What else are you lying about?

Joseph Muscat told the Public Accounts Committee the European Commission knew all about the agreement his government had made with Azerbaijan’s gas company. The Daphne Caruana Galizia Foundation fact-checked that and the Commission told them it wasn’t true. Confronted by the Commission’s flat denial, Joseph Muscat pivoted. He could no longer say the Commission knew everything. So now he told the PAC it wasn’t necessary to inform the Commission of the agreement with Azerbaijan’s gas company. They didn’t need to know.

He also told the PAC that the Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project never gave him a trophy when they elected him Man of the Year for Organised Crime and Corruption in 2019.

What else might he be lying about?

He was having a tough day yesterday, poor man. Before the PAC he had a sweaty time in court regretting never getting a law degree and having to hire Charlon Gouder to ask questions to Repubblika’s Robert Aquilina. How he squirmed. Aquilina was their witness in the case Joseph Muscat brought complaining that Gabriella Vella is still conducting an inquiry into his conduct. The inquiry started when Repubblika first complained in court about corruption in the granting of the hospitals concession to VGH.

Whatever Joseph Muscat might have been looking for in having Robert Aquilina grilled in a court room it didn’t look like he found it when he stormed out of the courtroom in a huff. Robert Aquilina patiently explained why Repubblika filed its complaint, what evidence we included, and how it doesn’t look good for Joseph Muscat. A patient, detailed, and accurate response is the last thing Muscat and Gouder were hoping for.

You can see why Muscat is annoyed. He’s used to telling people what to do, mind-bending zombies to his will. If only everyone was a hollow mouthpiece like Charlon Gouder. Muscat is frustrated that he cannot control pesky civil society organisations that question his claims (like the Daphne Foundation did about his lying assurances that the Commission was in on his machinations) or challenge his actions (like Repubblika did when they got an inquiry started into the hospitals swindle).

The subject of the court case he’s pursuing itself is about his frustrations when he can’t control people and outcomes. Magistrate Gabriella Vella is conducting an inquiry into his conduct and that’s just more than Joseph Muscat can bear.

No wonder he’s angry.