Chris Cardona’s travel calendar makes fascinating reading. He is really that rare breed of minister whose memoirs you actually look forward to and hope they are the most sincere thing he’s ever written, which in his case is a very low benchmark. Relying on the information he gave Parliament about his travel over the last [...]
Is it not fascinating that Minister Chris Cardona often travels on his own on official duty? Given that he spends tens of thousands on these trips it is not likely that he travels alone to save money to the public purse doing away with the accompanying stage hand. First of all there's the many trips [...]
Ali Sadr is having his first taste of freedom after two months in lock-up in New York where he is indicted for multiple charges of bank fraud and sanctions busting. The story was broken in Malta in a Matthew Vella report on Malta Today who had it confirmed by a member of Ali Sadr's legal [...]
From my article in The Sunday Times today: "Journalism cannot alone bring about political change. The facts are not enough to silence lies. Truth is not a devastating weapon that wipes out iniquity and plants the seeds of justice in its place. Whistle-blowers do not scare bosses. Consequence is not outside the control of the [...]
I’m with the President on this one. It doesn’t matter what she thinks about the executive actions she is asked to sign. She has to sign them. There is no way she can refuse. This is why I completely disagree with people who think of the President as some form of saviour of last resort [...]
Perhaps value for money audits by the National Audit Office can start even before a project is commissioned rather than 7 years after it’s completed. Yesterday I commented on the auditor’s report on Mater Dei, the principle finding of which was that insufficient documentation is available to determine whether things were done properly. We have [...]
Looks like Triton Fountain needs some maintenance already. It was relaunched with (well deserved) fanfare just a few weeks ago. Something's wrong with it, it seems. Perhaps the naked man in the tray left something behind?
Who even has these ideas? Minister Michael Falzon, the fireworks afficionado whose political career somehow survived the Gaffarena scandal, told MP Karol Aquilina today 2,000 elderly residents of geriatric state institutions are now the proud owners of rosary beads blessed by the Pontifex Maximus himself. He was replying on behalf of his assistant, Tony Agius [...]
The National Audit Office investigated the construction of the Mater Dei Hospital. I use the word ‘investigated’ because they did. Investigation may have been their intent but at least in so far as the report repeatedly finds huge gaps in the information the office managed to gather, what the report appears to have determined is [...]
The United States Attorney prosecuting Ali Sadr for multiple counts of bank fraud and sanctions busting has told the US Federal Court that any equity Ali Sadr still holds in Pilatus Bank is forfeitable because the bank was set up on the back of proceeds of crime. This is the clearest statement yet from a [...]
I doubt very much this will stop the ‘where’s the laptop’ trolling but at least it should frustrate the real motive behind it. Trolls repeat a mantra because mantras are easy to remember. They can be used to shout down any argument and prevent any tempting distraction from the obsessive objective of silencing rationality and [...]
At the inaugural European Leadership Awards ceremony in Brussels tonight, Euronews and the European Business Society presented a special Contribution to Society award to the family of Daphne Caruana Galizia. The award commemorates her work in the area of investigative journalism. The award was received by Matthew and Andrew Caruana Galizia from European Parliament President Antonio Tajani. [...]
Karol Aquilina filed a formal objection at the planning authority against the giant Silvio Debono project in place of the old ITS building overlooking St George’s Bay. Just filed formal objection with @pa_malta to the proposed @dbseabank project on ITS site in St Julian's, a project designed to line the pockets of greedy developers at [...]
Cherry AB has confirmed that its CEO Anders Holmgren is being investigated by the Swedish Economic Crime Authority on suspicion of insider trading. The company’s Stockholm headquarters were searched on Tuesday morning in relation to the probe, with Holmgren arrested. Cherry AB and its subsidiaries XCaliber and Comeon have sizeable operational bases in Malta. Industry [...]
John Dalli, the éminence grise behind most of the dark initiatives of Joseph Muscat’s government, has given a speech in India on how blockchain will allow people to flow money without the inconvenience of government scrutiny. He was speaking at a New Delhi conference organised by blockchain company QuickX Protocol that has appointed John Dalli [...]
Michael Vella is a frequent contributor to the comments boards of this website. He sent the below comment as a contribution to the discussion on the 'untimely interruption' of the work the FBI did on identifying the movements of devices used by the alleged assassins hired to kill Daphne Caruana Galizia. Their review of their [...]
Giuseppe Conte, nominated for the post of Prime Minister of Italy, by leaders of the populist Cinque Stelle and Lega parties, is a law professor whose resumé includes teaching a summer class at the University of Malta called “European Contract and Banking Law”. A New York Times article observed that that specific element of his [...]
The presentation of evidence against the three alleged hired assassins who killed Daphne Caruana Galizia, risks becoming a courtroom drama in the let’s-watch-this-because-it’s-fun sort of way. In all honesty the maddening delaying tactics of the defence team entertain no one but we would all do better to be circumspect about commenting on creative lawyerly use [...]
One of the fascinating controversies that this blog had on its discussion boards was whether it is appropriate to make comparisons between the current state of play in Malta and the rise of fascist politics in Europe less than a century ago. I came across a Reddit discussion just this morning that was debating my [...]
