Top comment: It was George Abela who granted immunity from prosecution, not Lawrence Gonzi

I occasionally have to remind myself that the systems, procedures and protocols which I take for granted are not clearly understood by others and sometimes are not understood at all.

This allows the Labour Party’s Deceit Brigade, which includes some owners of media houses, to mislead the public and even members of the press who don’t quite understand that the process for granting immunity from prosecution is strictly governed by the Constitution, and that it is the head of state, not the head of government, who takes the decision after considering the petition of the Commissioner of Police and the Attorney General.

George Abela, who granted immunity from prosecution to George Farrugia, laid the matter to rest on radio a few days ago. It occurred to me what a great shame it is that nobody in the press bothered to do what should have been obvious, two years ago and ever since, and ask the former head of state some specific questions about why he granted immunity from prosecution to Farrugia.

Instead we collectively allowed the Labour Party, then the Labour government and certain media lobbyists with a vested interest in promoting their source-allies from prosecution, to run wild sowing the story that the decision was Lawrence Gonzi’s and that it was somehow abusive rather than in the public interest.

Abela shot that dead – sadly too late, but as a former head of state he cannot pronounce himself until actually asked, and sometimes not even then.

He said on radio that the Commissioner of Police and the Attorney-General (the very same one now being consulted so avidly by the prime minister and the Justice Minister who invites him to sit in his box at the Manoel Theatre along with his girlfriend) petitioned him with very convincing reasons as to why immunity from prosecution should be granted. He agreed with them, he said, and that is why he gave George Farrugia immunity.

You have to consider the fact that Abela is an experienced lawyer and – unlike, say, Marie Louise Coleiro – he would have understood the situation precisely.

This morning I received the following comment.

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This statement by George Abela is important. The PL, with the complicity of Malta Today, is pushing the idea that Lawrence Gonzi arranged for immunity from prosecution for George Farrugia because of his (imagined) friendship with Mrs. George Farrugia.

This clarification by the former head of state confirms that this was not the case because Police Commissioner Rizzo and the Attorney General both gave sound and convincing reasons why immunity from prosecution should be granted to George Farrugia and George Abela (who is a lawyer) agreed with them. He could have refused to grant immunity from prosecution, but he did not.