It will be five years this October since the tragic assassination of the journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia. It took four years for the inquiry’s findings to be released holding the government to account for the culture of corruption and impunity that led to her death. At this glacial pace, the recommendations of the inquiry won’t be implemented until the 2030s.
Growing numbers both within Malta and across Europe are all asking the same question: why is it taking so long for the government to enact change?
Upon the release of the inquiry’s report, Galizia’s family said that they hoped the findings would “lead to the restoration of the rule of law in Malta, effective protection for journalists, and an end to the impunity that the corrupt officials Daphne investigated continue to enjoy.” Subsequent action has been limited.
The first of the inquiry’s recommendations is for the police and other legal entities to ensure that investigations and prosecutions are carried out and concluded. Yorgen Fenech, the Maltese businessman alleged to have masterminded the assassination, is yet to face a jury for the murder of Galizia but the inquiry’s release is of the inquiry is helping to FastTrack proceedings. The prolonged fight to secure justice is one step closer to victory.
A significant recommendation is to allow for the reform of financial and other state institutions through legislature amendments to address the current impunity enjoyed by Malta’s elite. The government’s failure to remedy this was recently exposed by Laura Codruţa Kövesi, the head of the EU’s financial crime watchdog, who revealed that upon visiting the island nation, it was clear that no one in Malta’s key institutions actually knew who was fighting financial crime.
One of the final measures designed to strengthen the rule of law is an end to any secret negotiations between public administrators and people in business. You can decide for yourself whether Prime Minister Robert Abela has taken note as just a day after his recent election win, he announced that he had secretly negotiated a deal to give his alleged-kidnapper pal Christian Borg a €250,000 transport contract.
Robert Abela’s regime would do well to listen to the Daphne Caruana Galizia foundation which has driven the conversation for change since its formation in 2018.
The foundation has also been heralded for banging the drum against SLAPP cases. Daphne was facing 47 such lawsuits at the time of her death. SLAPPs are used prolifically by oligarchs to tie up those journalists investigating them into expensive court cases. The sanctions imposed on Russian oligarchs in recent months have initiated a pushback against this practice and the EU has just announced plans to protect journalists from them, with Galizia being cited as a key figure in the anti-SLAPP campaign.
The foundation itself has been nominated for this year’s European Citizen’s Prize by Nationalist Party MEP David Casa. Casa cited the ethos’ foundation being “rooted in European fundamental rights” and celebrating its strive to end impunity, promote the rule of law and prioritise justice. Given its position at the forefront of the fight for justice for Daphne and ending the prolific use of SLAPPs in the EU, the foundation is surely a front runner.
It would be no surprise to Galizia that the conduct of Abela since he took office has been largely unconscionable. Before he even became an MP, she dubbed him “utterly shameless and disgraceful” for his conduct in public life. As a prominent lawyer and son of George Abela, the nation’s former president, he has rarely been out of the spotlight. Daphne zeroed in on Abela’s criticism of “the old clique that ruined the country before 2013” who had taken Malta into the EU, citing the fact that Abela’s father was one of the drivers of Malta’s entry into EU membership behind the scenes.
Abela junior’s backstory might go some way to explaining his arrogant and nonchalant abuse of power. Abela and his wife, Lydia, have been conspirators in prostituting Malta to Russian oligarchs looking to gain influence in the EU. The golden passport schemes so viciously defended by Abela are known to have benefitted him personally.
Published on her website on the day of her assassination and directly referencing the men implicated, Daphne’s heart-breaking final words retain their relevance to this day,
“There are crooks everywhere you look now. The situation is desperate.”
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