Joseph Muscat: ‘I Never Spoke To Prime Minister Or His Aides About Police Search’

The raid

The revelations leading up to the raid are still seemingly of a surprise to the former PM, him having resigned from Parliament for two years. An action that Muscat feels was the “right thing to do” in order to give current PM Abela enough space to work.

Muscat had since reduced his exposure in the public eye, but said the silence that came with his departure could have been misinterpreted.

“Some people interpreted my silence as a sort of admission of guilt… look, he’s not saying anything because he has something to hide. I have nothing to hide.”

The turning point, however, came moments after the raid. 19th January 2022, a day that made international headlines: from Reuters to La Libre.

Muscat responded with a Facebook video that cryptically suggested he was treated unfairly during the search because someone” was out for ‘political vengeance’ against him.

“I think that the search in my home was the straw that broke the camel’s back and I decided…well, hell, then I’ll start saying what I think, from time to time and occasionally.”

“I realised that just being at the fringes and the margins, out of my own volition, wasn’t being seen as a sort of way of giving space but as a sort of way of hiding, and I’m not hiding.”

“It seems that everyone in this country has the right to say whatever they want with the exception of me.”

Where it all began

It all began with the contract he had received from Accutor AG shortly after he announced he was stepping down as Prime Minister, with Muscat denying payments made to him by a Swiss company linked to Steward Healthcare were not above board. That everything was “fully declared” and that the payments were done after he had resigned as Malta’s leader in 2020.

It was revealed that Muscat had received up to €60,000 from Accutor AG as well as Spring X Media in four monthly payments, according to reports, for work he had done after his resignation, but while still an MP, starting in March 2020.

“I am a 48-year-old who has studied management research, economics and who I think is entitled to carry out his own private practice and I was approached, and I am approached, by a number of companies to give my services.”

“One of these companies has or had some sort of relationship with the hospital concessionaire.”

On this basis, Muscat maintained that he had all the relevant information tied to his income, and expenditure, ready to be presented at a moment’s notice to the magistrate.

“I asked the magistrate and told her if you want information on this I can supply you all the necessary information. I find it really strange that if someone volunteers information, they aren’t called in but rather these theatrics are employed.”

“In my opinion, with all due respect, the magistrate would first have heard what I had to say, and then if they want to search my home or do anything which they deem appropriate, they can.”

The magistrate’s ‘cold shoulder’

Muscat referred to the police search as “theatrics”, arguing that he had tried to pass the necessary information “through the right channels”, just as other politicians had done when they were subject to an investigation.

“You know quite well that there were quite a number of instances when police were investigating people, even in politics, on different accusations and the persons involved would say ‘You know, I asked the police commissioner or whoever to hear me out on what I have to say.”

“I didn’t wait for them to call me in but I presented myself to give evidence.’ I did just that. I asked to be heard.”

But a ‘cold shoulder’ from magistrate Gabriella Vella is preventing Muscat from defending himself, he states.

“I carried out my communications with the magistrate through the proper channels. Even from before the search, through the proper channel so officially in court. I know she had a lot of pressure from NGOs and so on, and the usual suspects.”

However, he denied that he was piling pressure on the magistrate himself.

“I’m not putting any pressure on her, but I know for a fact that what she is being told to do publicly is to indict me.”

“Just ask for Joseph Muscat to be taken to court and then let him prove his innocence and let him waste four years of his life to-ing and fro-ing from court. At the end of the day, he would just show the evidence that he has carried out work.”

Presently, the possibility of Joseph Muscat defending himself in a courtroom is still cast in doubt, with his offense still subject to some speculation. On the one side, Muscat is being accused of receiving kickbacks from money that was paid to Steward Healthcare.

Conversely, Muscat maintains that he is accused of simply working, even if he declared all his earnings for tax purposes.

“I say again, there were Prime Ministers who ended up as chairmen of a bank here in Malta,” he said, a reference to Lawrence Gonzi, who was a director of the now-defunct Nemea Bank.

“No one accused them of having taken kickbacks from the bank because they gave that bank a license.”

Muscat’s invasion of his home was a ‘direct invasion of his privacy’

The police officers who raided Muscat’s home late last January had done so in a manner that shocked the former PM, who alluded to having received a particular treatment simply because he is who he is.

“Certain things were definitely done because I’m Joseph Muscat and because someone wanted to put up a show.”

“I’m just a private person whose privacy was totally invaded, whose 14-year-old daughters basically had to be woken up before going to school with a police official in their bedroom.”

“They had their bags searched. So believe you me, my reaction was very contained.”

Concerns have been raised that details of a police search at Muscat’s home could have come from within the police itself.

Well-informed sources told Lovin Malta that Muscat was leaked the information of the raid, raising concerns over the legitimacy of evidence seized by investigators.

Presently, Muscat denied the claims.

Do you think Muscat spoke to anyone, or had any contact with anyone, about the police search?