
L argumenti u l ghajjat dam ftit Sakemm l cop biex jaghlaq halq gafa weghdu li jibghatu secret service u jlahhqu supretendent kif suppost ghandu jigri fil jiem li gejjien.
Ta’ min jigi in notat li gafa ilhu spettur 8 snin biss u by order of merit hemm hafna aktar nies qablu.
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http://maltatoday.com.mt/en/newsdetails/news/dalligate/No-case-against-John-Dalli-Police-Commissioner-and-Attorney-General-20130609
I have had the pleasure to work with Angelo Gafa’ numerous times. He is a man of integrity and precise in all his investigatory work.
Now we know he’s being pushed upstairs for obvious reasons. Shame on you, Manuel Mallia and Peter Paul Zammit. You are dismantling and destroying the Army and the Police Force.
Efficiency in carrying out the policeman’s duty to prevent crime and to prosecute criminals without fear or favour are not in high demand for Commissioners of Police during Labour Administrations. Only the very young, and elders with selective amnesia, would suffer from that indisposition.
I would like to say ‘unbelievable’ but it is not. I feel increasingly that we are not in safe hands.
Justice and order cannot ever be guaranteed if they are administered under any sort of political influence.
When John Dalli organized the thanksgiving mass, Joseph Muscat and Peter Paul Zammit knew that halting proceedings against him was not the work of the divine but of the malign.
Min jaf waqt il-quddiesa, il-kuxjenza ta’ John Dalli kienitx serena ?
Back to the “glory days” of Dom Mintoff and Lawrence Pullicino! And they would like us to believe that Malta’s electorate voted for some “new” Labour Movement.
Iva Dott, pero issa il-poplu ghandu l-gvern li haqqu.
Kliem George Borg Olivier.
Veru Troy, il-poplu ghandu l-Gvern li haqqu ghax kien iblah fit-8 ta’ Marzu u l-iblah taqlalu ghajnu jifrah.
Sfortunatament, jien u parti kbira tal-poplu Malti ghandna gvern li lilna ma jisthoqqilniex.
What you do when your back is firmly put against a wall is of paramount importance.
The grave thing is that the aggression should never ever have happened, but now there will be enough people to ignore that and examine whether what Gafa did was right or wrong.
Keep the focus on the aggressor. There should be no excuse or leniency for what was done.
Kaz skandaluz mill-kbar.
Il-Kap tal-oppozizzjoni irrid jittekiljah mill-iktar fiss possibbli u ma joqghodx jistenna li jinfetah il-parlament.
Jekk inhallu dawn l-affarijiet sejrin minghajr ma jinvestigaw, allura veru immorru ghas-snin 80ijiet.
[Daphne – He did so, Carmelita, at length in a press conference and outside it.]
To those of you who think we’re already back in the eighties, or that this is 1971 all over again, you’re wrong.
What we are witnessing now is already Labour 1976-1981.
Having such a large majority, and having found a country in a better state than it was in the sixties (naturally, as a consequence of the passage of time) it has more or less concluded the 1971-1976 phase, consolidating support through means fair or foul (mostly foul) and is moving on to phase 2. It did not need to sell us to Gaddafi this time, with EU funds readily available, although it cannot resist using the 1970’s playbook of selling us out to an abusive dictatorship and is doing so with China. With Labour, selling out our country is not a necessarily a question of need, but if anything, pathological need, i.e. of desire and habit, not shortage of money.
In the period 1976-1981, violence and intimidation aside, the Labour Party did a number of things.
Firstly, they attempted to and sometimes successfully passed laws which were either unconstitutional or abusive of human rights or both. They got these laws through by sabotaging the constitutional court at every turn, and also by virtue of our constitution at the time not catering for recourse to the European Court Of Human Rights, a privilege pushed for and later obtained by the PN. Ironically we signed the convention on human rights in 1965 and started to send a judge to sit on the court straight away, but our own citizens could only petition the court from 1987, after the end of the Labour regime.
So far, it does not seem possible that this will happen again. But never say never with Labour. You may have low expectations for them, but they generally manage to exceed them by sinking even lower.
Another thing they did was take over all our institutions, and as you can see this is happening and is more or less complete. Broadcasting, Police, Army. Sound familiar, 40 something’s? Toni Pellegrini, Lawrence Pullicino, John Cachia?
