Kathimerini interview with Maria Efimova

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2018-03-31T17:05:13+02:00Sat, 31st Mar '18, 17:05|

Kathimerini is a Greek daily newspaper recognised as the newspaper of record there. An abridged English version is also published with principal circulation in the United States. The newspaper interviewed Maria Efimova about how she gave herself up to Greek authorities and why she wishes to avoid extradition to Malta. This is a link to [...]

He gave them 5 passports

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2018-03-31T08:31:00+02:00Sat, 31st Mar '18, 08:19|

I’m stepping right into it. Joseph Muscat’s phone call to Xarabank to announce a 5 million euro donation to the child cancer fund raiser is despicable. It is a low moral point reached by someone for whom morality is barely a memory. It is a sociopathic scheme worthy of the Brooklyn gangs who ‘took care [...]

Reuters report on Maria Efimova’s reasons to fear for her life

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2018-03-30T16:37:49+02:00Fri, 30th Mar '18, 16:37|

“She received a message that, ‘you have to protect yourself’ and therefore she went to seek for this protection from the Greek police,” Maria Efimova's lawyer said. He did not say who sent Efimova the message.  Read Reuter's full report of their interview with Alexandros Papasteriopoulo. The hearing of her case is scheduled for 12th April. [...]

It’s too late to pretend Ali Sadr has nothing to do with Malta

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2018-03-29T14:54:52+02:00Thu, 29th Mar '18, 14:54|

Ali Sadr's arrest damages Malta. It does not matter he's not accused of crimes committed in Malta. That's only because he's not being arraigned in Malta by Maltese authorities for breaching Maltese laws. But he's been arraigned in the United States by US authorities for breaching American laws. It does not matter he's not accused [...]

‘The Liquidator’ is now ‘The Warden’

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2018-03-29T14:34:54+02:00Thu, 29th Mar '18, 14:34|

Last November I wrote about political appointments that reduce our country's ability to protect human rights. Here's how I had reacted to Andy Ellul's appointment to head the Monitoring Board for Detained Persons. "A prison monitoring board is not appointed to implement government policy. On the contrary it is set up by law under our [...]

Andrea Purgatori contrasts the consequences of journalists being killed in Slovakia and Malta

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2018-03-29T13:23:27+02:00Thu, 29th Mar '18, 13:23|

In his weekly Atlantide on La7 Andrea Purgatori yesterday discussed freedom of expression in a world of data manipulation, persecution of whistle-blowers and the killing of journalists. Here are links to two extracts from yesterday's show. Data Killer, l'uccisione di Daphne Caruana Galizia nel racconto di Andrea Purgatori Data Killer, le società offshore a Malta [...]

Panto banker

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2018-03-29T10:38:55+02:00Thu, 29th Mar '18, 09:41|

This is from last year's La Valette u t-Tlett Muskuttieri Maltese language panto. There's an Ali Sadr character singing an Abba tune. https://www.facebook.com/tonio.bronk.3/videos/215761295839482/ MONEY, MONEY, MONEY Jekk xi muniti msaddin, bhad-deheb u l-fidda nġibhom jien, l-aqwa żmien! Liri jew ewro imkemmxin, inġibhom ġodda mogħddijin, minxurin. Jien ix-xogħol tiegħi ta’ bankier Indur mad-dinja, b’dal-mistier L-Indja, l-Amerika [...]

The bank’s auditors

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2018-03-29T10:40:59+02:00Thu, 29th Mar '18, 08:17|

In order for things to work we have to rely on audit firms to verify and certify claims made by companies. It is not a uniquely Maltese problem that audit firms end up facing dilemmas between their duty to act as independent officials in the public interest and service providers obliged to act on behalf [...]

Kaelin’s game

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2018-03-28T05:24:14+02:00Wed, 28th Mar '18, 05:24|

Read this blog post by Freddy Gray on The Spectator. He's right. The real story on Cambridge Analytica is not so much the advice they gave to their clients. The big story is how Henley and Partners's Christian Kaelin used Cambridge Analytica to virtually own political leaders they secured the election of. Alexander Nix, [...]

Greek media report on appeal to #SaveEfimova

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2018-03-29T08:49:00+02:00Wed, 28th Mar '18, 05:07|

Greek media are reporting the press conference yesterday by civil society organisations appealing to the Greek government to do the extremely unlikely and intervene to prevent the forced extradition of Maria Efimova to Malta. Interestingly Protagon goes on to describe the scene just over a week ago when Maria Efimova handed herself in. At an [...]

MEPs to European Central Bank: Shut Pilatus down!

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2018-03-27T06:26:23+02:00Tue, 27th Mar '18, 06:26|

Members of the European Parliament, who have been following up on corruption and rule of law in Malta, have written to Mario Draghi of the European Central Bank and asked him to shut down Pilatus Bank and withdraw its license. The move follows the government's failure to close down Pilatus Bank in spite of the [...]

GUEST POST: The argument for unity

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2018-03-27T06:01:55+02:00Tue, 27th Mar '18, 06:01|

By Charles Schembri. Needless to say the views of guests are not always entirely consistent with the editorial line of this site. But debate, if backed by cogent argument, is always welcome. Particularly in a liberal democracy a country’s statute of laws, the executive and its agencies, especially those institutions that enable and ensure the [...]

GUEST POST: Coming up on 6 months

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2018-03-27T05:39:13+02:00Tue, 27th Mar '18, 05:39|

By Pat Azzopardi Preziosi: I saw this photo and I started crying again. I cried for the stolen childhood of three boys who have had to live their lives knowing that their mother was hated, maligned and lied about. I cried because these three boys couldn’t really bond with their beloved pets because their pets [...]

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