There is no way Kurt Farrugia would have acted without his boss’s say-so
Kurt Farrugia: he’s not a politician but an apparatchik. Apparatchiks follow orders and do not act autonomously.
In the chain of command, there is nobody between Joseph Muscat and Kurt Farrugia. Farrugia reports directly to the prime minister and cannot act autonomously.
Kurt Farrugia is not a politician. He is an apparatchik. People in his position – he is the prime minister’s spokesman and head of communications for the prime minister’s office – do not act autonomously. They require their boss’s approval, consent and say-so every step of the way. This is more so when the situation is momentous.
There is no way on earth that Kurt Farrugia would have acted autonomously in a situation where the Police Minister’s driver had shot at a man and the press were asking questions.
He would have first rung his colleague, the prime minister’s right-hand man Keith Schembri (tal-Kasco) and then together they would have discussed it with the prime minister.
Had Kurt Farrugia taken the initiative and acted autonomously in a serious situation like that, he would have been out on his ear the following morning even if the press release were factually correct and not composed of lies.
The simple fact of autonomous action in a situation that demands consultation with your boss and keeping your boss informed every step of the way is grounds for sacking, especially in a political context where such risky behaviour presents a danger to the prime minister, who is then left exposed.
The fact that the prime minister has not removed Kurt Farrugia tells us that Kurt Farrugia was liaising with him every step of the way that night, and that what Farrugia put in that press release was cleared by his boss. That is exactly why Joseph Muscat fudged the matter so badly when confronted at a press conference with questions about when he got to know what happened. “I don’t remember the time,” he said, while shifting about uncomfortably and demonstrating defiant body language. “I wasn’t wearing a watch and people ring me all the time.”
39 Comments Comment
Reply to vic Click here to cancel reply
High on Joseph Muscat’s wish list is invisibility.
Now we understand.
He knew exactly the time when John Dalli was fired in Brussels and he does not know when he was called about the incident under his nose.
That’s what happens when there is no moral base to your politics. It was just one massive PR stunt that failed miserably. Well done Malta – this is the shit you voted in.
About 132,426 people did not.
The head of PBS news should be tendering his resignation following the revelations made from the transcript. A day after the shooting, PBS news were still referring to the case as a hit and run where shots had been fired in the air.
Will someone give the prime minister a watch for Christmas ?
We all remember the exact time and day and where we were and what we were doing and with whom when a shocking situation develops.
It’s the famous line: where were you when JFK was shot?
I still remember where I was when I heard that JFK was shot (I was just 10) and also where I was when the Twin Towers were destroyed.
I’m sure Muscat remembers exactly the sequence and timings of events when this politically explosive situation developed. Otherwise he must be out of his wits.
He isn’t out of his wits at all – he is at his wits’ end.
That is why I have already asked in another post, where are THOSE phone conversations?
Yes, it will be interesting to watch him angry and disgusted at his closest aides.
If he had a minimum of understanding of authority he’d think twice before implying so.
So he called a cabinet meeting this morning, and who does he trust, or better, who’ll stand by him? Konrad Mizzi perhaps.
As any journalist would tell you, at least in the Anglospere post Watergate: it’s not about the crime, it’s the cover up. That’s what always gets them in the end.
Salvu Balzan is being VERY cautious. He just ‘reviewed and updated’ last night’s main news item about the transcripts. And then zilch.
A couple of minutes ago he added the information about the PN news conference.
Still waiting for inspiration is he?
If any of these honorable people committed crimes what are the chances of them being prosecuted.
Slim.
I imagine a fair bit of the pie was distributed purely as a security measure.
Il-giddieb ghomru qasir
When one does not lie, one would not need to remember.
Richtig.
“I wasn’t wearing a watch” is also a lie. Did he leave his expensive Tag Heuer at home?
http://daphnecaruanagalizia.com/2010/11/oh-my-is-that-a-socialist-watch/
It’s nearly Christmas. He should be receiving another watch to leave at the office in case he forgets to wear the expensive one at home.
He wasn’t wearing a watch but his phone log tells the time. If he’s wiped that out, he could ask his telecom company to provide the details.
He’s not just a liar. He’s a lousy liar. A total incompetent who can’t even lie consistently.
The Prime Minister could not say when he was contacted on this very important matter, but he knew the exact time when John Dalli had contacted him, before anyone else, to tell him that Barroso had made him resign from the post of an EU Commissioner.
Wasn’t wearing a watch? Seriously? is that the best he can do?
Il-giddieb ghomru qasir.
When one does not lie, one would not need to remember.
[Daphne – Yes you do. You need to remember the facts.]
Muscat must go. The whole government must go. I cannot see any way around all this which keeps the integrity of the government intact.
It’s not just about a driver having a gun. This is so much more than a driver having a gun and shooting it on a main road at another car.
As you have pointed out, Muscat must have known about the real details and approved the statement issued by the DOI. There is no way they can escape that.
