An amnesia is a form of memory loss. Some people with amnesia have difficulty forming new memories. Others cannot recall facts or past experiences. People with amnesia usually retain the knowledge of their own identity, as well as motor skills. Mild memory loss is a normal part of ageing. Amnesia refers to the loss of memories, such as facts, information and experiences. Though forgetting your identity is a common plot device in movies and television, that’s not generally the case in real-life amnesia. Instead, people with amnesia — also called amnestic syndrome – usually know who they are.
Two characteristics common to all government ministers, parliamentary secretaries and their close friends (‘ħbieb tal-ħbieb’ as Alfred Sant would call them) are greed for money and, unfortunately, amnesia. The tragic consequences of this amnesia prevent us from being amused though it objectively is worthy of a Christmas pantomime.
All remember the emaciated Joseph Muscat sporting a three-day beard telling journalists he forgot what date it had been when he had last met Yorgen Fenech. He was in such a bad state that he forgot that he had invited the alleged mastermind behind the murder of Daphne Caruana Galizia to his birthday party at Girgenti. And this was an important gathering for important friends, without any of the ministers and MPs invited. Joseph and his spouse drank champagne and sang merrily ‘ma tagħmlu xejn mal-perit Mintoff.” On that occasion, Yorgen donated bottles of very expensive Petrus wine to Joseph.
When arrested for his part in the assassination of a journalist, alleged money launderer and briber Keith Schembri told the police he had forgotten where he had left his mobile phone. The phone that he had to charge three times a day because of the large number of calls he received every single day. His memory is still bad and he is still looking for his phone. He will hand it over to the police when he finds it because it should clear his name.
A former deputy leader of the Labour Party forgot that he was in a brothel having a threesome in Velbert while on official duty. He did not even remember swearing as he started to take a shower and the water was cold. Daphne Caruana Galizia reported the incident and wrote a blog. Net journalists went to Germany and filmed prostitutes who remembered him being there. Yet he started libel proceeding against Daphne which he dropped having fought tooth and nail to avoid phone location data from telling the Court his whereabouts in Germany. Chris Cardona instead of proving his innocence paid thousands of euro in Court fees.
Minister Carmelo Abela first denied but then had to change his record and say he does not recall his testimony given to a police investigation into the botched HSBC heist of 2010 where gunshots were exchanged between the police and the robbers. During that time Abela used to work at the security section of the Bank and knew all the security codes of the bank.
The robbers had instructions on how to get to the money and how to open the doors that prevented them from getting there.
Recently, one of Robert Abela’s prominent ministers was questioned by the police about the heist. Not once but twice. Yet our premier did not take any action and is still defending his minister. Now, this is happening under a new premiership and not the same administration that was described as ‘the gang’ by President George Vella, and this confirms, if confirmation was ever needed, that this is a pervasive disease within the Labour government.
Brian Tonna of Nexia BT, who had an office at Castille, told the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of the House of Representatives that Egrant belonged to him. That’s after an interminable session of him saying “nagħżel li ma nweġibx” to every question put to him. When asked for proof of this, he said that he forgot where he stored all the documents related to Egrant. Pity such a nice man is afflicted with amnesia.
Kurt Farrugia, former communications coordinator at Joseph Muscat’s OPM and now Chairman of Malta Enterprise, paid €500 a day, said he did not remember what happened in Baku during the meeting about Socar oil he was it.
Now he had not been part of a large delegation meeting different individuals and agencies. This was a one-off meeting for which they flew in a private jet. On the Malta side, only three persons were present: Joseph Muscat, Keith Schembri and Kurt. There were no civil servants and no media. And yet Kurt Farrugia who now has all the responsibilities of attracting business to Malta, forgot what had been discussed. Miskin veru nitħassru.
Unfortunately, even the new Police Commissioner is showing signs of amnesia. In August 2020, he announced that by the end of October of that year the police would arraign people in connection with money laundering at Pilatus Bank. It’s been seven months now and to my knowledge, no one has been charged. The same goes for Konrad Mizzi, who, although named on many occasions in connection with illegal financial and money laundering activities, roams about, free as a bird, collecting his MP’s salary for doing bugger all.
Robert Abela is now accusing the Opposition of colluding with criminals. Another amnesic member of the government member: the premier himself. Robert Abela has forgotten the criminals within Joseph Muscat’s government he advised. Then criminals had a free pass to Castille with some holding an office there. He forgot about Keith Schembri, Chris Cardona, Joseph Muscat, Konrad Mizzi, Brian Tonna, Karl Cini, Melvin Theuma, Yorgen Fenech, Ian Abdilla, Lawrence Cutajar, Silvio Valletta, Sandro Craus and many others. It looks like amnesia is not isolated but a veritable epidemic within the Labour government.