UPDATED/The arrogant, abusive and corrupt bandwagon carries on through town

UPDATE/Read about the new developments in this case here.

In 2012 I wrote that I instinctively picked up on the fact – going by the way they behaved and what they said and did – that the main reason the Labour Party wanted to get into power was because they thought the Nationalists were raiding the trough and instead of being angry on the grounds of decency and the law they were clearly cheesed off because they wanted to raid that trough themselves.

It turned out to much worse than I imagined – much, much worse. They don’t even try to put on a show of behaving properly while doing things in an underhand way. They’re raiding that trough right out in the open, and not even making the merest pretence, as with this one here, of paying lip-service to systems and procedures, checks and balances, out of respect for the great institutions of democracy and administration which they represent.

This individual was appointed to the cabinet at the age of 27 based on his worldly experience as mayor of one of Malta’s most insignificant rural hamlets, and has proceeded as he pleases, continuing to buy and build and work on his own personal business while ignoring the Ombudsman’s reportand the fact that the Ombudsman has sent it to the Permanent Commission Against Corruption.

Whether he considers himself guilty or not is completely irrelevant. He should step down from the cabinet or be made to step down until the matter is concluded. Chris Said stepped down from his post when he faced charges in court (from which he was exonerated) on a matter that had nothing at all to do with his political or government work. But Owen Bonnici, when he was tried for smashing into somebody else’s car and injuring the person, did not step down and Malta had to deal with the awkwardness of a Justice Minister being tried in the courts for which he himself is responsible.