Maladministration at its best... but who cares!

Abstract

There are four forms of responsibility that emanate from the Adrian Delia v Prime Minister et (Vitals/Steward) court judgment of 24 February 2023: criminal, civil, moral, and political. N ow that the government has lost the court case, some persons are trying to exculpate themselves from any form of responsibility either by stating that they were not a Cabinet member at the time the infamous contracts were signed, or that the devil lies in the detail and that the details were not brought to the attention of cabinet, or that decisions were taken by one minister behind the back of others, or that for government to take action to redress a past government-committed mistake would have costed Malta thousands of millions in damages, as though the government was not originally at fault. These are all nothing but excuses intended to justify the government's mishandling of this case and for not exercising due diligence with state assets.