News • December 28 2003

“To err is human, but to persist in error is diabolical" - Muscat

Richard Muscat, the former Nationalist junior minister who today is the Managing Director of Voice of the Mediterranean, and who subcontracted work to a company where his son worked has chosen to reply to MaltaToday. VOM had been paying the exaggerated sum of Lm3,000 monthly for Muscat’s son Marianno to update a web-site on behalf of his employees Cyberspace Solutions Ltd. In his long riposte to the newspaper he alleges that Austin Gatt would have closed Radio 101 if Mr Muscat would not have accepted to run it.
It also appears that with the planned imminent closure of VOM, Mr Muscat’s son no longer has his job. That was confirmed by Muscat himself writing in
l-Orizzont 22 December he wrote: "today my son is registering for work," leading one to believe that his employment with Cyberspace may have been linked to the work with VOM which has now been stopped.
While it has been announced that VOM is to close its doors on in three days time, the Libyan partners have sent at least two officials to take up their positions in the firm for the next five years. A letter has also been sent by the Libyans to confirm that all outstanding monies will be paid. The letter also indicates that the Libyan partners are willing to pay their commitments for the coming ten years and the Malta government has always said it will keep the station alive if Libya pays its share.
In a report prepared by ministry of foreign affairs officials and criticised by Labour politicians as being a cover up, several incidents of mismanagement by Muscat were revealed, although the report concluded, among other things, that the managing director was not obliged to follow civil service procedure.

MaltaToday had claimed that Nationalist party insiders were not pleased with Muscat’s appointment to Radio 101, but commenting on his time there VOM CEO Richard Muscat said:
"When Radio 101 went down to a 3 percent popularity rating in the Broadcasting Authority survey of March 1994, Dr Austin Gatt, then Secretary General of the PN, called me to his office and in a short conversation on the critical situation of the Party radio station.
“He said to me, ‘I believe that your way can work to put the radio back into a respectable position where it deserves to be. It’s either you take it, or else I close it down.’
"It was a challenge that I accepted there and then. I told Dr Gatt: ‘I will give you a full time job for a part-time pay.’ Twelve months later, in April 1995, as a result of the changes I effected in the vision and management of the radio station, enjoying the backing of the General Secretary himself, I left Radio 101 to take up the appointment of Junior Minister.
The survey of the Braodcasting Authority that was published during those days put Radio 101 at a popularity rating of 11 percent. I was a happy and satisfied Managing Director because results speak louder than words."
Replying to MaltaToday’s commentary about his work as Managing Director in comparison to his predecessor at VOM, Dr Richard Vella Laurenti, Mr Muscat said that when he took over he found the station in a critical condition and he says that what was particularly bad was the relationship between the employees.
He describes this relationship as miserable and at unacceptably uncivilised levels. He insists that he had ethics at the place of work at the top of his agenda.
"I believed that putting the house in order was the foundation on which I should then take up the task to modernise an old fashioned station.
"The exercise was intricate and very difficult because I had to instil a sense of order where the rule in practice was survival of the fittest, where disrespect among the employees reigned supreme."
He boasts that he implemented a management plan based on sound principles of correctness, fairness and dialogue, when the time for decisions arrived.
"I did my duty. I adopted a reasonable attitude," and he says he did this by keeping firm to his principles.
Contrary to what has been told to MaltaToday Mr Muscat argues that the staff are very happy and well motivated.
Mr Muscat also reacts to the report that even though VOM was not doing well financially, he as Managing Director decided to attend the Venice Film Festival.
Mr Muscat argues that VOM’s financial difficulties were explained over and over again. These, according to Muscat were caused by a cash shortage resulting from the Libyan side’s not paying their contributions for as many as six years, thus accumulating one million Malta liri in arrears. However, it remains a fact that his predecessor kept VOM in a strong financial position despite Libyan arrears, something Muscat was not able to achieve.
"When and if these dues are paid, the radio station will enjoy a comfortable surplus after having settled all creditors. It is a half-truth to say that I decided to attend the International Film Festival. The truth is that I was invited to be a guest speaker by the Observatory for Cultural and Audiovisual of the Mediterranean (OCCAM), of which VOM is member.
"I was honoured to represent VOM in Venice addressing an audience made up of film directors, producers, actors, media experts, politicians, Members of the European Parliament, high authorities of the Italian Government. My power point presentation was very well commented upon and I established a wider list of worthwhile contacts. It was not only VOM that enjoyed benefits, but also Malta."
He pointed out that a copy of his speech is available for publication, whatever that means. At long last Richard Muscat comes to the embarrassing revelation that he subcontracted a Lm3,000 monthly where his son used to works
He responds by referring to the findings of the internal inquiry by the Minister of Foreign Affairs presented in Parliament.
"I need not repeat. I challenge you to publish your so-called investigations so that your readers could verify their objectivity and professionalism. The mud slinging campaign in an effort to smear my name and reputation reached exaggerated proportions and has become ridiculous and nauseating to intelligent readers. It is known that "to err is human, but to persist in error is diabolical." I am reminded of another biblical truth that says: "l-akbar trux min ma jridx jisma."
Finally not content with our illustration of who the real Richard Muscat is, he offers us his own personalised curriculum vitae. Revealing his belief that he was Malta’s answer to Aleksandr I. Solzhenytsin:
"I am mostly known for my six years of self exile in Italy (1981-1987), as a result of political harassment and threats from the Mintoffian regime. Who could not tolerate the right of freedom of expression which was the Nationalist Party’s great cause to defend and uphold through legal broadcasting from Sicily which I did, and it was also a personal sacrifice I paid and am proud to have endured in the name of liberty."
And if that was not enough he ends with his patronising statement - MaltaToday knows its existence today to the rights acquired with great sacrifices by many in those dreadful years.