ESCAPE OF CONVICTED CRIMINAL LINKED TO PROTECTION OF MALTESE ORGANIZED CRIME BY COUNTRY'S PRIME MINISTER ROBERT ABELA, AND HIS MONEY LAUNDERING PAST

The arrest, in Libya, of the career Maltese criminal JOMIC MAATOUK, who was mysteriously allowed to flee his country notwithstanding a conviction and sentence for obtaining explosives, and attempting to obtain poison, has again directed attention at the island nation's Prime Minister, ROBERT ABELA, and his alleged association with, and money laundering for, elements of Maltese organized crime. There have been accusations that Maatouk's escape was facilitated because of his connection to powerful cocaine traffickers that are linked to the country's criminal elite, who have been repeatedly protected from arrest by the PM.

Although he was said to be previously engaged in the private practice of employment law, Abela was involved in the criminal defense of individuals known to be career criminals, and who appear now to be immune from criminal charges in Malta. This was during a period before he became Premier, when he was also advisor to the then-PM, JOSEPH MUSCAT, who now seeks to replace him in that position.

Allegations that he laundered the proceeds of crime for clients at that time persist in local media, and he has never denied those reports. The Maatouk case, which has now highlighted Abela's dark and unexplained past, and which will involve his eventual extradition to Malta, may provide some answers. Maatouk's Maltese wife was found hanged at the venue where he was arrested by local police; we trust that the circumstances of how he ended up in Libya will now see the light of day.