We need to be thinking soon about what Joseph Muscat knew when. We need to trace back his statements from the last three years to determine his basic complicity in some very grave crimes.
Consider the time when Konrad Mizzi had to own up to having a New Zealand trust. The trust was transferred to his ownership in 2013 but he was discovered by Daphne Caruana Galizia in 2016.
When the news broke Joseph Muscat defended Konrad Mizzi and provided him with an alibi. He said Konrad Mizzi had told him about the New Zealand Trust in a “draft declaration of assets” ahead of the annual publication of Ministers’ assets.
Joseph Muscat said that since Konrad Mizzi had not sought to hide his company from him and had every intention to inform the public of it if the news had not broken out before, Konrad Mizzi had nothing to apologise for.
Joseph Muscat vouched for Konrad Mizzi’s honesty.
But that story never made sense. There’s no such thing as a “draft declaration of assets”, not unless maybe your accountant prepares it for you and you want to check it before you sign. But you don’t draft a declaration of your own assets and send it to the prime minister to check. Your prime minister is your boss. He doesn’t go around checking if you declared all your assets.
But then there’s something else. The New Zealand trust became Konrad Mizzi’s property in 2013. But this was 2016 that Joseph Muscat is supposed to have learnt of this Trust in the draft declaration of that year. He didn’t see it in 2014 or in 2015.
At this point we no longer need to discuss if Konrad Mizzi is corrupt or just a plain idiot. He’s probably both. But the real issue at hand is when did Joseph Muscat know Konrad Mizzi was lying with his hand stuck in a cookie jar and if he covered for him presenting him with a false alibi.
That makes him an accomplice and also means he obstructed justice by harbouring a criminal.
That was only when it started. He’s been up to it for 3 whole years. He’s still up to it.