Ġaħan’s fabled door left outside ministry: ‘Better a fool than a criminal’s lackey’

Repubblika protest targets Edward Zammit Lewis and his familiarity with murder suspect Yorgen Fenech • Warns protests will resume unless Prime Minister acts on compromised ministers

Knocking at the door: Repubblika activists have taken their call for Edward Zammit Lewis's resignation directly to his ministry in Valletta (Photo: Repubblika)
Knocking at the door: Repubblika activists have taken their call for Edward Zammit Lewis's resignation directly to his ministry in Valletta (Photo: Repubblika)

Activists from Repubblika protested outside the Justice Ministry in Valletta on Tuesday, demanding the removal of Edward Zammit Lewis over his familiarity with Yorgen Fenech.

The activists mocked Zammit Lewis for describing Labour voters as fools in a WhatsApp exchange with Fenech back in 2019 and in a symbolic move left Ġaħan’s fabled door outside the ministry.

The protest came as pressure mounts on the Justice Minister to quit after the WhatsApp exchanges were outed last week.

In an exchange with Fenech, Zammit Lewis had used the derogatory noun “Ġaħan” to describe Labour voters as he cavorted with the business magnate. One of the exchanges happened after Zammit Lewis had addressed a press conference in which, along with then MP Robert Abela, he criticised former Opposition leader Simon Busuttil after a judge refused his request for an inquiry into 17 Black.

At the time, it was publicly known that 17 Black, a Dubai company, belonged to Fenech and had been listed as a client company to the Panama companies owned by Konrad Mizzi and Keith Schembri.

Zammit Lewis has not apologised for using the term “Ġaħan” and has refuted calls for his resignation, insisting that nothing new was revealed in the chats.

Repubblika President Robert Aquilina this evening accused the Justice Minister of being a “criminal’s lackey”. “Better a fool than a criminal’s lackey,” Aquilina said as he hit out at the minister.

“Yorgen Fenech is not one of those you would call ‘Ġaħan’. Yorgen Fenech knows how to choose his friends in the corridors of power. In fact, he had a lot of friends within the Labour government. He was a very good friend of Keith Schembri; he used to give cash gifts to Rosianne Cutajar; he was invited at Girgenti for Joseph Muscat’s private party… Yorgen Fenech used to love his friends in Labour a lot! So much so, that his company 17 Black is mentioned in an email sent by Nexia BT as paying Keith Schembri and Konrad Mizzi €5,000 per day,” Aquilina said.

READ ALSO: PN’s new billboards target justice minister’s chat with Yorgen Fenech

He added that Zammit Lewis’s position in Cabinet was untenable and called on Prime Minister Robert Abela to remove him.

The anti-corruption NGO said Abela had to show that he meant business when last week he apologised for the State’s failure to protect Daphne Caruana Galizia and promised to implement the inquiry’s recommendations.

“You are no better than your predecessor, unless you remove Edward Zammit Lewis,” Aquilina said, calling on the Prime Minister to also kick Rosianne Cutajar out of the Labour Party parliamentary group and strip Joseph Muscat of his PL membership and national honours.

Critical of police commissioner

Under fire: Police Commissioner Angelo Gafà
Under fire: Police Commissioner Angelo Gafà

Aquilina said people were expecting the police to investigate cases of corruption by people in government and initiate prosecutions.

Repubblika was critical of what it described as Police Commissioner Angelo Gafa’s go-slow approach, adding that Assistant Commissioner Ian Abdilla’s suspension from the force today in the wake of the public inquiry’s conclusions simply confirmed what activists had been saying for months.

Aquilina warned that patience was wearing thin and Repubblika would resume its protests unless the Prime Minister and the Police Commissioner took the necessary action and stopped treating people like fools.

Repubblika had organised a series of protests in December 2019 that forced then prime minister Joseph Muscat’s resignation after his chief of staff was implicated in Caruana Galizia’s murder.

“Prime Minister, I will reiterate our message: If, like your predecessor, you will only listen to street protests, you will have protests. For the good of our country, we will protest for as long as is necessary… we are not like Ġaħan… we will not allow anyone to take us for a ride,” Aquilina ended his address.

READ ALSO: Abide by the inquiry recommendations and expel Zammit Lewis insists PN