Repubblika notes with anger the conclusions of the Auditor General’s report on the agreement regarding the Fortina land. The report confirms what the public has long known: that Joseph Muscat’s government deliberately undermined procedures to hand over public assets to his capitalist friends.
An important report estimating the value of the land was hidden so that the owners of the Fortina could pay less and pocket more money. This was not a mistake. This was a conscious act of corruption.
Once again, Keith Schembri emerges at the center of the manipulation, while Prime Minister Robert Abela continues to defend Muscat. Abela does so despite the fact that Muscat jumped directly from the prime minister’s office to the office of the Fortina owners, pretending to become their consultant. The same as he did in the Vitals case. It is legitimate to suspect that Muscat was collecting the reward for corrupt behavior.
The report also confirms that James Piscopo, then a high-ranking public official, admitted to giving the Fortina inside information while they were negotiating with the government. He declared a conflict of interest – since he had no other choice – but nothing stopped him from exploiting that conflict and getting paid by both sides that were negotiating with each other. This is corruption in broad daylight, yet Piscopo continues to enjoy impunity.
The scandal also shows the poisonous closeness between big business and political parties. The Zammit Tabona family, owners of the Fortina, are famous donors to the Labour Party. This is the Maltese version of Tangentopoli: part of the commercial profits from government favors is paid back in donations to the party. The losers are the Maltese people, who have their resources and public land stolen, their democracy undermined, and harm done to fair competition that makes them poorer.
The consequences are real. The corruption in this case lowered the value of nearby hotels and businesses in the Fortina area, weakened their financial balances, and destroyed the economic level playing field. On top of suffering the consequences of exaggerated development and overcrowding in Tas-Sliema, taxpayers are forced to subsidize the profits of the few.
This scandal reminds us of the human cost. The owners of the Fortina were directly involved in the illegal detention of migrants during COVID. In public, they described the protection of workers’ rights as “communism.” These are the people our government went out of its way to help enrich themselves further.
The Fortina case is not an exception – it is part of a system. This is the system through which Muscat, Schembri, Piscopo, and those around them hijacked the state to enrich themselves and their associates. This is the system that Robert Abela continues to defend.
Repubblika calls on the police and the Attorney General to act without further delay. There is no excuse for how, once again with far fewer powers than they have, the Auditor General found the evidence that the police and the Attorney General spent years avoiding.
The Prime Minister must stop defending the indefensible. Malta cannot move forward while those who committed and those who are hiding corruption of this magnitude and impact continue to enjoy impunity.