Hey Owen, cleaning this up this morning?
The hoarding around the Great Siege Memorial this morning continues the protest demanding Justice.
#occupyjustice demand arrests of Schembri, Mizzi and Yorgen Fenech
This is a statement #occupyjustice delivered outside the Valletta police station a few moments ago: Today #occupyjustice has lodged a formal report calling on the police to investigate Yorgen Fenech, Konrad Mizzi and Keith Schembri following fresh revelations about 17 Black, by The Daphne Project, an international consortium of journalists, last week. The investigative reports [...]
Integra Foundation calls for removal of Konrad Mizzi and Keith Schembri
In a Facebook post this afternoon, NGO Integra Foundation has called for the immediate removal of Konrad Mizzi and Keith Schembri. "The evidence (and not speculation) in relation to 17Black is indisputable," the NGO said. ħ The NGO, a member of Malta's Platform for Human Rights Organisations works on issues related to children, gender, LGBTI, [...]
What’s left of the free press must fight this now
Yesterday I criticised TVM for agreeing to cover Konrad Mizzi events at which the rest of the press is not invited. Today Konrad Mizzi’s boss backed him. OPM told Times of Malta it would not interfere in Konrad Mizzi’s decision on which press he might invite and which he might leave out. This practice used [...]
TG2: Migration, trafficking and a government that does not answer questions
Follow this feature that TG2 broadcast this week after the Italian government accused Malta of breaking international law pushing migrants it has saved closer to its neighbour and abandoning them there. And see why a government that does not answer journalists' questions when it is accused of illegalities at sea becomes instantly suspect on its [...]
Chris Peregin: Say allegation one more time
It may have been the sight of a pissed off Samuel L Jackson that did it for me but this piece by Chris Peregin is top of the pops. The tongue-twisting legalese that Joseph Muscat and his fellow travellers are using to get themselves out of dodge has transited from dubious to inconsistent to angry [...]
TVM, aka Super Two
The Institute of Journalists’ criticism of Konrad Mizzi for dodging the free press is perfectly legitimate. But it raises questions it does not ask. When Konrad Mizzi wants to communicate a message to the outside world he no longer does so by speaking to the press. He uses public funds to produce adverts on social [...]
Several countries criticise Malta for deteriorating free speech.
Several countries of the United Nations raised major concerns today about the deterioration of freedom of expression in Malta following the assassination of Daphne Caruana Galizia and highlighted the inadequacies of the investigation into her killing. The United States of America, Albania, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Germany, the Holy See, [...]
Fenech, Gasan, Apap Bologna: time for answers
All partners in Electrogas should by now have made clear statements explaining what they knew and did not know about the creation of a Dubai company — 17 Black — and its commitment with Panama companies Hearnville and Tillgate to pay them large amounts of money. A Reuters investigation has confirmed that 17 Black was [...]
I don’t think that means what you think it means
Inexplicably, Adrian Delia tweeted this this morning.
Let the children come
We have worn the sobriquet Mafia State uncomfortably for some time now. One intuitively recognisable characteristic of communities that embrace the values of Mafiosi is their inability to recognise themselves for what they are. To the point where the rituals of a society that institutionalises its hypocrisies and ritualises its inherent stupidities become a badge [...]
EP tax evasion committee calls on passport sales to be abolished
A 45-strong European Parliament committee is recommending abolishing all ‘golden visa’ or ‘passport by investment’ schemes, including Malta’s. The Special Committee on Financial Crimes, Tax Evasion and Tax Avoidance has found in a draft report that the economic benefits of passport sales do not compensate for the serious money-laundering and tax evasion risks they present. [...]
Does Evarist Bartolo still think you’re an animal?
In more innocent times, when Evarist Bartolo didn't himself cover up for corruption under his watch and when not even he, the old fox, realised Joseph Muscat was in on it with Konrad Mizzi and Keith Schembri, the smooth-talking wise guy dared to say on tape Konrad Mizzi should have quit politics when his Panama [...]
Dr George Hyzler, don’t be like the others
Look, if the new Commissioner for Standards in Public Life is going to start from his first day looking for reasons not to rock the boat, he might as well stay out of it. We have enough institutions dodging bullets like slugs chewing on their own viscera. I can understand the primary objection that a [...]
Bribery is a two way crime
Keith Schembri and Konrad Mizzi should be at police headquarters with a bright light in their face fielding tough questions from the bad cop and weeping in the sloppy arms of the good one. No doubt about that. We have documents that show them setting up a company to receive money on their behalf. We [...]
Power with a capital A
Charles Darwin would be having a field day. These are not century-old turtles crawling around the Galapagos. They are male Maltese politicians seeking high ground for breeding rights to grab some of the scraps left by the big shots by marrying a very specific type of wife: one whose surname starts with an A. Gradually, [...]
Charles Scicluna moving up
Charles Scicluna’s career path in the Vatican appears to be back on track with his appointment today to a position that appears to have been created for him. As ‘adjunct secretary', at the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith -- one of the top Vatican ministries -- Charles Scicluna returns to the Vatican office [...]
Victims of SATA
More than 500 people have now joined the ‘Victims of SATA bank’ Facebook group as frustration increases among customers of the bank who have had their bank accounts frozen for nearly a month. Commenters on the page are telling stories of personal hardship as well as businesses on the brink of collapse. The group also [...]
The man who laughs
Konrad Mizzi is likely making you pay for adverts aimed at distracting you from the money he’s skimming off your electricity bills. A crook is a crook is a crook. No sooner has the evidence he’s been expecting to be published for some time that the supplier he signed a power station deal with created [...]