The accusation was unequivocal. The Leader of the Opposition, Darren Carabott, and the spokespeople for the Nationalist Party repeatedly asserted that 18,000 false identity cards had been issued by the Identità.

However, in a statement released today by the Nationalist Party, the figure of 18,000 identity cards is nowhere to be found. Rather than offer any apology or at least an explanation, the PN instead opted to shift the narrative, attacking the very measures that the authorities have taken to address even the slightest possibility of misuse or abuse.

It took the Nationalist Party four full days to release this confused and half-hearted statement. This delay serves only to underline their true intentions…to launch further unfounded attacks on the authorities and to engage in baseless mudslinging.

Yet there is one thing today that will remain firmly etched in the public’s memory.

The Nationalist Party’s populist opportunism.

This episode reveals yet again a pattern of behaviour where they are caught in a misrepresentation, and, instead of taking responsibility, their arrogance and hubris prevent them from acknowledging their mistake.

In place of contrition, they seek to justify their previous actions. What was once a definitive accusation of 18,000 fraudulent identity cards is now reduced to a series of feeble excuses, designed merely to salvage their reputations. But this will only serve to heighten public awareness of the underlying truth.

Do they truly believe the public is so gullible, so easily misled and forgetful? Do they presume that the people will simply ignore their fabrications? The answer is clear: no.

The public is not so easily fooled, and their attempts at spin will only reinforce the belief that they are desperately attempting to obscure the facts.

Bernard Grech and Darren Carabott need to be reminded of their own words. In speeches, in a litany of social media posts, in press coverage, and even within the walls of Parliament, they repeatedly claimed that 18,000 false identity cards had been issued. These statements are on the record, in the public domain, and cannot be erased by any spin or revisionism. This very accusation was even carried by the Nationalist Party to the European Parliament and the European Commission, seeking to tarnish the reputation of our country abroad.

In court, it was proven that this was merely another of the Nationalist Party’s disingenuous smear campaigns.

It is baffling that the newly appointed spokesperson, Darren Carabott, who has long relished in cultivating an online persona and was among the loudest in demanding resignations, has now chosen to accuse those who exposed him of personally attacking him. He is now launching unwarranted attacks on the very authorities whose work he once professed to scrutinise. What an extraordinary display of hypocrisy and arrogance!

The Opposition, Bernard Grech, and Darren Carabott will be held accountable for the disinformation and defamation they have spread in this matter. No amount of spin will ever negate the fact that they were the ones who repeatedly insisted on the existence of 18,000 false identity cards. They can rest assured that the people will judge them.