Cyrusgate and the filth machine

The spin which is making the rounds is that Cyrus Engerer was already a political wreck when he took the decision to resign and join Labour on 15 July.

The story goes that what triggered Engerer’s defection was not Gonzi’s No vote in parliament but a police interrogation on 23 June – a full three weeks before he joined Labour.

This means that Engerer was fully aware of an investigation on compromising pictures he had allegedly sent to his ex partner’s employer, when he joined Labour.

This is the aspect of ‘Cyrusgate’ emphasised by national broadcaster PBS and Nationalist daily ‘In-Nazzjon’ in a bid to discredit Engerer’s motivations for joining Labour.

This account ignores the other aspects of the story; namely the timing of Cyrus Engerer’s father’s arrest for drug possession, the interference in the case by the Office of the Prime Minister and the leak of police charges against Engerer.

Italian celebrity writer Roberto Saviano once described the use of the media to demonise former allies like Gianfranco Fini who dare cross swords with Silvio Berlusconi as ‘la machina del fango’ (the filth machine).

Through newspaper reports and leaked dossiers, Fini’s reputation for incorruptibility was tarnished when it emerged that an apartment in Montecarlo which formerly belonged to his party ended up in the hands of his brother in law. 

What struck many Italians was that Berlusconi’s newspapers only went for the kill after Fini fell out with Berlusconi. But the damage was done, as the accusations were based on a grain of truth. Politically, the strategy was successful as it warned potential defectors that any skeleton in their cupboard would be exposed if they emulated Fini.

Similarly, Engerer’s political good name has now been dipped in a unsavoury cocktail of porn and drugs, and a message has been sent to anyone with skeletons in his or her cupboards who harboured similar thoughts of switching sides. 

Cyrus Engerer was not involved in any serious case involving bribery, corruption or trading in influence to make some lucrative gain.

Far more serious accusations have been ignored by the police, which have yet to start an investigation on the way the BWSC tender was awarded despite the Auditor General’s declaration that he found lots of smoke but no fire.

But Engerer knew that he was carrying explosively sensational baggage when crossing from one party to another without apparently informing his new boss, and this is politically damaging for the Sliema councillor.  It also damages his host party, which was only too willing to accept Engerer’s rushed embrace instead of inviting him to chill out before making the decisive move. 

Engerer’s declarations that he joined Labour on the premise that Muscat’s “listens to everyone” reinforces the perception that Labour has become an open club for anyone drifting from the other side. This open door policy comes at a cost.

While Engerer’s surprise at seeing the police charge published in newspapers before it was even handed to him is more than justified, it was inevitable that a case involving a councillor, an ex-gay lover and dirty pictures sent by email would have made the news eventually: if not now, some time in the future. And if the allegation is untrue, Engerer could have cleared his name before joining another party.

Just a few weeks ago, New York Congressmen Anthony Weiner was forced to resign after first denying then confirming sending sexually explicit photos to a number of women. Many questioned the way the conservative media hounded Weiner for something which had no relevance to politics, but ultimately, he paid the price.

The sequence of events gives fuel to those questioning whether Engerer’s motivation was lofty ideals on civil liberties or a desperate bid to seek shelter in Labour’s safe harbour as a victim of impending persecution, fully knowing that he was already facing charges.

To that, one can answer that Cyrus had enough political reasons to justify his resignation from the PN. In an interview with MaltaToday published last week, he revealed that he had already informed PN information director Frank Psaila of his intention to resign if Gonzi voted against divorce.  He simply kept his word after giving his party a chance by addressing its general council.

But many have questioned his rushed decision to join the Labour Party two weeks after praising the PN’s leadership in the general council. 

Perhaps Engerer was genuinely afraid that the moment he left the PN a ton of bricks would descend on him. He did not want to face the storm alone. This partly explains his urgency to seek Muscat’s protection. But now, it turns out that his fear was based on a concrete motivation; which was apparently not even known to the Labour leader.

Still, Cyrus’ self-made petty blunders do not absolve the government and the police from the questionable timing of his father’s arrest for possessing a small amount of pot. The fact remains that the arrest was conducted a few days after Engerer joined Labour.

The Police Commissioner claims that the police received information related to drugs on 6 July and subsequently carried out a search on Chris Engerer, who was at the time smoking a joint, and found him carrying 5 grams of the drug.

But the fact remains that the raid was only carried after Cyrus’ resignation and defection to Labour and that it had been common knowledge for a very long time that Chris Engerer smoked pot. 

The commissioner also denied that the charge sheet against Cyrus Engerer had been leaked, insisting that once this was filed in court, it was public information.

But this version is disputed by Engerer’s lawyer and Nationalist MP Franco Debono, who insists that these documents are protected at law and that the resulting pre-trial publicity has prejudiced the case and the courts’ ability to impose a ban on names to protect the alleged victim.

But it still remains strange that although the report was filed in 2010, the interrogation took place weeks after Engerer took a very visible role in the Yes campaign.  The commissioner justifies this long delay claiming that Engerer was frequently abroad and that it was Engerer who asked the police to conclude the case as soon as possible.

The Police Commissioner has also contradicted the Prime Minister’s previous declaration “that government does not interfere with police work” by confirming that the PM chief of staff Edgar Galea Curmi had asked him to clear the air with Engerer’s lawyers, who were hinting at political motivations behind the arrest of Cyrus Engerer’s father.

Ultimately, one wonders whether the many coincidences in Cyrusgate add up to become evidence of a Kafquesque plot. Considering all the coincidences in this case, the only alternative explanation to a version of events which suggests a Mintoffian hangover is that the government has lost the favour of the gods and is passing through a bout of very bad luck.