Live blog: Toni Abela under scrutiny

He’s just said that he behaves correctly regardless of criticism, and that he withstands criticism. This is the man who sued me, and spent eight years in court, for calling him a clown.

Now he is talking about the recording in which he is heard discussing a cover-up of a brick of cocaine found being divided in the kitchen of a Labour Party club. He didn’t know about the recording, he said. It was published vindictively two weeks before the 2013 general election. The police told him that there was nothing wrong.

Rubbish. The police said that they couldn’t act because the evidence had been disposed of.

The first person questioning him now has just pointed out that Abela has no auditing experience at all, that he is a lawyer involved in politics.

His questions include: “Your CV does not show any commitments in this regard…Considering your lack of experience in managing and auditing public funds, what makes you an appropriate candidate for the Court of Auditors? Why did you decide to be nominated? Considering that you have a long career as a politician, how can you convince us that you will act with the required degree of independence?”

Toni Abela: “Though I am a politician, I am mainly a lawyer. My earnings have been as a lawyer. My work involves holding government to account and acting when the government behaved ultra vires. I was an auditor in a wider sense of public officials. My predecessor was a lawyer too but he did an excellent job and I would like to follow in his footsteps. I am determined and I know that with my experience as a lawyer I have qualities to contribute to the Court of Auditors. I would like it to be known that I never feared criticising even the party to which I belong. I never feared criticising any government decisions even if the government is of my own political beliefs.”

WHAT RUBBISH. He is such a good critic of the government of the day that he accepted a nomination to the European Court of Auditors at a quarter of a million euros a year.

Toni Abela: “Independence and integrity are very important. Honesty convinces others. I have always practised that and will continue to practise this line of thought wherever I am. I will always do it.”

What a lying hypocrite. Perhaps he should tell them how many government retainers he has had himself put on since 2013.

Next question: “You have given as your auditing experience the fact that you were vice mayor of a “large regional town in Malta”. But I have discovered that it has a population of 10,000 so it is just a village. Do you consider this relevant experience for the European Court of Auditors and why is it in your CV? Dealing with cocaine is still very controversial and illegal in Malta – I’m sorry I have to come back to this, but you have to explain yourself. You said in a political party speech that you would be happy to make people rich in secret. What do you mean by this? I find it puzzling and I would like you to explain yourself.”

Another question: “I see in your CV that you are very active in political life in your country. So how can European citizens be assured that you will be impartial and independent in your decisions? You are legal consultant to the Labour Party/government. Last week there were demonstrations in the streets in your country, against corruption, and you were consulting the government at the time. Do you think enough is being done by the government to fight corruption?”

Another question: “I have some concerns. Let me go back to those tapes disclosed in 2013, because I am still dark as to what happened. You said that there is nothing wrong in terms of drugs. But why did some people get kicked out of the party? Why did you part ways with them? The biggest blemish of public life is exerting pressure on independent public officials. You are applying for a post in the European Court of Auditors, which has to be independent of any pressure whatsoever. But I have serious doubts about your ability to be unbiased.”

TONI ABELA: “It seems that that report in Euractiv has justly been the cause of all these questions. And this matter has now resurfaced in the Maltese press. I faced the press at the time and I explained that the whole thing three years ago was taken out of context. I was talking about discipline in the party. I did not breach the law. I did nothing at the time. I was explaining that discipline is of the utmost importance. I managed 65 party clubs at the time. I was investigated by the police and they found nothing wrong. Now it has resurfaced again. I was judged by the electorate and it has resurfaced again, though I have done nothing wrong.

I am a consultant to the Prime Minister, but I have to put everyone’s mind at rest that I did not suggest anything to the Prime Minister to provoke what is happening now. I don’t think I should pass any political opinions on what has happened, but if anything wrong has been done.. I was intrigued by studying how the European Court of Auditors has evolved. It is rigorous and at times inspiring when you read the reports of the ECA of how results are being achieved. I could go on and say where I think things could get better but the evolution of performance audits…along with the cooperation of parliament to achieve the targets of Europe 20, to achieve the principles of good governance and for its citizens, I believe I had much to contribute in this vein. A performance audit can be a tool to make people understand that the EU is working towards their betterment in life.

As to my shifting in party politics, I would like to explain that I never, ever, ever was attached to a particular party in particular. When in 1989 I felt that it was no longer my place to remain in the Labour Party because of some undesirable elements, I cofounded Alternattiva Demokratika with some others and AD is still alive. I myself at that time was campaigning actively for the introduction of the Whistleblower Act and the party financing law. Yet I saw these laws being put into place only two and a half years ago when I was consultant to the Prime Minister of Malta. I was behind those laws and pushed for them for democracy. I cannot comment on what is happening in Maltese politics now because I am no longer in political life.

I was quoted as saying that I would like to make people rich in secret. Again I was quoted out of context. I said that I would like to make people rich, and somebody asked me whether I would do that in public or in secret and I said that as long as you enhance people’s quality of life it doesn’t matter.

It’s true I was censured by the Courts of Justice in Malta, but that is nothing. It happens all the time to lawyers, every day. If you go to the courts in Malta you will see that sometimes lawyers even get sentenced for contempt of court. As for my temperament everybody knows me. I have always tried to work with everybody regardless of this temperament that you have described. But in order to promote transparency and even accountability, and I do believe that the European Court of Auditors is the right vehicle to do that, and now it is not only stuck to its PRO-DUCTS like the annual report, but also other PRO-DUCTS like the landscape review, it is helping further parliament to understand that in applying the principles of performance audit it has another aspect to it. There is also what is called the learning aspect of performance audit. It helps everybody to learn because when it comes to understanding this kind of audit it is the most important audit.”