I have been working on this story for some time now and it involves various parts and other stories, however, by now, I could come up with a clear and whole picture.
Joseph Muscat, knowingly and willingly rigged the justice system in his favor, and also tricked and used the Council of Europe’s Venice Commission to hsi advantage. When the corrupt Justice Minister, Owen Bonnici, who helped cover up for Brian Tonna, NexiaBT and all of Joseph Muscat’s criminal accomplices went to a press conference to announce the separation of powers from the police and the attorney-general, Joseph Muscat had successfully completed a full centralisation of power in the justice system in the hands of his criminal accomplices.
How did Joseph Muscat do this? The touted and praised major reform that removed the responsibility of prosecution from the police to the attorney-general didn’t bring about a more effective system whereby the AG is prosecuting more corrupt politicians, it created a system whereby money laundering offenses could only be prosecuted by the direct approval of the attorney-general. And who is the attorney-general right now? The corrupt Victoria Buttiġieġ who helped cover up for Joseph Muscat’s criminal accomplices and gave the legal power to Energy Minister Konrad Mizzi to single-handedly executed the corrupt Electrogas project without Parliament’s approval.
So, the police can have extensive evidence of money laundering on Joseph Muscat, but Joseph Muscat’s prosecution would only go ahead if the attorney-general gives her permission to prosecute. Previously, the police did not need the permission of the attorney-general to prosecute. So what has changed with the infamous justice reforms? Prosecution power is today centralised and concentrated into one corrupt individual: Victoria Buttiġieġ. And in reality, Victoria Buttiġieġ is playing out her role as Muscat’s accomplice very well because I can confirm that there have indeed been discussions between the police and the attorney-general where Victoria Buttiġieġ showed a great reluctance to prosecute high-level politicians. There’s a bigger story going on here. There are direct and explicit actions of obstruction of justice by Victoria Buttiġieġ.
That’s not all. In order to rig the justice system completely you need the police and the judiciary. This is how Joseph Muscat rigged these institutions in his favour.
First, Muscat destroyed the police, kept them underpaid, and appointed his lackeys as Police Commissioners – until today, the Police are led by one of his lackeys, Angelo Gafa. So, in a situation where the attorney-general doesn’t want to prosecute top-level politicians, and the police are underpaid and demotivated, the perfect recipe has been created for total dysfunction. Why would any good-willing police officer take up an argument with the attorney-general on her obstruction of justice, or even with the police commissioner, to then, only get sidelined for promotions, while you keep earning the same and low miserable wage for much longer? Meanwhile, your enemies as a police officer, are indulging in corrupt proceeds and offering your colleagues high-paying jobs to join their legal teams.
There is one final component that is necessary for the total rigging and this is the judiciary. Evidently, and obviously, Muscat appointed his allies and lackeys to the judiciary, but this is too obvious. Joseph Muscat needed a friendly magistrate who is discrete and unsuspecting – obviously and preferably not Labour. This is where Magistrate Donatella Frendo Dimech who dined with Konrad Mizzi last December comes into the picture. Donatella Frendo Dimech became magistrate by prompting the then Justice Minister, Owen Bonnici, and telling him that she was fed up working at the attorney general’s office and wanted to become a magistrate. This was Joseph Muscat’s surprise gift. Donatella Frendo Dimech was the lawyer who introduced Malta’s money laundering legislation under the Nationalist administration. Appointing her magistrate meant a high probability she was going to be assigned to money laundering cases and that is what actually happened. Let that sink in.
On top of it all, you have a Prime Minister who has a deal with Joseph Muscat to ensure that this system remains in place. And the circle is complete – the total rigging of the justice system has been completed.
mafia state
Not exactly: the AML was drafted and piloted by AG Tony Borg Barthet in 1994; I was in a committee drafting seven different pieces of financial services legislation along with Andrew Manduca and Kevin Valencia. The AG’s consent to prosecute was always required in terms of this law already in 1994, the underlying premise being that police officers only understand traditional crime but not white collar crime. Donatella was always a big mouth, fretful and all; easy prey as you say. There is a joker in every pack of cards. By far the remaining members of the judiciary are a serious honest and knowledgeable lot, even those appointed by the Labour government
That was before Donatella Frendo Dimech updated the law to comply with EU standards before Malta joined the EU. I should have been more precise.
Basically, the way in which the FBI/DOJ in the US was ‘weaponized’ under former US President Donald Trump and his State AG Barr is like what happened under disgraced and corrupt AG Peter ‘Go Slow’ Grech from Mafia Godfather Joseph Muscat while obstructing the flawed rule of law.