Repubblika respects the decisions of the courts. Yesterday’s acquittal in the “phantom job” case was based on the inadmissibility of testimony and not on a finding that the behaviour in question was lawful or acceptable. A system in which criminal liability cannot be proven does not automatically become a system in which the public must pretend that nothing happened.
It is bad enough that this case concerned the alleged creation of a fraudulent public sector job, paid for by taxpayers, and arranged for a person who never performed a day of public service. But what makes this case even more serious is the context: the job was allegedly arranged by and for a co-conspirator in the murder of Daphne Caruana Galizia. This is not merely patronage or administrative mismanagement. It is an abuse of power with deeply sinister implications for our democracy and the rule of law.
The acquittal was the result of legal technicalities that prevented the court from considering evidence it had previously heard in open court. The public remembers that evidence. We have not forgotten what was revealed under oath. Our duty as citizens is not to take comfort in failures of institutions but to condemn behaviour that violates the public trust, especially when it intersects with the gravest crime in Malta’s recent history.
We urge the prosecution service to continue to represent the public interest vigorously as the case proceeds on appeal. Justice is not served only by verdicts; it is served by the State demonstrating that no one is above the law.
We are also deeply alarmed that those who were politically responsible for the abuse now present themselves as victims, and that the Government of Malta and the Labour Party refuse to distance themselves from them. A democracy cannot recover from state capture while its leaders continue to protect the very people who constructed that corrupt system.
The Daphne Caruana Galizia Public Inquiry warned of organised corruption and recommended the urgent adoption of anti-mafia legislation to dismantle criminal networks operating inside and around the State. Cases like this one show that these reforms are not optional. They are urgent and indispensable.
Malta deserves a State that honours the public rather than exploiting it. We will continue to demand a public administration based on integrity, accountability and the rule of law, not impunity for the powerful.