The parliamentary debate on the no-confidence motion tabled by the Labour Opposition against Urban Development and Roads Minister Jesmond Mugliett on Wednesday evening was, as expected, The Mother of All Debates in terms of drama as well as in terms of political strategy.
Opposition leader Alfred Sant started out with a blow-by-blow account of the ADT bribery scandal from its genesis three years ago till Mugliett’s resignation and its turning-down by Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi.
He accused Mugliett of being “an accomplice of corruption” when he intervened to get ADT driving examiner Roderick Galea off the hook since Galea was his canvasser.
Sant asked various times whether the Nationalist Government really believed in “zero tolerance” against corruption and blasted the culture of “I’m alright, ***k your jack” that this administration has left to fester in the country.
Referring to various scandals during the Nationalist Government’s terms in office since the times of the presidential pardon to drug trafficker Joseph Fenech aka Zeppi l-Hafi, Sant said that these have “disgusted the Maltese people”.
He focused on the role of a particular motoring school – Swallow Garage – and its involvement in the ADT’s cash-for-licenses scandal, with its owner facing charges in Court of giving bribes to ADT officials two years ago.
On his part, Gonzi defended Mugliett as a minister who did his best to curb abuse and branded the Opposition’s no-confidence motion as “a corruption of facts.”
He accused the Opposition leader of “undermining the fight against corruption” because instead of showing his joy that corruption cases are being discovered, he ended up presenting a motion of no confidence in a Minister that has made his best to stop corruption.
Gonzi claimed the Opposition was attacking the Government because it has now notched up a string of successes including the introduction of the Euro, the opening of Mater Dei and the building of the new hanger of Lufthansa Technik.
Towards the end of his speech, Gonzi played his trump card by proposing the set-up of a joint Parliamentary Committee to strengthen the powers of the ailing Permanent Commission against Corruption.
In the 20 years it has been in operation, this Commission, which was Eddie Fenech Adami’s brainchild, has been shrouded in a veil of secrecy as it does not publicise its work.
But it was Sant who had the last say during the winding-up speech. He revealed that Swallow Garage – the same garage involved in the ADT corruption scandal – had been awarded a tender by ETC for the supply of training services for obtaining the Special “D” driving licence for buses despite the tender conditions stipulating that the tenderer must not have been convicted of corruption.
It was only yesterday morning that the ETC Board announced that it had rescinded this tender after asking the police to supply information about the tenderer. (it seems like nobody reads the papers these days!).
Another two tenders awarded to Swallow Garage concurrently with the training services tender were rescinded as well by the ETC, claiming that it did not know that Swallow Garage had been involved in a bribery scandal.
But as the Opposition leader said in his reaction to the ETC announcement later yesterday, “the Maltese people are not going to swallow this tale”….

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