Exactly what is to happen to restore our faith in government and politics in Malta? So what if Muscat now fires Mallia and Farrugia? He would only be doing it because they got caught, and not as a matter of principle.
Muscat will not want to step down, nor will he allow and evidence of his direct involvement to come out, and the whole country will now experience the reality of a government that feels it can commit gross acts of corruption with impunity.
Back when there was the general election, I was called brainwashed. I was told that they had changed. But the most common line I heard was, “Do you really think that will happen again? We have the EU to protect us from that”.
That is a colonial mindset. We have to protect ourselves from our own government first. Is the EU interfering at the moment? No. Therefore the EU will not protect us.
How is the EU protecting Hungarians from their own government? It isn’t. How did the EU protect Portugal from the rampant corruption of its own prime minister? It didn’t.
Democracy is not an anything-goes system. It is discriminates against undemocratic and anti-democratic behaviour. The people should be up in arms about all this. All newspapers should be out all guns a-blazing. Muscat should never feel as if he is in a position to carry out such corrupt practices and carry on getting away with it as he got away with it in Opposition.
He has painted himself into a corner. Saying he didn’t know about the details would be a lie because otherwise he would have fired Kurt Farrugia straight away for not asking for his approval.
Claiming he was misinformed by Farrugia and Mallia is also not possible because he went out of his way to feed us a story that could fit in with what Mallia said. Plausible deniability doesn’t come into it here.
I hope the Maltese recognise the real consequences of all this. Anyone who thinks we are being dramatic are the ones who are probably afraid of the government that now has a gun to our heads, and get away with it. The steps from small cover up to major cover up to mass corruption and social chaos are very small indeed. We stop it now, right now.
I’m completely with you, Edward.
*Koort*
Was Toni ‘Blokka Bajda’ Abela present for this morning’s Cabinet meeting? He’s brilliant at cover-ups.
I have never seen the PM as confounded as i saw him when replying to the question you mention. I could feel he was about to cry for mummy. Completely at a loss.
He even asked the journalist, five times like a robot, to ask all of his questions at the same time (to gain time, of course), and he had no clue whatsoever what he ‘should’ answer.
This is what happens when someone is definitely lying. The confounded frown with the line in the middle if his forehead, clearly evident.
The eyes kept darting low right, that’s your tell tale sign, then tries to intimidate with sarcasm.
He’s not that good, no-one is.
His evasion was ridiculous. He could have checked his mobile phone log right there and then, since presumably he had his phone on him. And the reporter could have asked him to do that right then, too.
They obviously thought that covering up a shooting by a minister’s driver, when they are in government, is not much different to covering up the sale of cocaine from the Hal Safi Labour Party club when they were in Opposition.
It’s just a matter of finding, to quote Toni Abela, a ‘pulizija Laburist’ to fix things for you.
“So grotesque and preposterous are the principal characters in this galaxy of clowns and crooks that none but a thrice double ass could have taken them for rulers.” – said of the Nuremberg trials.
Issa jingabru taht it-tinda ghax illum beda ic-cirku.
The one huge question remains. Why were so many ‘top people’ ready to put their careers, reputations and credibility on the line in order to cover up one man’s gross misdeed.
If there wasn’t something far bigger and more sinister behind it all, wouldn’t they have just let the police get on with their work? Mallia would only have been considered guilty of grossly misjudging his driver’s character, and that would have been that.
What a cesspool they all seem to be flailing in. They’re all buoying each other up because if one goes down, he’ll make sure those around him will perish with him.
This is a very valid observation indeed.
This is the crux of the matter.
Why all this fuss just because a minister’s driver lost it.
Why the cover up?
That is what we want to know.
The fact that there was a cover-up stares us in the face.
Why did this apparently stupid incident by a red-bulled individual precipitate a cover-up at the very highest echelons of the executive?
What is the real reason?
Who exactly is this Skocciz?
Is there any connection between Sheehan, the Skocciz and the Olandiz and where does Mallia fit in?
I seem to remember Joseph Muscat claiming in a recent press conference in the aftermath of this incident that Paul Sheehan was merely assigned to Manuel Mallia as his driver and he didn’t know him before, or something to that effect. Can anyone source this clip?
According to the transcript of the very first call between Sheenan and the Deputy Commissioner: “meta mistoqsi x’kien ġara, ix-xufier tal-Ministru Manwel Mallia jinstema’ jgħid ukoll li
SHEEHAN : “Hawn taħt il-mini… sparajt fuqu diġà!”
“diġà?” – was he meant to shoot him later?
I thought there was a good six inches between them two.
Kurt and Joseph always use the same mantras:
“Ma tgħallmu xejn”
“ghax ghadu ma fehem xejn”
“Il-PN ma fehem xejn”
Imma ikolli nghid li is-Socjalisti Maltin, wara 25 sena fl-Oppozizjoni ghadhom MA TGHALLMU XEJN.
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20141207/local/audio.547166
Tal-misthija – ara lil minn ivvutaw il-Maltin.