It is truly appalling to see Prime Minister Robert Abela promising legal changes to destroy what little remains of the rule of law.
Now he is saying that he will change the law so that his officials who allow ministers to steal and be bribed will have a guarantee that there will be no consequences for their complicity.
Our country has a centuries-old legal tradition that when a public official commits a crime that it is his duty to see that others do not commit, they suffer more serious legal consequences. This makes total sense. After all, we have the right to expect that public officials always act conscientiously and in the public interest, not their own personal interest. The public has the right to expect that public officials set an example in their behaviour and when they see others stealing, instead of remaining silent they speak up and act.
Not only does Robert Abela want to remove the aggravation for criminal conduct by public officials, but he also wants to exempt them from any consequences when they commit a crime.
We recall that according to the law, officials of private companies face personal prosecution if they commit crimes at work. But now Robert Abela wants anyone in civilian life who helps the minister steal and embezzle will not suffer anything.
Robert Abela said that he will change the law because public officials have been persecuted with years of prosecution due to magisterial inquiries only to be found innocent. This is fantasy. No prosecution of any public official that came from an allegation of corruption in the last ten years has led to a judgment of innocence after a false prosecution was made.
The only case that resembles what Robert Abela describes is the false prosecution that was made of Anthony Debono, husband of the former Minister for Gozo Giovanna Debono. He was personally prosecuted for alleged corruption at work that the court found him completely innocent of. Instead, justice was abused to politically persecute him using a witness bribed by the government that the court did not believe. The lawyer for the witness who was not believed was none other than Robert Abela.
There is nothing wrong with having laws that hold public officials personally liable who, with bad intentions or negligence, allow people’s money to be stolen. These laws, which have been with us since the 19th century, do not show distrust in the civil service. On the contrary. They show the great responsibility that is entrusted to public officials. That responsibility demands from them that when they see bad or corrupt spending of public money, they do not remain silent but stand up and stop the illegality. If they do not do so, it is fair that they face the consequences according to the law.