Il-Kenniesa rolled out some cardboard cutouts today, straight out of the family album of the good guys. You know Keith Schembri, Konrad Mizzi, Chris Cardona: they're just misunderstood.

There’s a strong message in the banners that went up last night, 8 months since the killing of Daphne Caruana Galizia. She has been silenced. But that doesn’t mean everyone else will be. It is a message to those who want silence because the sound of protest and the sound of truth reveals their darkest [...]

Clyde Puli gave an interview to The Malta Independent and something odd came out. Well there were quite a few odd things, but let’s stick to one. He announced the candidature of two new MEP candidates, and the possibility of another two should they accept and clarified that the party has done away with its [...]

Photo by Milos Bicanski/Getty Images The decision of the Greek Supreme Court to refuse Malta's request for the extradition of Maria Efimova is very, very significant. It is extremely rare for an EU Member State not to trust another Member State with the safety of a person accused of crime. Although this obviously [...]

If you don't call for truth and justice no one will. This week the Maltese courts found the government in breach of fundamental human rights of Daphne Caruana Galizia's family because no one can have any confidence of political independence of the police. The Greek Supreme Court protected Daphne Caruana Galizia's source, Maria Efimova, from [...]

The Nationalist Opposition is being persistently neglectful of its constitutional duty to shadow the government, highlight its weaknesses, oppose its excesses and provide alternative solutions to help drive forward the debate. You’ve got one job. You’re not doing it. Jurgen Balzan of The Shift News recently asked if the Nationalist Party is enabling Labour’s corruption [...]

Flagship Greek TV ERT1 (Ellinikí Radiophonia Tileórasi 1) has broadcast a detailed reportage on Malta starting with the Valletta 2018 capital of culture context but moving onto understanding Malta through the killing of Daphne Caruana Galizia and its aftermath. The 'Daphne section' starts in the 30th minute and includes interviews with Mark Wood, Lizzie Eldridge, [...]

I spoke today at a conference in the European Parliament building in Strasbourg called by MEP David Casa and colleagues of his from several groups across the political divide about the legislation protecting journalists from defamation law suits filed in different countries to scare journalists from writing about the corrupt and the rich. It was [...]

Deputy Leader of the Labour Party and, third ranking in the ranking order of the government Minister Chris Cardona is today missing a series of votes in Parliament. The government is in no danger of losing the votes but the absence of a senior Minister is significant especially since it is not excused by any [...]

Konrad Mizzi announced an Air Malta campaign on a treasure hunt. He knows a thing or two about hidden treasures and he knows a thing or two about his treasures being found by others. It’s truly a week for PR disasters, isn’t it? Meantime here’s how one of the Air Malta planes will look like [...]

Judge Silvio Meli’s decision finding yesterday in the constitutional action filed by Daphne Caruana Galizia’s heirs against the government needs careful reading. Of course the first impact is the judge’s order to have Silvio Valletta taken off the case. And in there is a very important observation: it is ridiculous to expect someone married to [...]

Since we are not to consider a woman as merely an extension of her husband, we are not to judge a man by the behaviour of his wife. If a man should not be able to control his wife he cannot be held responsible for her behaviour. A leader’s wife is not a child. She [...]

They had to get legal advice that their rights were being breached. When they did, the government in an official statement branded them traitors. Then they had to argue in court that a politically exposed person cannot seriously be expected to investigate a crime where the suspects are politically exposed persons. Eight months since their [...]

Last week today I said Keith Schembri received two payments amounting to over $400,000, five weeks after he got back from a politicians-only trip to Baku in December 2014. Challenged in Parliament to react by Adrian Delia, Joseph Muscat stood up to say Keith Schembri denied this. He didn’t say when. He didn’t say how. [...]

Italy and Malta have populist governments and they are both pandering to the basic popular attitude of racial prejudice and indifference to the needs of others. The references to international law are convenient and facetious: they are the brandishing of excuses to avoid having to do what’s right even if unpopular. Of course brushing Malta [...]

Joseph Muscat has been denying there's any conflict of interest between the Crane Currency project in Malta and his chief of staff Keith Schembri whenever fresh details emerged showing just such a conflict of interest. The prime minister introduced Keith Schembri as the 'catalyst' that enabled the deal when it was first announced in 2010. [...]

Adrian Delia and Nickie Vella de Fremaux sat down for dinner with Joseph and Michelle Muscat at the top table of a charity event. The Delia couple did not get the memo that the event had a business suit dress code and went in full regalia. I am not a fashion critic and I’m not [...]

From my The Sunday Times article today: "A person in public office, engaged in the most obscure dealings behind closed doors that have been found to be rotten, disadvantageous and corrupt, must, whether they like it or not, give account of their personal finances." Read the article here.

Mystery €2.6m loan. Half of Kasco’s exposure to BOV loaned without security to unknown third party. For a business that barely makes an average €57,000 of yearly profits, the bank exposure of Keith Schembri’s Kasco Group is massive. Ranging between €5m and €7m that financing is provided by the Bank of Valletta. Kasco Group used [...]

At this stage it is important to refresh people’s minds about Keith Schembri’s company in the British Virgin Islands: Colson Services Limited. It was unveiled by the Panama Papers leak and set up for Keith Schembri by Nexia BT. He had had it since January 2011, set up around the time that Joseph Muscat’s team [...]