Why isn’t Joseph Muscat standing by his man?

Concrete, power station, hospital management system…is there anything I can sell you? I know a good supplier and I’m getting a cut.

The prime minister has been extraordinarily silent on the matter of his consultant John Dalli, who he appointed to his right hand amid so much fanfare during a press call at his office not that long ago.

John Dalli was in the midst of corruption and crime allegations then as he is now – in fact, his troubles then were even greater than they are now because they were international and not merely domestic, back home in Malta.

So what has changed?

Yesterday, former prime minister Lawrence Gonzi did the right thing – and added to the sky-rocketing public perception that Dalli is not just a corrupt crook but brazen to the point of being unbalanced – by defying Dalli’s statement that the cabinet had approved his waiver for any structural damage in the hospital.

He said it wasn’t true, and that he had also double-checked with others who in the cabinet at the time, to be certain.