Prime Minister Robert Abela’s remarks following the news that Belgian police are investigating MEP Daniel Attard are out of place and grossly prejudice the normal course of law enforcement.
Robert Abela described the subject of the Belgian police investigation as “ultra de minimis”, meaning a small matter that should not bother anyone. Robert Abela said that “there is no allegation of corruption”.
Belgian police are investigating Daniel Attard in the context of an investigation into gifts and incentives paid by a private company to influence MEPs.
Contrary to what Robert Abela says, the payment by private lobbies of gifts and incentives to people in public life is corruption and is something very serious and grave. The Belgian police, appropriately, are taking the matter with the utmost seriousness and are not acting because something that was no worse than ultra de minimis happened.
Daniel Attard is only the subject of an investigation, although the explanation he gave is not at all satisfactory. He first blamed his assistant because he found himself in a VIP Box at a football stadium with a Huawei lobbyist. But then he admitted that he had a subsequent meeting with this lobbyist in the Parliament building. This in itself is not proof of a crime but at least shows that Daniel Attard does not know how to avoid compromising circumstances, if not even go looking for them.
It is however for the Belgian police to determine whether he has a case to answer.
It is certainly not up to the Prime Minister of Malta to acquit his friend Attard before the police have been able to do their job.
Robert Abela in Malta has made it a habit of deciding who among his Party friends is guilty and who is innocent without letting the responsible institutions work. Now he is extending this habit to the work of the police of other countries as well.