The Prime Minister has just “categorically” denied in Parliament that his chief of staff Keith Schembri received unexplained payments of over $400,000 5 weeks after they secretly visited Ilham Aliyev in Baku in December 2014. The payments which I reported earlier today were made in January 2015. Joseph Muscat was confronted in Parliament by Leader [...]
Documents seen by this website reveal that Keith Schembri received over $430,000 in payments in January 2015 from unexplained sources. These payments were received 5 weeks after Keith Schembri accompanied the prime minister Joseph Muscat, then Energy Minister Konrad Mizzi and government spokesman Kurt Farrugia to meet Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan and negotiate the entry [...]
Sent in by Misha in response to today's earlier story on Jacob Borg chasing Keith Schembri down the streets of Valletta: Some questions to be put to Keith Schembri and his boss (at least on paper), Joseph Muscat following the comment by the former stating that he pays the salary of journalists working for Allied [...]
Updated. 23:19. Scroll down to see apology published by Albert Jerome Fenech. Albert Fenech, who works from home for our national news service, posted on Facebook last Friday encouraging Simon Busuttil to jump off cliffs. Simon Busuttil tweeted on Thursday reminding people of the last PN mass meeting before the 2017 elections, his last day [...]
The thing with the post of Philip Sciberras is not just that a judge, even a retired one, should not make manifestly partisan remarks in public. Not for me at least. Nor is it that while he mouths these politically motivated rants the government uses his supposed judicial credentials to conduct politically sensitive inquiries. The [...]
Do yourselves a favour and watch Jacob Borg chase Keith Schembri all the way from Court to Castille. The first thing I observe is the journalist’s fitness. I’d have been as breathless as Kurt Farrugia making that climb but since I have rather a lot more to carry than Jacob Borg’s back-pack this assignment explains [...]
Daphne Carauana Galizia is one of 18 journalists, 8 women and 10 men, recognised in this year’s rededication of the Newseum Musuem of Washington DC. In a ceremony later today, the Newseum will recognise as part of its #WithoutNews event 18 journalists that represent all those who died in pursuit of news in 2017. The [...]
In spite of strong denials by Keith Schembri to a Times of Malta investigation into his interests in plastic bottle recycling, this website has seen further evidence of these interests. A few days ago I reported how on the eve of the 2017 election the government turned over 5,000 square metres of public land to [...]
The Nationalist Party had a good meeting in Ħaż-Żabbar yesterday judging at least from the broad smiles on the photos. One of the toughest part of being a politician is putting on a brave face. They have breakfast listening to Vesti la Giubba and reading Malta Today before boldly braving the high expectations of their [...]
John Suda was invited yesterday by the organisers of the Malta Fashion Awards for a bit part introducing to the stage Ira Losco. They invited him along with all the presenters who hosted the event in its 20 year history. They should not have. Three years ago John Suda, then 64, was charged for violent [...]
Despite giving the impression that the earnings from his various businesses are such that he would never be tempted to be corrupted, consolidated financial statements filed by the Kasco Group show Keith Schembri declared earning far less from his businesses than he suggests. In 2011 the Kasco group declared a miserable profit of €18,895. That [...]
Chris Cardona’s behaviour in trying to manage the troublesome law suit he initiated after Daphne Caruana Galizia reported 17 months ago he was in a brothel is the tactical behaviour of the guilty. The innocent step up in a court of law, say why they feel libelled, present evidence that contradicts the claims made against [...]
By Andrew Borg-Cardona: It should be said at the very outset: Magistrate Tony Vella is eminently suited to become a Judge. He has the professional and personal attributes, not least of the latter of which being his humanity, integrity and practicality, which qualify him without any doubt whatsoever. This should also be said about half-way [...]
The facts as they have been reported are that a construction developer tried to run over a Councillor. The Councillor, who serves in the political minority in Gżira, believes Ivan Stivala, a member of the Malta Developers Association, wanted to hurt him or kill him because he, the Councillor, shared a resident’s Facebook post with [...]
A new book by former colleagues of Joseph Mifsud reports that he is alive and well. Their account includes a recent interview with him. Joseph Mifsud was named in the investigations on alleged collusion between the Donald Trump campaign and the Kremlin which Joseph Mifsud is alleged to have brokered by offering 'dirty on Hilary [...]
The new Italian home minister is possibly the most powerful politician in that country. He’s also, to be kind, a xenophobe, that considers people hierarchically depending on how south of Milan they come from, and people washing ashore on Italy as not his problem. On his second day of business he is flying down to [...]
No. No. No. No. No. No. How could anyone think this is a good idea? You can almost hear them in the president’s room discussing how they would justify what they must know in their heart of hearts is a terrible idea. ‘The president is promoting a Maltese product’. Wrong answer. It is not the [...]
What looks like the dumping of inert waste is happening in quarries right next to the Ħaġar Qim and Mnajdra temples. The quarries were earmarked as temporary engineered landfills in a plan conceived and withdrawn around 15 years ago. The quarries are mapped as ix-Xagħra tal-Magħlaq in Siġġiewi and Qasam il-Kbir in Qrendi. A consistent [...]
The spectacular ineptitude of Maltese regulatory institutions when faced by crooks in league with Joseph Muscat’s government extends beyond the horrendous Pilatus scandal. In that case Ali Sadr was allowed by regulatory and enforcement agencies in Malta to extend an international network of money laundering and busting of sanctions against his native Iran propped up [...]
Persons and companies involved in the Venezuela-to-Iran bank fraud and sanctions-busting scheme, currently the subject of an indictment and prosecution in the United States, are connected to Pilatus Bank and Ali Sadr’s activities in Malta. In spite of vehement denials of the government that the US indictment of Ali Sadr had anything to do with [...]