Dishonesty is too kind a word for you, Dr Gonzi

Listening to Lawrence Gonzi on Monday was sad and incredibly hard. Dishonesty is too kind a word for the position taken by the former Premier.  Quizzed by the public accounts committee, he stated that his so-called familiarity with oil trader George Farrugia’s wife had no bearing on his decision to issue a Presidential pardon.

He even went one step further, insisting that he did not feel the need to inform the cabinet that he knew Cathy, on that day when the Cabinet discussed the pardon being suggested for Farrugia.

I say Cathy, because Lawrence Gonzi called Cathy, Cathy and nothing else. For over eight years he shared the same corridor and office space with her at Mizzi House. And he knew that George Farrugia was her husband.

Lawrence Gonzi also knew that the Farrugia (George’s) brothers, especially George himself, supported and abetted the Nationalist Party in so many ways.  He also knew that George Farrugia made it his business to be close to some ministers and to help ministers materially.

And more importantly, this help was not declared.

Gonzi said on record that there is no proof of corruption after 2005. Well, I dispute that, and I say this because there is ample evidence to show that George Farrugia continued to act after 2005 as he had acted before then.

Nothing changed, his activities, his fraud and his underhand invoicing and gifts, orchestrated and coordinated by his wife Cathy, continued until 2010.

That is, until a €7 million fraud was discovered by his brothers.

The opposition, with the help of The Independent, have made it their business to be on the side of the former prime minister and ask why the brothers were not arraigned.

They have of course insinuated that Labour’s former home affairs minister, Manwel Mallia, stopped the Commissioner of Police from proceeding.

Indeed, the opposition’s own media and The Independent should ask why the brothers were not arraigned before March 9, 2013, when the election was held which the PN lost so badly, and before when all the burlesque-like investigations were conducted.

The answer is very simple – if they had been arraigned the Farrugia brothers would have spilled the beans about how they had supported the PN for so many years, including ministers who were directly involved in the energy policy, and the decisions taken in the Gonzi years.

Indeed, the Farrugia brothers helped many, including some journalists who have today the gall to lash out at them.

But Lawrence Gonzi’s most desperate comment was his narrative, which attacked MaltaToday for publishing the story before the elections, to cause most harm to the Nationalist Party.

I would like to know of one editor who has any self-respect who would not have published this material.

Gonzi did not show naiveté when he said that, he displayed his true colours.  To him, the world should revolve around the ‘existence or rather the hegemony’ of one political party – the political party he led.

It was as if truth and the quest for transparency should be overshadowed by the primary importance of safeguarding the supremacy of the Nationalist Party and the leadership of Lawrence Gonzi.

I come from a different world, a world where I put my conscience, my country and my family first. Political parties and self-righteous politicians come last.

Dr Gonzi should be ashamed of himself.

Perhaps he should wait for my book on the oil scandal to realise how widespread corruption was, and remains, in this island of ours.

The future, as he would proudly announce, is in our hands. We need to take it out of the politicians’ hands if we want this country to be a better place.