“But Lino is a man of honour and I am sure he will be the first to admit he is wrong.”

That’s what I used to think too, but anybody trying to justify, or associating with, the irresponsible behaviour of the Prime Minister in lionising someone who has been convicted of pornography related offences, loses my respect altogether.

This is not Nelson Mandela, someone convicted for his political beliefs, that we are talking about. It’s simply a horrendously vindictive individual who has been convicted of a criminal (non-political) offence.

Spiteri was around in the dirtiest period of labour politics. He was around when Il-Qahbu and it-Toto’ marched the bulls through Kingsway after the Borg Olivier family unfortunate problem. And today Spiteri has the cheek to accuse the PN of dirty politics. A real wolf in sheep’s clothing if ever there was one.

You clearly don’t know what you’re talking about.

It appears that Cyrus`s father has been suffering persecution for thirty years.

If we decriminalise drugs you won’t put that list and the courts can concentrate on more important crimes.

Why the surprise?

Lino Spiteri undoubtedly measures by his own yardstick.

As more information about Cyrus Engerer unfolds he will come to realise what a piece of bad stuff Cyrus can be particularly to those who befriend him. (Not that Lino doesn’t have the intelligence to see that already)

Some people have to have it spelt out in day-glo lettering before they can come round to a situation. This is unfortunate because a lot of muck which needn’t be exposed in the first place must necessarily be brought to light for them to accept the circumstances.

But Lino is a man of honour and I am sure he will be the first to admit he is wrong. Meanwhile may I suggest he writes about topics where he is expert. Cyrus Engerer is clearly not a subject he excels in.

He ends his article by saying “the perception that politics is a dirty game has simply become stronger”.

This is rich coming from someone who was elected in the gerrymandered election of 1981 and having served as a Minister in Malta’s so-called golden years between 1981 and 1987.

Has he been living in cuckooland during the past 14 months? Some cheek.

Dear Lino,

Your talking point article, ‘Dirty politics become dirtier’, published in today’s The Times of Malta exposes you for what you are – a Muscat apologist, and worse. You have crossed the red line by defending a convicted criminal – Cyrus Engerer who has committed a disgustingly obscene homophobic act.

Shame on you, Lino – you’ve sunk so low that it’s time to hang up your key board and do The Times of Malta readers a huge favour by giving them a permanent break from your articles. You had the cheek to accuse the Nationalist Party, and Simon Busuttil of ‘disgusting personal attacks’ on Mr Engerer. Disgusting is what Engerer did to his former boyfriend, and Muscat’s defence of this criminal act. You have turned truth on its head in your enthusiasm, and rush to defend your Prime Minister.

Cyrus broke the law and got a two year suspended sentence; Muscat hailed him as a hero – and you have the cheek to accuse the Nationalist Party of ‘dirty politics’.

You should be kicking up a fuss about the Prime Minister’s immoral behaviour, and you should be asking, and enquiring what Cyrus Engerer has on the Prime Minister. Instead you come out, with blazing guns against Simon Busuttil– who on this issue, like the rest of the independent media and the absolute majority of the population, who, unlike Engerer are law abiding citizens, is in the right.

It is you, the Prime Minister and Cyrus Engerer who are in the wrong. Shame on you, Lino. Time to hang up your key board; for your own sake do it fast.

http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20140512/opinion/Dirty-politics-become-dirtier.518657

Over the span of almost 30 years Cyrus Engerer’s father Chris Engerer, had been found :-

1) Guilty of Heroin possession on July 27, 1985
2) Guilty of Cannabis possession on September 23, 1986
3) Guilty of Cannabis and Heroin possession on January 4, 1988
4) Guilty of Heroin possession and trafficking on January 28, 1988
5) Guilty of Cannabis possession on September 18, 2002
6) Guilty of Cannabis possession on June 21, 2011 (That year and over the previous 5 years)

Stupidly Cyrus Engerer fed everyone to believe that his father, Chris Engerer’s arrest was instigated by a vengeful PN because he, Cyrus Engerer had moved from the PN to the MLP. Amazing when one considers that Chris Engerer’s first arrest took place when Cyrus was only 4 years old.

Moreover an Enquiry Report states that Assistant Commissioner Niel Harrison assured the Enquiring Board that form reliable Police Records, Chris Engerer was known to Police ‘fix-xoghol tad-droga’.

Unfortunately for him, Joseph Muscat has swallowed Cyrus Engerer’s story hook line and sinker. Joseph has gone to the extent of ‘knighting’ Cyrus when a quick search on the internet by the PM’s entourage would have easily uncovered this knowledge short of going to the Police for information in the first place.

I have no doubt that Joseph Muscat was oblivious to all this and was misled and that Cyrus Engerer hid this information, of which he possesses a copy, from him but that is the way Cyrus Engerer operates. He will befriend you initially and when your guard is down he will trample over you.

He would do that to anyone and everyone including his own father for no matter how unfortunate it is to have dragged Chris Engerer into this, it was Cyrus himself who dropped him into it initially. The PN never came into it at all.

Cyrus will not even spare his own leader to save himself or better his position. One will still remember Engerer’s invocation for Gonzi to resign before he was scooped up by the MLP.

Now it’s a different Prime Minister who has to watch his back while the Cyrus Engerer domino effect is already starting to have its repercussions.

P Bonnici, this was a high profile criminal case involving events that can be democratically interpreted as homophobic and hence a hate crime. It involved a close aide of the prime minister who pretends to fight for equality rights, and who was contesting an election for a seat in the European Parliament which is around the corner. To make things worse, the prime minister, defended such actions and anointed a convicted criminal as a soldier of steel while telling him that he shared his values – values which apparently include homophobic acts, vindictiveness and threats in a court – while shedding doubt on the independence of the courts. And all this happened on the eve of a visit to Malta by the prime minister’s European Socialist colleague who is running for the Presidency of the EU Commission.

Of course the MGRM had a golden opportunity to deliver a strong message against homophobia. When will all those circumstances come together all at once again to give a case such a high profile?