The story of GZVH Advocates and its relationship with the Labour Party is not unique and it’s the story of many other lawyers who were co-opted by the Labour Party into its rent-seeking regime. Selling passports and getting public retainers is by far more profitable than being principled and hugely selective in your legal work. Most lawyers, especially those who have in the past regularly professed their Nationalist Party leanings, were not selective in their choice of work at all during Joseph Muscat’s reign of rent-seeking and corruption.
Apart from being involved in an extensive visa and passport business with the Chinese, the Labour Party willingly tried to co-opt GZVH advocates by providing it with various public retainers such as via the Malta Gaming Authority. GZVH Advocates also provided legal services to Gem Holdings, the Maltese consortium of the Gasan and Tumas groups that owns part of the Electrogas project.
The Hyzlers’ story makes a very strong case for an anthropological/historical study on how Maltese lawyers are important in preserving and extending the rent-seeking regime through various and different government administrations. There’s a lot that is coming to my mind and I will proceed with writing it, however, there is a very important aspect of this story that should be addressed first.
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