An illogical submissiveness to power

Yorgen Fenech is on trial accused of masterminding the murder of Daphne Caruana Galizia. He is pleading not guilty and the trial by jury is still ongoing.

We must not lose sight of the fact that what jurors are expected to decide is whether Fenech is guilty of the charges brought against him—that he asked Melvin Theuma to get in touch with hitmen to eliminate Daphne Caruana Galizia and pay for the assassination.

But as the trial rolls on and the evidence is presented, we are seeing a wider narrative develop that helps frame the assassination within a context, a time period, a frame of mind, the relationships between businesspeople and those inhabiting the corridors of political power.

This wider narrative has regaled us with several side shows, not least the manner by which the police dealt with Keith Schembri in 2019 when Yorgen Fenech was arrested.

Testimony given by a scene-of-crime officer lifted the lid on the privileges afforded to Schembri when the police moved in to arrest him for questioning over several claims Fenech had made about him.

Schembri told investigators he lost his mobile phone. There was no attempt by investigators to clone Schembri’s phone. The initial search of his home was only conducted by two police officers. Schembri was afforded the rare luxury of being accompanied by two of his lawyers while a second search of his home to collect electronic devices was conducted in the afternoon. Worse still, the scene-of-crime officers were instructed by head investigator Keith Arnaud to collect devices “indicated to them” by Schembri. As a result, two mobile phones were not collected by the police.

This fact defies logic and good reason. Any right-thinking person would understand that a suspect is never given a say on what devices are to be collected from their home. But lo and behold this is what happened in Mellieħa in the afternoon of 26 November 2019.

In the best hypothesis, the instruction to collect devices indicated by Schembri was the result of irrational deference to political power—an extension of the nauseating ‘Prosit Ministru’, ‘Bonġu Ministru’ attitude, which sucks up to power rather than holds it to account.

In the worst hypothesis, it is dereliction of duty as a result of corruption. If it’s somewhere in between these two extreme poles, it’s negligence and incompetence.

It is not up to us to determine why investigators acted as they did when dealing with Schembri at the point when Fenech was making serious accusations that the former chief of staff was involved in the murder plot. Schembri has always denied involvement in the murder or that he had any knowledge of it.

But even if Fenech was lying about Schembri’s alleged involvement in the plot to kill Caruana Galizia, the investigation into the claims was amateurish. The facts that have emerged in court show that when it came to dealing with someone as powerful as Schembri, the top brass in the police force chose to wear silk gloves.

When Schembri was eventually charged in 2024 for divulging state secrets, it was on the strength of a magisterial inquiry that delved into claims that he had been leaking information from the Caruana Galizia murder investigation to Fenech. Schembri denies wrongdoing and the case is still ongoing.

But there is a wider narrative at play here and it concerns the attitude of submissiveness towards political power that is prevalent in Maltese society. Of course, politicians should be respected but this should never equate to blind loyalty. Having respect does not mean decisions taken by politicians go unquestioned. Submissiveness is the precursor of corruption and omertà.

But more importantly, we do not expect authorities tasked with maintaining law and order to be submissive to people in power in the exercise of their functions. The police force is there to serve without fear or favour just like other authorities that are tasked with issuing permits and regulating different sectors. When these public entities fail to do their duty as expected, injustice and unfairness will prevail. And where injustice and unfairness are the order of the day, it is the weak, the unconnected, the vulnerable, and the righteous that suffer most.