Silence of the wolves – Manuel Delia
The justice minister warned an opposition MP to mind his language when criticising Victoria Buttigieg for effectively acquitting two lawyers for trying to bribe a journalist, instead of securing their conviction. He mumbled something about the independence of institutions, which is nice.
Except no one is suggesting the attorney general should not be independent. The outrage was because, apart from her independence, some people also expect the AG to be competent and loyal to law-abiding citizens.
No, minister. The opposition should not shut up about the AG’s mess, and neither should we, and neither should you. No one, except a united parliament, can fire her, which means we can’t be circumspect about telling her when it’s time to go.
You see, the disasters we know about are very likely to be the tip of the iceberg. A devious AG can get away with a lot before having, in extremis, to embarrass themselves in open court like Buttigieg did when she wiped way an attempted murder charge against it-Topo in spite of evidence that he shot at police officers who interrupted him while robbing a bank. Or, in this case, when she indicted lawyers who confirmed handing a journalist a wad of cash...