I want to share with you this video blog by Peppi Azzopardi reacting to the news that a young woman who attempted suicide in prison died a few days after she was hospitalised for her self-inflicted wounds. The irony is her death will not be listed as a ‘prison death’ by the self-satisfied keepers of [...]
Robert Abela couldn’t go ahead and bring Rosianne Cutajar back into the cabinet after her “temporary resignation”. He would have if he could have. But her “temporary resignation” happened because George Hyzler had started his investigation. She seemed to be convinced she’d be cleared. She wasn’t and the yellow card became red. To her apparent [...]
The Daphne Caruana Galizia Foundation published evidence today linking 17 Black with the notorious Azerbaijani "Laundromat" used systemically by the Ilham Aliyev regime for bribery and corruption. The Foundation said this morning that "new information suggests that payments transferred to 17 Black’s account at Noor Bank in Dubai originate from the “Azerbaijani Laundromat,” a network [...]
At 6 pm this evening, Repubblika’s President Robert Aquilina will be speaking to journalists. He’ll be sending a warning to Parliamentarians in the building behind him that quite enough time has passed for the country to act on the apparently untouchable among them who get away with all sorts of crime without any apparent consequence. [...]
From my article in The Sunday Times today: "And now, after the FATF’s greylisting, the ruling party that drove us here is rightly expecting to be confirmed in power for another five years of this rapid backsliding of the economic, and, therefore, social, environmental and political viability of this country. They’re not forcing us to [...]
I wasn’t in the room for the proceedings of Robert Abela’s meeting with social partners at the MCESD this week. We know he told them the government needs their help to clamp down on tax evasion. If it had been any other time the remark would have gone down unobserved or unremarked. After all, whether [...]
I’m full of sympathy for the cause of artists and performers who have been unable to earn a living throughout the covid pandemic and are still not allowed to perform in front of an audience of a reasonably economically viable scale. I share their frustration that some of the instructions by the health authorities about [...]
This one also goes out to the chest-beating patriots who think this would be paradise if only there weren’t any black people. Visual evidence has been published by search and rescue NGOs that shows the Libyan coast guard trained, and aboard infrastructure paid for, by the European Union ram a raft with migrants on board [...]
Maybe this one is for the chest-beating patriots who think this would be paradise if only there weren’t any black people. Two architects are found guilty by a court for not doing their job properly and causing as a result the death of a woman. It was hard enough in a place like this where [...]
When I refer to O&N (One & Net) I refer in very broad terms to all bodies and strategies which contribute to the outward faces of Malta’s major political parties. It is no secret that O&N continually fail the electorate by undermining its capacity to make informed choices about its own future. What might be [...]
Sent in by Gaius. Everyone needs someone qualified to assist them in a legal matter at some point in their life. One may require having their interests defended in Court, or they may require simple advice on a particular legal point. Whatever it may be, they rely on the qualifications and the professional standards of [...]
The title is borrowed from Mark Twain. Last Wednesday, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) published its decision to grey-list Malta, thus putting it on the same scale as Zimbabwe, Syria, Uganda and Sudan. Malta is the first member state of the European Union to be added to the money-laundering grey-list which could cause serious [...]
In November 2019, I wrote to Michael Farrugia, then minister for home affairs, asking to visit detention centres operated by the government to detain migrants. He ignored me. He was busy accusing Repubblika activists of sedition at the time. A few weeks later, a new prime minister moved him away and replaced him with Byron [...]
I held back from writing about the FATF’s decision to grey-list Malta because others, more competent and more qualified in the subject matter than I am or will ever be, have explained in detail and will no doubt further amplify what brought us to this point, what awaits us and how to mitigate what awaits [...]
This satirical short story in Maltese was written by a friend of mine who cannot sign his name because of his workplace. Click the Maltese flag above or on this link to read it on the Maltese wing of this website.
Manuel Delia · Five Wrong Answers To The FATF It’s hard to imagine reacting to the FATF grey-listing development in a worse manner than ignoring it or underestimating it. And yet, presumably because of the experience of Malta’s conduct since the yellow card was raised in 2019, that is exactly what the FATF expects us [...]
When corruption becomes a way of life, when all are convinced that fat cats would by hook or by crook, get whatever they wanted, even if that breached laws and regulations applicable to all, if sanctioning of blatant irregularities that should normally lead to criminal prosecution and administrative penalties becomes the norm, the rule of [...]
Times of Malta reported Alex Dalli's testimony yesterday in the case I brought against the government for not letting me visit the prison and detention centres to assess allegations of living conditions. Reading the report you might get the impression that I asked to be given free rein around the prison grounds. I didn't. I [...]
Wednesday: The Financial Action Task Force puts Malta on the grey-list because the FATF is not convinced Malta is doing enough to fight money-laundering. Reportedly one of the most sceptical countries is the UK. Thursday: Prime Minister Robert Abela says he thinks the FATF's decision is “unjust” but will continue the dialogue with the FATF [...]
