Karl Muscat was one of Mala’s top criminal prosecutors. He exceeded most of his colleagues in skill, persistence, perseverance, and legal combative skills, but above all he was determined and overzealous in his job: a rare breed among the many limp and compromised state servants of today. Such a zealous and highly skilled character in the Maltese bureaucracy and state structures is often not welcome because often, you have in state structures the wrong kind of people: the corrupt, the incompetent, the lackeys, the unproductive and unprincipled sods. Karl Muscat did his job out of passion and principle, which is why he had refused many offers from criminal lawyers to switch sides and work for them.
He was even hated by some police officers because they hated his determined and bossy attitude as he ensured they did their job correctly and executed effectively. Often, you have people in the public service and state structures executing for the sake of executing. In the private sector, you execute to get results and if you don’t get them, you’re in trouble. Police officers who did their job routinely just for the sake of doing it used to feel Karl Muscat breathing on their necks like a powerful big brother who could not be avoided. Obviously, in this situation, with a dysfunctional Police force and a corrupt Police Commissioner, Karl Muscat was even more of a superior to some police officers than their actual superiors at the Depot.
Karl Muscat is the kind of principled and skilled public servant whom you would enjoy working with if you are also serving the public out of principle. He would have been your nightmare if you were a character that would have oozed through your job, especially in a delicate and important job such as taking alleged criminals to court.
He was handling cases of top criminals including the abduction case by (allegedly) Christian Borg and was also ready to prosecute him over money-laundering offences. In August last year, he was found dead in his home under very mysterious circumstances. His autopsy report said that he died of a cocaine overdose, yet his mobile phone was searched and the court expert said that “no foul play” was found. That’s strange because the police, despite having had a medical report citing a prosecutor who died of a cocaine overdose, did not seek to investigate from whom Karl Muscat procured his drugs. There was even no interest at all by the police to follow up on his autopsy report.
When John Rizzo was a Police Commissioner, the death of a top criminal prosecutor by cocaine overdose would have caused a total riot by the police. This was a time when John Rizzo brought enthusiasm and zeal within the police in the fight against organised crime, and he really meant it. He would carry his heavy weight in the law courts with a grunt-like and combative face intentionally making his large presence felt and striking down his enemies with fear and contempt. Under the regime of Police Commissioner Angelo Gafa and Attorney General Victoria Buttigieg, John Rizzo’s zealous spirit is completely absent, and their complacency is as great to the extent that they didn’t even blink on the news of the death of one of their top criminal prosecutors.
Karl Muscat suffered from depression because no great mind is perfect, and this was his weakness. So, when Karl Muscat was suspended from his job, his superior and colleague, Victoria Buttigieg was aware that Karl Muscat could have been forced into a vulnerable situation in those circumstances, yet, not only she showed no remorse and care for the consequences upon his suspension, the police even took revenge on him in the same overzealous way he made them fight organised crime.
Karl Muscat was suspended from his job over offenses that were only contraventions: these are some of the highest standards that were ever applied to someone in the justice system given that there is an ongoing case of a Magistrate who is being accused of criminal accusations and is still doing her job. My point stands irrespective of the details and the nature of the cases, but let’s go deeper. Karl Muscat had an altercation with his girlfriend when they were both out at night, both of them intoxicated were the couple broke up in a very heated argument. Both Karl Muscat and his ex-girlfriend were accused of breaching the peace and Karl Muscat was even accused by the police of having been intoxicated in a public place when no toxicology or breathalyser tests were made on him to actually prove that he was drunk.
Karl Muscat was prosecuted and arraigned by the authorities with the same zeal he fought organised crime. His death was met with silence by his superiors and the Police, and the ultimate supplier of the cocaine that supposedly killed him was never brought to justice. And someone within the state structures is, most probably, very happy about not having Karl Muscat breathing down his neck to do his job properly.
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