When impunity sounds like ‘fuck you’

Charles Ċaqnu Polidano has probably provided the biggest challenge ever for the Planning Authority since its inception.

Since his early days in construction he has shown little respect for planning laws and his motto has been ‘my way or the highway’.

Last week, Robert Abela’s administration decided to absolve Ċaqnu of all his sins at Montekristo Estate in return for the paltry fine of €1.8 million. It may seem like a grand figure to many but for Charlie, as he loves to be called, it is Christmas coming very early.

This is the end of a long saga. It basically means that a mega millionaire, who flaunted every rule in the book, including not paying taxes, defied the authorities, silenced political parties with his influence and made prime ministers mimic teletubbies. He even took advantage of the banks, caught as they were with their pants down, thanks to his extensive loans.

Abela’s decision sends the message that all those who wish to break the law need not worry. On the contrary, feel free and do what the fuck you like. Let us face it, who does not want to be treated like a Charlie Polidano?

Charlie has for the last three decades allowed politicans to prance around him as if he were God. He has taken full advantage of this and in the meantime constructed the ugliest and most monstrous cluster of buildings reflecting a complete disengagement from architectural trends. Monetkristo was nothing more than the fulfilment of a desire to be there with the narcissists, who build Roman-like villas or the narco kings on a TV series with their kitschy and vulgar palatial ranches. He called it Montekristo.

Charlie has for years acted unchecked. And politicians and political parties have simply genuflected to him. For the very simple reason that Charlie is filthy rich and is quite generous with supporting people. He is essentially a nice guy until one stands in his way. To stand in his way, is an experience for all to see.

He is surrounded by so many politicians or ex-politicians from both sides of the spectrum, who give him advice. They all wine and dine with him, and their campaigns are greased by his companies. Politicians have no qualms licking his backside and taking advantage of his genorosity. But it comes with a price.

Robert Abela has sent the wrong message. If Polidano can get away with this kind of murder, why should we worry if we can get away with our illegal dwelling or our unsanctioned extension. We might as well sit down and wave our finger at the little Planning Authority enforcement officer eager in doing his job.

Abela’s decision to look the other way means that it will be a free-for-all. To be fair, he is not the only prime minister to have treated Polidano with kids gloves—Eddie Fenech Adami, Lawrence Gonzi and Joseph Muscat acted no differently. But Abela has given Charlie a very good reason to smile.

It means that those who dare, win and those who follow the rules will be damned. In Maltese, this is aptly described by the phrase: ‘Min ħexa mexa, min ma ħexiex inħexa.’

It embodies the way people feel and it is an invitation to anarchy; a big embrace to impunity and chaos.

Impunity

Impunity is an ugly word, made uglier by Robert Aquilina and his peers who looked more like a band of Taliban fighters shooting down anyone they did not fancy. But the case of Kurt Buhagiar is a case that cannot go unnoticed.

Kurt Buhagiar is someone I do not know from Adam. However, I do know that he is a convicted criminal, who spent a year in prison in Sicily after being tracked down by Italian police for having been part of a human trafficking ring some 15 years ago.

But fast forward to today and Buhagiar suddenly appears as the owner of a huge and disproportionate building in a green belt in Għajn Rihana valley. The construction looked like a small hideous school in the middle of a green zone.  It turns out that Buhagiar is a sheep farmer and his building is a sheep farm.  And it appears his sheep may have to walk up the stairs. He also acquired EU funds to ensure that his sheep are living happily ever after.

In the meantime, Buhagiar is employed at the Lands Authority and is very close to the chief executive. But it does not stop here. The enterprising human trafficker also has interests in construction.

He acquired factory space in Kordin through Malta Enterprise and INDIS. While milking his sheep he also found time to coordinate works at factory construction site, while performing his duties at the Lands Authority.

I am quite a workaholic myself but this guy is superman.

The building at Kordin collapsed and killed Jean Paul Sofia. Buhagiar was accused of involuntary homicide and is awaiting trial. He was suspended as a result of the criminal charges brought against him, while a plethora of high-ranking directors in various government boards also resigned on the back of the Sofia Inquiry findings. A nation-wide protest was held and the prime minister promised to be sensitive.

At that point we thought we had learnt our lesson. Until last week, that is, when Robert Abela defended the decision to bring Kurt Buhagiar back as a driver for Lands Authority boss Robert Vella. Abela argued that Buhagiar might as well be back on the job since he was still receiving his salary.

The logic of that argument is so convoluted that I am still trying to comprehend it.

When Chris Fearne was faced with criminal proceedings against him because of the Vitals inquiry case, he resigned from deputy prime minister and withdrew his candidature for EU commissioner. Now, that was the right thing to do.

Even though the Magistrate Gabriella Vella’s inquiry that prompted the Vitals charges has its flaws, and the Attorney General in an unbelievably short-sighted move put everyone in the same soup, Fearne had no second thoughts.

But back to the prime minister.

The re-instatement of Kurt Buhagiar is awfully wrong. If Lands Authority boss Robert Vella was driving the Paris-Dakar Rally and needed a professional driver, and Buhagiar was God’s gift to sub-Saharan driving, then perhaps I could understand the choice to bring him back out of the cold. But Buhagiar is a convicted human trafficker and waiting to be tried for involuntary murder of Jean Paul Sofia.

I suspect this decision at the very top is driven by a stubborn approach to a problem; a grave misunderstanding of what criminal proceedings mean to ethics, and what it means to have standards upheld.

There is also a serious problem in understanding that the Jean Paul Sofia episode should have made us all the wiser not stupider, or more obstinate and arrogant.