Neville Gafa’ is now recognised at last as officially speaking on behalf of Malta’s government when visiting Libya. No more mincing words, trying to pass his trips as “private holidays” in sun soaked Tripoli.

And that’s supposed to be that. The fact he has a pending case for being at the centre of a visa scam can now be overlooked. Cleansed by the all forgiving sacrament of working for Joseph Muscat.

Adrian Hillman, whose reputation is worse than a Gorgon’s hairdresser’s, is paid for by the Malta Gaming Authority to advise them on how to manage their reputation.

Their reputation is of closing an eye on Cosa Nostra and the ‘Ndrangheta laundering drug and extortion money through Malta-licensed crook shops. Which makes Adrian Hillman, receiver of 650,000 euro of money he can’t explain in a British Virgin Island crook shop from the Prime Minister’s Chief of Staff.

And the Prime Minister credits Jason Azzopardi for convincing the world this country has been taken over by a criminal cosca. When Jason Azzopardi gets to work on carrying almost singlehandedly the burden that should properly belong to Members of Parliament of all shades and colours, he is sleepless and indefatigable. His speeches are passionate, his legal work deeply researched, his lobbying convincing. He is not only all that an MP should be. He is almost alone what our entire Parliament should be.

And yet no passion, no research, no hard work can spin a yarn that would convince anyone a democratic country with the reputation Malta enjoyed on the world stage just 6 years ago has in so little time become a proper pirate’s hideout.

The facts speaks for themselves. The government we have does not miss any opportunity to make its case worse. You think stories in the world press covering our management of the Schengen migration privileges are going to overlook the detail of Neville Gafa’ running that show on Europe’s border with war-torn Libya? You think stories in the world press about the use of Malta’s gaming industry for laundering of money for organised crime are going to ignore the detail of Adrian Hillman advising the local regulator “how to manage its reputation”?

Jason Azzopardi’s stump speech may have just gone a little bit longer. But the script of the dark layers of crime that plague us are written by Joseph Muscat alone.