At face value

People as we all know have short memories. Some people also have selective memories.

So, when I saw Jason Azzopardi sporting Tom Cruise sunglasses walking into court accompanied by criminal lawyer Arthur Azzopardi, I could not believe my eyes.  That Robert Aquilina of Repubblika stands by Jason, is understandable.

Taking pictures of the Prime Minister and the Justice Minister in the courthouse is not a crime in my eyes.  But it is to Chief Justice Mark Chetcuti, who saw fit to act and asked Azzopardi to answer for his actions.

As always, Azzopardi sought to profit from the publicity.

If I were the Chief Justice, I would have used my power to address the many instances Azzopardi has disseminated sensitive information that emerged from criminal proceedings and which was not in the public domain, rather than go after him over a stupid photo. The dissemination of such information that is irrelevant to the criminal procedures at hand was purposely used by Azzopardi to hit out at his critics and adversaries.

But alas, Azzopardi has no shame. He represents people who are Labourites and stand accused of corruption only to use the evidence to attack the government he hates. He also confounds political motive with his job as a lawyer. He is a nasty piece of work.

Outside court he spoke to journalists and said absolutely nothing but claiming he had a lot to say. What a load of bullshit.

For what can you say if, like an angry teenager, you took a video with your phone of Robert Abela and Jonathan Attard sitting at a table. It just shows that Azzopardi thinks he is starring in a film.

But what struck me as odd, was Jason Azzopardi’s choice of lawyer to represent him in the proceedings.

Of all the lawyers in the world, he chose Arthur Azzopardi. Now, Arthur had featured in a MaltaToday story that reported on how he had been interrogated by the police over links with the fuel bunkering industry.  But he had also featured in another story on freemasonry in 2017.

I can remember quite clearly how Jason Azzopardi had become very excited when Arthur was revealed by MaltaToday to have been a free mason. The revelation, along with a photo of Arthur during a freemason meeting, led to Arthur’s removal from the PN’s voter list for the leadership election. The PN statute bars members from being freemasons. At the time, Arthur was openly supporting Adrian Delia’s leadership bid.

Jason Azzopardi was at the time one of the most active lobbyists against Arthur Azzopardi.

But Arthur like Jason loves the limelight and there he was strolling down Republic Street next to his former nemesis.

The story one could imagine ends here. But it does not.

As Jason’s brush with the Chief Justice was being reported by the media, the story suddenly found its place on the backburner much to Jason’s chagrin. The macabre discovery of a dismembered body was far more interesting than the non-story of a lawyer emulating a bald Tom Cruise in court.

No sooner had the floating luggage story found its place in the top news of all newspapers and portals that a new story surprisingly emerged about a claim that PN parliamentarian Joe Giglio was about to resign.

The claim was denied by Giglio and the PN. The resignation claim was linked to a 13-year-old MaltaToday story about Giglio’s links to a shady character known as Rakhat Aliyev.

The attack on Giglio is no coincidence. And I am not attempting to join the dots – I have joined the dots and my fingers are pointing to Jason Azzopardi.

As soon as I saw this story, I could not help remembering the number of occasions Jason Azzopardi, then a Nationalist MP, would pressure journalists, including myself, to revisit the old story about Giglio. 

It was of course in his interest at the time because Giglio was a new candidate for the PN and was a direct threat to Jason’s electoral chances. Jason was contesting the 10th District, the same as Giglio, and was hoping for significant support from the Daphne crowd in this strong blue constituency.

But what was more interesting in the latest episode was that the story appeared on the site of a rabid, irreverent and renegade Labour blogger. The information that was published was undoubtedly privileged that could have only come from one source.

The story is typical of a person who creates chaos and confusion as long as he gets his way.

There is no great moral to this story other than the fact that political animals such as Jason Azzopardi have no place in a decent political world. If Bernard Grech really has an appreciation of the state of affairs in politics, he should recognise that any association with Jason Azzopardi will not do his party any good.

On the contrary, to many floaters, Azzopardi is one good reason to never vote for the PN even if Labour is intrinsically bad.

If Grech cannot see this, voters will eventually show him.