Keith Schembri has said he does not believe in perjury.
The former chief of staff to Prime Minister Joseph Muscat was speaking after several people accused him of not telling the truth several times during his testimony in the compilation of evidence against Yorgen Fenech, with presiding magistrate Dr Rachel Montebello even reminding him of the consequences of perjury at one point.
“Everyone’s been saying I’ve committed perjury, but personally I don’t believe in the idea of a place that is neither Heaven, nor Hell,” Schembri told Bis-Serjetà.
“Before I’m accused of being a heretic, I consider myself to be a devout Catholic. But why would there be an in-between place, as it were? Surely you would just go to one or the other, depending on whether you were good and bad.
“For example – I have lived a pure, sinless life, and therefore I should, in theory, go to Heaven. Whereas someone wicked like, say, hypothetically, just throwing out a random name here, Adrian Delia, would go straight to Hell,” he suggested.
“But most people are neither as virtuous as I, or as evil as Adrian Delia, to name but two people. They’re in something of a grey area, morally speaking, because it’s quite difficult to live as exemplary a life as I have. Is perjury big enough to fit all these people? I’ve always thought of it was meant to be some sort of waiting room.
“Anyway, I’d love to have a proper theological debate about this, but I’m far too busy memorising all the true things I’m planning on saying during my cross examination.”
