The awful case of Konrad Mizzi, Keith Schembri and Joseph Muscat has exposed the weakness of our institutions

It has done this in many ways, but one of the most obvious is the anomalous situation in Malta – unique in Europe – where warrants for telephone surveillance must be signed by the Minister of the Interior rather than by a judge.

This is beyond insane for reasons that go way beyond this particular case. The reason they are signed by a judge in the civilised world is precisely to protect citizens from abusive surveillance by the government. Right now, we’ve got an abusive government, a corrupt police force, a shady secret service and a law that says warrants for telephone surveillance are signed by the Minister of the Interior – formerly Manuel Mallia and now Carmelo Abela. This is a recipe for disastrous abuse and violation of citizens’ rights and privacy, which is why there has literally been an explosion in the use of WhatsApp for both voice calls and messaging (WhatsApp can’t be monitored).

But in this particular case, the anomaly is particularly striking. In this situation, the police would ordinarily and sensibly be monitoring calls between Karl Cini, Brian Tonna, Konrad Mizzi, Joseph Muscat and Keith Schembri. But to do that, they have to go to Carmelo Abela, Minister of the Interior, with a request for a warrant. And he’s got to sign it.

Imagine asking the Minister of the Interior for a warrant to monitor the Prime Minister’s telephone calls and those of his aides and his favourite minister.