The Guardian marks the beginning of a regulatory investigation into the supervision of Pilatus Bank. The European Banking Authority is acting on requests from the European Commission and the European Parliament. Because that's what regulators do when they receive reports of alleged wrong doings in an organisation within their competence. They look into them. They don't [...]
If the government is serious about protecting media freedoms in Malta here is expert advice on how it can be done. Not holding my breath.
I wrote yesterday that Panama-company-owning, oil-procurement-interfering, alleged-hospital-contract-fixing, reported-boat-purchase-commission-making, alleged-power-station-collusion-crook, Minister Konrad Mizzi was walking buddies with Darren Casha who spent a long time away from the country running from creditors. It looks like there's a proper bromance going on here, a mutual admiration society of two. Does Konrad Mizzi think there are no further depths [...]
This government is an embarrassment. David Casa published the response the government sent to the European Parliament for its damning rule of law report. The general sense of the reply was ‘you’re idiots, we’re fine, there’s nothing we can learn about rule of law, bugger off’. If you want the details a link to the [...]
The following is a statement by MEPS from across the political spectrum of the European Parliament denouncing reports in the Cypriot media -- carried with conviction of fact by Labour journalists here -- slandering Maria Efimova who corroborated other eye witness accounts of wrongdoing at Pilatus Bank. Brussels, 02 February 2018 Joint Statement Recently, several reports [...]
Updated 16:00. A copy of the actual decision by Magistrate Joe Mifsud is here. The premises for his conclusion are carefully documented so perhaps there may be alternative analyses of his reasoning. 30_01_2018-3_2018-109986 I’ve known Magistrate Joe Mifsud for many years. He was my first boss when he headed news at Bay Radio. I was 15 [...]
I wish to pay tribute to the young lad who stood in front of the President and spoke to her about what really matters. I have spent the last 4 months lamenting that most protesters for justice and rule of law had wrinkles and white hair, or beards. A copy of his speech is here. [...]
We need to keep a closer eye on the gaming industry in Malta. It's looking ever more ominous. Seven traders were given the sack today by their employer Offsidegaming. In simplistic numeric terms this is smaller than Betsson's recent cull of a 130 employees. But one event may be a fluke. A second one should [...]
Konrad Mizzi is smarter than I am in many respects. He's certainly better at keeping himself fit. Here he is walking down the San Ġiljan waterfront with his regular walking buddy. I cannot DNA-test his mate but it looks to me he's walking around with Darren Casha, apparently back from his jaunt abroad hiding from [...]
This is not exactly news I suppose. We always knew that the Governor of our Central Bank grew through the ranks of the lefty loons. But in this country the passage of time allows us to ignore the most glaring of facts and if we cannot use facts to enlighten our choices any more we [...]
The facade of the Auberge de Castille this evening.
The European Union’s border agency Frontex launched a new Mediterranean operation called Themis on Thursday, removing the obligation of the previous mission to bring rescued migrants only to Italy. Reuters quoted Izabella Cooper, a spokeswoman for Frontex saying “Triton (the old migration rescue program) said that whomever rescued would be taken to Italy. Themis leaves the [...]
A few days ago I was working with an Italian anti-mafia journalist who was in Malta to look into some suspected activities in Malta of criminals from his own country. I saw his report and rather impertinently reminded him that some of the allegations he was reporting were denied by the suspected people even though [...]