Respecting the right of law

I would have thought that in Malta, all political parties respect the right of law - the restriction of the arbitrary exercise of power by subordinating it to well-defined and established laws. 

So, I was quite surprised when the editorial of the GWU daily l-orizzont last Tuesday claimed that the Opposition and some NGOs did not believe in this most important principle of civilisation as we know it. The proof? The insistence that former minister Edward Scicluna should resign from his post! Scicluna is not mentioned in the editorial but the reference is obvious. 

It is probable that the editorial was written before Scicluna was persuaded by the Prime Minister to do what he should have done earlier and accept that he should not keep carrying out his duties as governor of the Central Bank. 

The editorial that tried to defend the indefensible, in any case, was published in spite of the Scicluna responsibility problem having being resolved. The editorial must have been written before this development and was published just the same! 

In the warped logic of the writer of this editorial, this insistence that Scicluna should resign translated into a person being found guilty of a crime without due process. 

Incredibly, the writer of this editorial claimed that the PN and those described as its ‘allies’ had totally abandoned the principle of the presumption of innocence when they insisted that ‘ministers and heads of authorities’ who were accused of crimes should resign just as if they are guilty of whatever they have been accused of.   

This is all nonsense. If it were correct, the voluntary resignation of Chris Fearne from his Cabinet post meant that Fearne admitted he was guilty - it meant no such thing. The same applies to all others who resigned from their posts because they faced serious accusations. 

The resignation of ministers and public officials when one is formally accused of a crime is a matter of prudence, and Scicluna’s stance was imprudent. One could also say that the pressure experienced when one is formally accused of a crime obfuscates the carrying out of one’s duties in a calm and peaceful way. But the main point is that such resignations are a matter of prudence and the accepted norm wherever there is a democracy that really respects the rule of law. 

To depict the issue as lack of respect to the rule of law is obscene. 

Meanwhile, it seems that the rule of law was actually bypassed in another issue: Minister Anton Refalo’s possession of a ‘milestone’ that is considered a heritage item. 

The Superintendence of Cultural Heritage has confirmed that a 19th-century stone marker which controversially ended up in the Minister’s property was returned in August last year and is currently being held at the Superintendence repository.  

In February 2022, it was revealed that the stone marker, bearing the initials "VR" (Victoria Regina) was in one of Refalo’s homes in Qala after appearing in photos uploaded by Refalo’s son to the social media. This prompted a police investigation into a potential heritage crime. Minister Refalo had consistently refused to comment on what had happened to the marker.  

Refalo denied any wrongdoing but never explained how the marker ended up in his house.    

The rule of law does not lead anyone to decide that there was no crime because an object that had been stolen - or, as in this case, found to be illegally in possession of a citizen - was returned to its rightful owner. This fact might be taken into consideration by the Court that decides the case after a formal accusation is made.  

But here the authorities closed their eyes and refrained from taking further action, making a mockery of the rule of law! 

Would the same ‘procedure’ be followed if the accused were a common citizen? 

This is the sort of breach of the right of law that should really worry every Maltese citizen, including the writer of the warped editorial in l-orizzont. 

German hotel collapse 

A few days ago, a hotel in Germany’s picturesque Moselle wine valley collapsed overnight, killing two people. Local police said rescuers had to work urgently to save the three remaining trapped guests from the rubble. 

The hotel that partially collapsed - identified as the Reichsschenke ‘Zum Ritter Goetz’ - is named after a medieval knight who is said to have once drunk at its wood-panelled tavern and has been immortalised in a play by Wolfgang von Goethe. 

Among those rescued were a two-year-old child, who was not injured, and the child’s parents. 

Michael Ebling, interior minister in the state of Rhineland-Palatinate, said he was hopeful the remaining three people would be saved as rescuers worked with extreme caution due to the risk of further collapse. 

The cause of the accident is not yet clear. Investigations had to begin once the rescue operation was concluded. 

I am tempted to suspect that Maltese rogue contractors and developers have moved to mainland Europe and started building hotels there. 

Otherwise German builders have been infected with a Maltese malaise, which many call ‘greed’. 

Seriously, erecting buildings is a human endeavour. Mishaps can never be totally eliminated - they always happen and normally architects and some contractors are insured against liability for accidents. 

Rather than inventing more rules and regulations - some of which contradict each other - what we in Malta need in the building construction sector, is to make it obligatory for all contractors to be insured.  I know that many serious contractors are insured, but this is not obligatory. 

Newly introduced construction reforms require masons to renew their licenses every two years and empower the Building and Construction Authority (BCA) to revoke these licences.  

In a recent Court case, the family of a victim in a building incident were awarded damages that are far beyond what the contractor can afford to pay. At the moment most architects are insured, and insurance against damages to neighbouring properties is obligatory. But this is not enough. 

Making insurance obligatory for contractors should be given top priority.