Medals galore!

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2017-12-14T10:48:52+01:00Thu, 14th Dec '17, 09:36|

It was medal giving day again in Valletta and the campaign of diluting the value of recognition by ridiculing the process continued. It has reached a point where few people care anymore. Giving Joe Debono Grech a medal for his service to the republic is so mind boggling that it elicits little more than a [...]

ARTE: Is Malta swamped in corruption? (Now with English subtitles)

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2017-12-20T11:18:14+01:00Tue, 12th Dec '17, 21:42|

Franco-German channel ARTE has tonight transmitted a documentary on the aftermath of the assassination of Daphne Caruana Galizia. I have worked with ARTE on this project that includes interviews with Jason Azzopardi, Jonathan Ferris, Philippa Gingell Littlejohn, Pia Zammit, Lizzie Eldridge, Andrew Borg Cardona, Simon Busuttil, Mark Wood, Werner Lange, Sven Giegold and my wife [...]

No, your honour

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2017-12-13T09:58:44+01:00Tue, 12th Dec '17, 21:12|

Judge Silvio Meli’s remarks in court today are odd in so many ways. He would probably describe this article as part of the “manipulative orchestration of the media” and that in and of itself it “causes damage to the country”. He is clearly at liberty to do so. And when he exercises his right to [...]

MONEY MAGAZINE: The Perfect Storm

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2017-12-12T19:57:58+01:00Tue, 12th Dec '17, 19:57|

My article in the December edition of Money Magazine. Scroll down for a text version. Just last 23 April, the Malta Employers’ Association succinctly described the state of the country as a “national crisis”. It referred to published evidence of corruption at the very top of government in Malta and the complete inaction of the [...]

The tax haven question

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2017-12-12T19:40:38+01:00Tue, 12th Dec '17, 19:40|

It was one of those ironies of history that it had to be the Socialists in the European Parliament to insist Malta is listed as a tax haven in the European Parliament’s resolution on the subject with all the consequences that follow from that. It must have felt sweet for Nationalist MEPs to be vindicated, [...]

Maria Efimova meets MEPs: Her exclusive post-meeting comments

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2017-12-11T21:06:41+01:00Mon, 11th Dec '17, 21:06|

Pilatus Bank whistle-blower Maria Efimova met PANA and LIBE committee members of the European Parliament by video conference today. She was providing information as part of the European Parliament's investigation into rule of law in Malta. Speaking exclusively to manueldelia.com, Maria Efimova explained she had passed documentation in her possession to committee members in advance [...]

EXCLUSIVE: Pilatus whistle-blower to former colleague — “I understand you’re scared. But my soul is not for sale”.

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2017-12-10T16:37:25+01:00Sun, 10th Dec '17, 16:35|

Maria Efimova, who blew the whistle on alleged corruption and money laundering at Pilatus Bank where she worked, has asked manueldelia.com to publish her letter to Claude-Anne Sant Fournier, her former colleague at the bank. Claude-Anne Sant Fournier is Head of Legal and Compliance at Pilatus Bank. The Bank's website says she leads Pilatus Bank’s [...]

Goose stepping our way ahead

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2017-12-10T15:02:33+01:00Sun, 10th Dec '17, 14:59|

Joseph Muscat has finally articulated it. Labour is the ‘law and order’ party of Malta. No one wants chaos and anarchy. But the switch from ‘business as usual’ to ‘ we need to unleash the army’ is quite a change. The radical re-orientation is likely a response to a shift in public mood which the [...]

READ: Escape to Africa

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2017-12-10T13:29:08+01:00Sun, 10th Dec '17, 13:27|

Documenting Ghana is an interesting blog written by a Maltese woman, Christine Xuereb Seidu, who migrated to Ghana with her husband and their daughter to escape the racism and ethical ambiguities in Malta and start a new life on the Gold Coast. They have been there since August and have been building a new life [...]

THE SUNDAY TIMES: It’s only the beginning

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2017-12-10T09:52:20+01:00Sun, 10th Dec '17, 09:52|

From my article in The Sunday Times today: "The death of the judges killed in Sicily in the early 1990s was the catalyst for the transformation of a society and a country that refused to face the realities of its sins. Inspired by their sacrifice, hundreds and thousands of citizens and public servants stepped up [...]

When resorting to foreign lawyers is not treason

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2017-12-09T20:29:34+01:00Sat, 9th Dec '17, 20:29|

The government today accused the Caruana Galizia family of seeking to undermine the authority of the state by seeking advice from a foreign lawyer about how respectful Malta was being of their fundamental rights. The official statement said: "This attempt to write a completely one sided judgment in the court case before this is even [...]

Antonio di Pietro: The real investigations start now

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2017-12-09T18:15:04+01:00Sat, 9th Dec '17, 18:15|

Together with Fr Joe Borg, earlier today I interviewed Antonio di Pietro on an RTK broadcast. He reacts to the arraignment of three people accused of homicide in the case of the assassination of Daphne Caruana Galizia. Here's a recording of the interview from this morning. The interview is in Italian with a summary explanation [...]

Government say Caruana Galizias attack sovereignty of Maltese State by seeking advice from a foreign woman

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2017-12-09T16:09:51+01:00Sat, 9th Dec '17, 16:03|

The government have well and truly lost it. Do please first read their official DOI statement in response to the legal advice from a UK Human Rights law firm published yesterday by the Caruana Galizia family. In 1987, when democracy  started being restored the Maltese parliament extended the right of petition for every person wishing [...]

The Malta Independent purge interview with Maria Efimova from their online history. I’m publishing it here instead.

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2017-12-09T14:52:42+01:00Sat, 9th Dec '17, 14:52|

The Malta Independent appears to have given in to pressure from Pilatus Bank and changed history by purging a detailed interview it had conducted with Maria Efimova, the bank's former employee who blew the whistle on corrupt transactions allegedly handled by the bank. The interview was announced in an online story on The Malta Independent's [...]

The torment does not end

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2017-12-08T20:45:15+01:00Fri, 8th Dec '17, 20:45|

A few hours after Daphne Caruana Galizia died, her husband, her sister and her eldest son were dragged to court along with suspects of the murder and made to wait for hours in a dark and cold court lobby preventing them from even the basic humanity of finding comfort in each other and the rest [...]

EXCLUSIVE: How wealthy Russians buy Maltese citizenship

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2017-12-08T20:48:35+01:00Fri, 8th Dec '17, 12:50|

Please visit the website of Transparency International Russia. I worked on the investigation with Russian colleagues Lily Dobrovolskaya, Yulya Pavlovskaya, Ilya Shumanov. The investigation finds that: The listed cases of abuse in the purchase of Maltese passports clearly demonstrate the vulnerability of the Maltese "economic citizenship" program. By its nature, the program is a high-risk tool: [...]

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