It turns out the EU Commission already clarified that someone in John Dalli’s situation does not enjoy immunity from prosecution for crimes he committed while serving as an employee of an EU institution. It did this 16 years ago when €60 million from the manufacturer of chewing tobacco wasn’t even a twinkle in Peppi tal-Imqaret’s [...]
What the fuck just happened in the court that should have heard charges against John Dalli? First, the disclaimer. The esoteric priestlike capabilities of warranted professionals are rightly respected by amateurs like me. If I’m going to ask for a doctor’s opinion about some ailment, I have no right to weigh years of medical training [...]
So, Alex Dalli “suspended himself” from the post of director of prisons. Funny this auto-suspension thing. It must be a uniquely Maltese concept. Not enough for us the textbook options of being fired (which Alex Dalli should have been) or suspended pending an investigation (which doesn’t seem to be the case here), or resigning, leaving [...]
The humour just writes itself. Angelo Gafà has just been awarded a medal for "long and efficient service". Technically the medal is awarded by the home minister. In practice he's awarded it to himself. It's a prestigious medal indeed when famously a recent awardee was Ian Abdilla the guy whose idea of fighting crime was [...]
From Times of Malta’s report of Bernard Grech’s comments today: “No one, and I repeat no one” in favour of abortion will be allowed to “remain in the party, or represent the party”, for as long as he is party leader, he said. That quote is an underlining emphasis on his earlier point that the [...]
Yesterday I reported on the introduction of a new tax law that allows people selling property to use the income from the sale to settle tax arrears, getting an exemption from paying tax on the sale itself. I criticised the measure as unfair because, among other things, it is designed around the needs of construction [...]
Politicians moving out of their offices to work for people they contracted or regulated as ministers behave unethically and if they find it impossible to restrain themselves from doing this there should be some inbuilt penalties that deter them or punish them. But this is not what Joseph Muscat did. He’d like us to think [...]
Yet another suicide has been ticked on the prison director’s unprecedented record today. Alex Dalli must feel so proud. The circumstances of the event are not known and I will not speculate on the details. I will just say that the fascist tyranny that runs our prison has no place in our democracy. Alex Dalli [...]
Repubblika's President Robert Aquilina visited the offices of the financial crime investigations department to draw their attention to reports on The Sunday Times of Malta on payments made to Joseph Muscat by VGH soon after his resignation as prime minister. This is Robert Aquilina's statement:
Like any other journalist who has asked the police questions not concerning their annual parade or PR exhibitions of their dog unit, I too got my share of standard replies like the one Times of Malta quoted this morning in response to its questions about Joseph Muscat. Are the police investigating Sunday’s revelations that Joseph [...]
The government issued a new law to allow people selling property to use the proceeds from the sale to settle outstanding tax arrears. As a reward they get exempted from paying any tax on the sale of the property. The new law, published four days ago as a legal notice by order of the finance [...]
189 different types of donkeys have been identified in the world, but there is another type of donkey that has been forgotten in this list: nations that continue to support their country's government foolishly no matter how bad it is! - Mehmet Murat ildan Never in its chequered modern history did Malta have such a [...]
Anywhere else, yesterday’s Jacob Borg story would have changed the course of politics in the country. Perhaps one of the reasons we don’t appreciate journalists in Malta is that since the consequences that should follow ground-breaking stories never happen here. Then it feels like there are no ground-breaking stories. Yesterday’s investigation, tracing payments designed to [...]
From my article in yesterday's The Sunday Times: "Mizzi’s central claim is that electricity bills are cheaper thanks to him. Cheaper than what? Simply saying they are cheaper than they would have been had the Nationalists stayed in power might have been true in 2014 when the government reduced rates before they had done anything [...]
Within hours of his replacement being sworn-in, Joseph Muscat went back to Castille with representatives of the owners of three formerly public hospitals to pressure the Maltese government to give them more money. Although details are sketchy it appears that Joseph Muscat may get his way. Today’s The Sunday Times of Malta front page story [...]
There’s an article by Joe Brincat on it-Torċa today that is a laboratory sample of warped logic and incorrigible rejection of common sense that should be dunked in formaldehyde and sent on a tour of museums. He criticised Repubblika’s sit-in protest in front of the police headquarters where activists led by Repubblika’s Numbers One and [...]
Interpol has cancelled all notices calling for the arrest of Maria Efimova’s husband Pantelis Varnava who is wanted by the Cypriot authorities for a number alleged crimes. Interpol’s decision came after an internal report by the agency’s independent authority that reviews its files found that the case against Varnava was “predominantly political” and a consequence [...]
I suppose there’s a tactical thinking behind the inclusion of Franco Debono in a list of candidates nominated by the opposition leader to chair the Broadcasting Authority. What can one call it? Appeasement? Reconciliation? Cajoling? Flattery? It may be all of those things and I suppose there is a type of voter who might like the [...]
If Owen moves to Filfla we should consider granting the island independence and let him proclaim himself Emperor. At least some of the lizards will be less smart than him. Maybe. You're embarrassing.
What will Robert Abela do now? Will he again say Karl Stagno Navarra behaved unacceptably when he filed a false report on an MP ignoring the so-called evidence he himself had likely doctored which showed that Karol Aquilina had done nothing wrong? Or is lying about MPs acceptable to Robert Abela if the MPs belong [...]