When Tonio says ‘conflict’, then things must be really bad
Everyone must have probably noted the planted story that appeared on the front page in the Sunday Times, that purveyor of modern-day Mintoffianism. The Sunday Pravda reported that Alan Camilleri, the executive chairman of Malta Enterprise, has a problem with Wenzu Mintoff (not the originator of said ‘Mintoffianism’, but the editor of Labour organ Kulhadd) because of his “conflict of interest” as editor, and a legal officer at Malta Enterprise: the government’s investment promotion arm (formerly Malta Development Corporation).
The laughable statement by Finance Minister Tonio Fenech about Mintoff’s so-called conflict of interest makes me wonder whether Fenech is aware of what he has done all throughout 2009.
We all make mistakes, but had Fenech lived in another European country, he would have long resigned. Here is a man who accepted a freebie ticket from Joe Gasan to watch Arsenal play in Spain, on a freebie passage aboard George Fenech’s private jet, accompanied by the two magnates of course – and who denied breaking the ministerial code of ethics – and who then renovated a house using the ‘dubious’ services of a mega-contractor – the Montebello brothers – and still has the gall to wax lyrical about conflicts of interests.
Nothing can better describe one’s righteous umbrage with that very Maltese of idioms: “Ara vera trid ikollok wiccek u sormok l-istess.”
So there you go.
One should perhaps remind Fenech, now a minister with a history of colossal conflicts of interest, that Wenzu Mintoff’s presence at Malta Enterprise and his activity with the press, has never been a problem before. It is a problem today because the Gonzi doctrine is not one that has tolerance at its core, hence its Mintoffian inspiration.
Fenech and Camilleri, no doubt one of the most distasteful characters the Gonzi team has ever had, must have forgotten how, in the good old days of Eddie Fenech Adami, Wenzu Mintoff’s legal expertise at MDC had been tolerated. And at that time, Mintoff was the chairperson of Alternattiva Demokratika, the Green Party.
And he was even tolerated when he left AD to join Labour, to spout volumes of criticism daily at Fenech Adami on Super One Radio.
Today the situation has changed, and unfortunately not everybody is aware how yesterday’s Nationalists have been replaced by a small band of people characterised by hypocrisy and vindictiveness. Most of them don’t remember the times before 1987. Most of them were never around back then, just like Gonzi himself.
What is more surprising is that very few people seem to be able to read the times (and of course The Times). Few would know of the umbilical chord connecting Tonio Fenech and Alan Camilleri, the PM’s former right-hand man (and political appointee) at Malta Enterprise.
Hardly anyone of note asks whether Alan Camilleri isn’t perhaps abusing of his position of authority as chief executive, or perhaps embarrassing himself (and the corporation), when he allows his foreign friend to spend most days, on a frequent basis, in his private office at Malta Enterprise, from first thing in the morning.
While Wenzu Mintoff gets accused of being privy to very confidential information while simultaneously being Kullhadd editor, doesn’t anybody ask whether Alan’s friend doesn’t take a peep or look at the very secret files on hordes of potential investors, there in the CEO’s office?
For if the potential foreign investors have a problem with Mintoff, why don’t they have a problem with Alan’s friend?
Obviously, Tonio Fenech will find nothing incorrect with this. But imagine for a moment had it been Wenzu Mintoff, an official paid with public funds, who took his friend to his office, locked the door, and did this day after day, as if nothing happened. God only knows what Tonio and Alan would come up with.
Well, thank God for Wenzu Mintoff. As far as I know, he does not plan to invite friends into his office. Indeed, I know Mintoff to be such an introvert that it would not even cross his mind to cross such professional boundaries.
But the real problem here is not a conflict of interest but the desire to nail and annihilate any potential opposition. Tonio Fenech for one thing, cannot fathom the fact that Wenzu Mintoff’s Kullhadd has rightly taken him to task over his private jet freebie and the very serious allegations about his renovated works at his home. The stories featured first in MaltaToday and are available online (www.maltatoday.com.mt/2009/10/11/t1.html, www.maltatoday.com.mt/2009/11/08/t1.html).
To understand how this new brand of Mintoffians acts and think, one has to appreciate the links that exist between all the characters involved. Alan Camilleri is the brother of Times journalist Ivan Camilleri. It’s not the first time their thoughts converged: take the missile attack launched by the Gonzi office (when Alan was its communications coordinator) on John Dalli after his failed leadership bid. Back then it was Ivan Camilleri who launched the attack with the blessing of his patrons.
Now that everyone seems to have fallen in love with Commissioner John Dalli, it is very unlikely that Alan-Ivan Camilleri’s thoughts will count anymore.
I have little time for hypocrisy, and I agree that we are to have zero-tolerance for conflicts of interest. So why not raise the question of why the legal services at Malta Enterprise are rendered by parliamentary secretary for tourism Mario Demarco’s legal office? Isn’t that a similar conflict of interest for the OPM’s junior minister (whose legal office earned him €170,000 in 2008)?
Now that we’re at it: why is it a different yardstick that gets applied to Alex Tranter, Enemalta chairman who is in business with Zaren Vassallo, whose construction company is the local partner for BWSC, which will be constructing the 144MW extension for the Delimara power station (currently under investigation by the Auditor General)?
Take Claudio Grech: as head of minister Austin Gatt’s secretariat, he negotiated with Dubai’s Tecom to sell them the land in Ricasoli for Smart City, then was allowed to go off and take over as CEO of Smart City Malta (as a Tecom employee), and also made chairman of MITTS (today Malta IT Agency) where he is also privy to government’s sensitive IT policy and information. But that was no problem when his private interests were to serve Tecom.
Take rural affairs minister George Pullicino, another personality who thrives on Mintoffian ‘either-us-or-them’ policies. His appointments at MEPA tell you the history of his friendships and preferences. Or how about Austin Gatt’s ministry, a perfect example where appointments tend to be the same people walking in and out of the same companies that work close to his ministry?
Take the direct orders supplied to companies with close ties to the Gonzi administration, once again decided with the full knowledge of Tonio Fenech and Gonzi’s office.
Take former education minister Louis Galea, who saw companies given endless direct orders from the Foundation for Tomorrow’s Schools, most of them coincidentally all from the minister’s electoral districts.
And then take the legal teams serving government authorities and agencies: the same names keep surfacing over and over again.
There are endless examples of unethical decisions by this government, including the choice of consultants and advisors. I am close to throwing up reading the Pravda spin, and I am angry that everyone is being taken for a first-class lobotomised moron. If Lawrence Gonzi, Tonio Fenech and Alan Camilleri believe in a god, I just hope it isn’t the same one I am expected to believe in.
For I dearly hope that if justice is not done in this world, there is possibly a place and time for justice in another.
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