With all this in place, they could then proceed to take illegitimate, immoral and undemocratic action in all facets of life, from education to broadcasting to business to construction, you name it. (The National Bank robbery was just a premature example) There was now no-one to stop them. Because you see, in a democracy you can’t possibly legislate for every illegitimate act a state can carry out; you have to assume that there is a minimum level of decency and moral foundation to a party in government, but our laws and constitution do not cater for an institution as profoundly amoral and sociopathic as the Labour Party, which still mirrors in outlook and approach the man who took it down into the sewers, there to stay for generations, Dom Mintoff.
This course of action is unfortunately still open to them.
For instance, you cannot start a court case to remove the police commissioner on the grounds that he is aiding and abetting criminals or committing criminal acts himself, if the people who should start the case (Police? Attorney General?) are beholden to and at the mercy of the regime. This is why we had to wait for a PN government to do the right thing and arraign Commissioner of Police Lawrence Pullicino for complicity in the torture and murder of Nardu Debono, or whatever legalistic formula was found. Will we have to go through that again?
The PN is closing down its printing press. On the face of it, it would seem to be the logical and business savvy course of action. But if the PN had the funds, would it really be a wise action? Certainly it would be insane to also give up NET, which thankfully does not seem to be contemplated.
You see, one of the reasons the PN had a printing press in the first place, in an era when print was still the major provider of news (and propaganda), was that if they didn’t, they had no guarantee that they would still be able to publish a newspaper. At the time, the major printing presses capable of printing a run for a national newspaper with mass circulation were The Times’s Progress Press, the GWU-Labour Union Print and the PN Stamperija Independenza. We know what happened to the Times in 1979. There may now be others, but who is the major supplier of paper on the island, if not the PM’s Chief of Staff? What guarantee does the PN have that whoever they contract out to print their papers (or campaign material) will continue to do so?
The same could be said of more modern technology. Just as Mintoff’s regime used communist inspired jamming to block PN TV transmissions from Sicily, what is to stop Labour from taking a cue from China’s playbook and using hackers to block PN or government critical websites? Last I asked, this website is already blocked on government networks through legitimate technological means (under the previous government, but clearly a Labour inspired move). I wonder if it is also blocked on the free Wifi provided by the MCA in public spaces. You could argue that most government employees have no business reading news or comment websites during working hours (but then why not block all?), but a citizen relaxing in a public space?
Using more home grown tactics, (similar to those of our Sicilian neighbours and their descendants overseas) what about targeted power failures, withheld licences on spurious grounds using standards of judgement not applied to others, strikes at suppliers, faulty/damaged fibre optic cables etc etc.
If you read a history of the mafia, you will understand what I mean. A criminal organisation does not need to break the letter of the law except perhaps bribery in order to build a business empire, once it has some funds and some contacts, it can use legal but illegitimate and immoral action to pursue its goals legally.
With the right building blocks in place, then as now, there is also a legal path to a dictatorship. A government has an advantage over the Mafia; it does not need to bribe itself. Labour has done it before (see how they did it the last time, if you have the attention span/patience http://daphnecaruanagalizia.com/2012/02/guest-post/) and can do it again.
The pieces are now all in place again for 1981. What next?
Excellent.
This part is in operation already since years before the elections:
“A criminal organisation does not need to break the letter of the law except perhaps bribery in order to build a business empire, once it has some funds and some contacts, it can use legal but illegitimate and immoral action to pursue its goals legally.”
To this part add: using institutions like Arms and Malta Post for devious deeds, also since before the elections:
“Using more home grown tactics, (similar to those of our Sicilian neighbours and their descendants overseas) what about targeted power failures…”
This discrimination is already in place:
“withheld licences on spurious grounds using standards of judgement not applied to others”
Only this time the reach is not only national. Globalisation has happened here too.
I am a frequent Air Malta flyer, and I can say, that since after the elections, the PN newspapers disappeared from Air Malta flights. When asked for Maltese language papers, the crew offers Union Press papers. I must add that the crew is feeling very embarrassed when faced with this situation.
Last time I was at the airport, the Nazzjon was sold out at 8.45 am. How de hack does that happen?
Next stop, the internet, with a little help from Muscat’s new-old friends in China.
Oh yes the internet next. I love a good challenge.
U seem to forget that the first take over was just one day on taking office when Mr Grima was replaced by Mr Cutajar and consequently the Civil Service was firmly under control of the party in government.
Well said, and very timely.
It seems that in the last few days that the one and only one real road map is starting to unfold.
In the last few days someone has taken the step to stop the delivery of the ‘Il-Mument’ and the ‘In-Nazzjon’ newspaper to the wards at Government homes for the elderly, while still ensuring that there is a good supply of the self declared independent (sic) GWU rag papers ‘L-Orizzont’ and ‘Torca’. As one expects all these four papers were freely available until a few day’s ago.
