Tag: justyne caruana

Categories
Rule of Law

Justyne’s Double Standards

The Commissioner for Standards in Public Life is one of the feathers in the Labour government’s cap. The role forms part of the much trumpeted measures introduced to improve the Rule of Law in Malta. Or so we are told.

My guess is that Justyne Caruana (a lawyer by profession) voted along with the rest of the labour MPs to enact what would become Chapter 570 of the laws of Malta at the time. She had no objections whatsoever on the role and functioning of the Commissioner.

Funny how times change…..

Categories
Mediawatch Politics

The Leap of Faith

Many are rushing to “apologise” to MP Justyne Caruana for the rash judgements they had made with regards to her potential role in the resignation of Chris Said from the post of Parliamentary Secretary. It’s an interesting development and one that requires a leap of faith. The association began yesterday when the press conference called by Chris Said in order to announce his resignation. A journalist (PBS? Times?) asked Chris Said whether the fact that Justyne Caruana was the lawyer for the person accusing him of perjury meant that this case had a political element. Chris Said replied that he would let the people decide.

Over twelve  hours passed in this day and age of internet and immediate newspaper updates before Justyne Caruana issued a clarification explaining that she was not the lawyer who presented the perjury challenge. Interesting. Or as we say on this side of the looking glass… curiouser and curiouser. Now without in any way questioning the factual side of the statement by the labour MP for the greater isle: i.e. that she was only the representative in the civil case but not in the cases alleging perjury we require a leap of faith. This leap of faith is that the civilian represented by Justyne Caruana in the civil domain of his legal battles is fully empowered with the knowledge of legal niceties related to a the laws and regulations that apply to lying under oath – or perjury.

To be more exact this client of Justyne Caruana’s would have to have had the insight, knowledge and quick wit to move for criminal proceedings di sua sponta, or of his own volition. For you see. Not only is the matter for which Chris Said is being accused infinitesimally technical – and far beyond the auspices of relevance to the ultimate outcome of the civil case – but it is also a legal conundrum visible only to the legal eye with which are endowed the most litigant and perfidious of practitioners of my not so humble trade. In other words you would have had to have been party to the civil proceedings in your lawyering capacity and to have spotted the possibility of creating a devious obstacle to the opposite lawyer concerned – full knowing that the ultimate effect of this case (for it is blatantly obvious to even the non-legal eye) will in no way impinge on the civil rights being claimed by the client concerned.

In other words. Between the moment Justyne Caruana’s client pounced on the opportunity to tackle Chris Said with a frivolous claim of perjury (we all know those facts) and the moment he got himself a lawyer to move on to the criminal stage of perjurial accusation there must have been an informed, intelligent and qualified person who must have pointd out this legal avenue afforded by Article 541 of the Criminal Code – his lawyer in the civil case for example? Are we allowed to doubt the client’s capability to do so of his own accord?

Worse still. (Ho-hum). Are we not allowed to consider the (admittedly) circumstantial fact that the perjury proceedings came within a short period of the hullaballoo in parliament when Chris Said was deemed to have slighted the pregnant Justyne by having misheard her vote? As at the time of Plategate J’accuse insists on motive and sincerely wishes that a couple of investigative journalists (preferably not of the bondi travesty kind) take up the challenge and look further into this mess. It deserves it.

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Categories
Mediawatch Politics

Cultivating Ignorance

If Malta wasn’t sufficiently steeped in partisan ignorance, Inhobbkom Joseph would have to invent it. His latest intervention in the light of Chris Said’s resignation does not just defy logic but it creates a whole new universe of abject insensitivity, crass opportunism and is the political equivalent of the cheap whore that nobody would pay to sleep with. Inhobbkom Joseph may (and I say may out of whatever modicum of respect is left) have the excuse of having no inkling of the law and how it works since his studies took him far far away from the logical and the rational and into the world of lies and statistics. Having said that however he is surrounded by a bunch of people who might (again might) claim to have an idea about the workings of the law them having been proferred with the dikri (and probably their sporting such dikri on a plakka outside their offices).

Inhobbkom is appalled because Gonzi’s letter accepting Said’s resignation implies a readiness to reappoint Said as PS once this is over.  Inhobbkom “jinstab imhasseb” (is worried) that the letter does not leave the judiciary the necessary comfort zone of independence and burdens them with undue pressure. What should worry the electors is that here is a man who will soon be in a decision making position and is able to shoot such weighted bullshit out of his pen in order to gain political mileage. There is no other explanation. The facts of the alleged perjury are known to everyone and his brother (except… it seems… the Maltastar crowd who are intent on depicting Said as a criminal). Mr Leader of the Opposition (should I say Dr?) seems to be very willing to ignore these facts and prefers to murk the waters even more.

Who knows though? This might not be a mistaken attempt by inhobbkom but a concerted effort to sabotage the government’s workings. Given the weak stand of the perjury allegation and coupling that with the fact that Labour MP Justyne Caruana is the “politician/lawyer” handling the allegation on behalf of the supposed victim we would all be forgiven for being convinced that this is yet another Labour attempt to engage in the wrong form of politics. Inhobbkom might inflict damage to Chris Said’s reputation among his detractors but I am firmly convinced that Said will bounce back stronger than before.

Maltastar’s purposive selectivity is not the first we saw this week. The Times of Malta was equally damned when reporting the developments in the Nikki Dimech case. Given that it was reporting different witness statements it was somewhat worying that it chose to highlight the statement of the former contracts manager (the alleged perpetrator or victim of the bribe depending on who you believe) and failed to point out the alleged improper behaviour of a Member of Parliament. It was alleged that Robert Arrigo insisted on the contracts manager being compensated and also that the same Arrigo entered the council and shouted (intimidated) at one of the members. FUnny how the Times developed amnesia about these particular allegations which have as much weight as the allegations that it eventually chose to place in the headline.