I get the feeling that the real taker over of the Government apparatus is taking place. Up to now it seems to have been the phoney period.
Perhaps now, the likes of ‘Bless his soul’ Martin Scicluna – who is so erudite in military matters – can deliver to us ignorant mortals – a learned expose of the difference between a phoney war and a real war.
As far as I know Joseph Muscat has always declared that he will be following in Dom Mintoff’s footsteps – and that is what he’s doing now. More to come.
So Shiv Nair is linked to the mentor Mintoff instructed Joseph Muscat to consult, and that he did, first, in the early 2000 years. The proof of this that existed is no longer online. His first roadmap was a conceptual treasure trail from Mintoff.
Yes, many of us were unfortunate enough to see things like this, and much worse, taking place during the 80s.
To those who were not yet born then or else were too young to remember: this is only the beginning.
And to those who on the other hand lived the horrible events but still voted labour 7 months ago: you should be hanging your heads in shame for letting your country down.
The people are helpless now with Labour’s huge victory. To make things worse the PN is broke, the media is afraid to challenge Muscat and Simon Busuttil doesn’t have the leadership qualities to galvanize the country against this flagrant abuse.
He is starting to show signs that he can. This is a reversal of opinion on my part. The Independence celebrations were a good platform for the renewal of the PN. Simon now reminds me of Mariano Rajoy who had just sat back and allowed the Socialist Zapatero government to implode whilst politely holding them to account.
I doubt the government will last 5 years. Liberal Democratic countries will come to our aid as the situation precipitates further. They will legislate at the EU level to make Malta dismantle its igaming and banking sectors whilst also slapping it with fines for all the acts of non-compliance we are currently seeing. The Maltese are not stupid. They proved that in the Referendum on the EU. There are more natural PL supporters in Malta but when that 5-10% know it’s for the best, they vote PN. When there are daily protests and severe infighting this government will engage in one last act of pillage and then resign. Outrageous predictions – perhaps! What I’d prefer is if they just stopped being so totalitarian and governed democratically.
You’re wrong – Simon Busuttil and the PN are gaining momentum.
Rubbish. They’ll lose in 2018 just like they did in 2013.
I fully agree. I also think that Dr Busuttil is improving steadily.
I hope you’re right because it doesn’t feel like they are.
Meritocracy out of the window, closely followed by transparency..and so the downward spiral continues…..
‘Carry on Malta’.
! What a sorry situation for Malta to be in.
Who will police the police?
Fear not, P Sant.
Manwel Mallia will take care of that.
Us unfortunately.
The most notorious criminal defence lawyer in our Malta of recent history is policing the police – with predictable results.
If ever there was any need for a confirmation that the administration is worried by the latest revelations, we have it.
The price of petrol is down by 6c. Keep the people happy. Who cares about what happens in the army and police.
So with our Constitution and with all the Commissions of Injustice, Commissions against Injustice and what not, and with our membership in the EU there aren’t any safeguards to prevent or at least, remedies to deal with such exercise of influence and obstruction of justice? Is our democracy so frail?
Gvern Korrott kompost minn nies sfaccati u gakbini ghadtxana ghal poter.
It is only a matter of time before we will see politicians and journalists getting arrested for their dissent. Muscat clique had a carefully thought master plan in place and now they are implementing it rather quickly- consolidation of power, intimidation and total control. Then undo everything that the PN achieved in the last 25 years.
Dr. Busuttil said on television that the Police Commissioner’s position is untenable. Exactly what does he plan to do to have him removed? Boycott parliament like the PN did in the 1980s? What does Dr. Busuttil expect the public to do, ignore police summons because they also have no trust in the police commissioner?
http://video.foxnews.com/v/2702508991001/maltas-pm-has-money-lesson-for-america/
I can’t say ‘unbelievable’ anymore because such happenings seem to have become a daily routine. The problem is that people are losing trust in the police force. And who do we turn to if we cannot trust the police?
When the Police cannot be trusted, people will be forced to protect themselves.
Finally, Saviour’s got his iced bun. That should calm down a little bit now that he’s got his toy back.
http://www.maltatoday.com.mt/en/newsdetails/news/national/Simon-Busuttil-baptizes-Reporter-s-return-on-TVM-20130928
What is your email address, please?
[Daphne – dcgalizia@gmail.com]
What a scandal. I hope those who voted for this scum to govern our country are happy with the outcome of their mature decision.