In March 2021, the Maltese government was desperate to convince the Financial Action Task Force to remove Malta from the list of "grey", untrustworthy, financial jurisdictions. One of the most important targets set to the Maltese government was to show they were serious about recovering assets from criminals. The logic is that criminals want to [...]

It is being bandied about that discussions are underway between the government and Air Malta pilots. They are the ones who, if chosen, will be flying the same planes and most of the same routes under the new “KM” brand when their old employer winds down early next year. Pilots who have been flying Air [...]

It is true that where people are involved the temptation of corruption is present and the possibility that it occurs is inescapable. It doesn’t get better if it’s more sophisticated. But it can be somehow worse if it is cheaply and brazenly done. A kickback on the back of some major public contract laundered through [...]

From my article in The Sunday Times yesterday: "Never has the gap between the thinking of the government and the thinking of civil society about what to do with corruption been wider than it is now. We think about victims and how to alleviate the hardship they suffer because of the greed of the few [...]

This is a series of clips summarising our 20 proposals for a cleaner republic. They're co-produced with online news service Bonġu. Here's the first one. Given the time of year we're calling it an alternative Christmas calendar.

If you don’t know the story of Amara, Abdul, and Abdalla, you’ve been living under a rock. Their long-drawn-out torture continues now that Attorney General Victoria Buttigieg decided to serve them with an indictment for terrorism and unlawful arrest that is punishable with a life sentence. All they did was translate between captain and passengers [...]

It feels like the pain of grey-listing by the FATF is well and truly forgotten. Malta’s pretence at fighting financial crime is being retired. Jonathan Attard, flanked by Judge Antonio Mizzi, announced a raft of measures to reduce the tools the law gave, up to now, to prosecutors to fight money laundering. Those tools are [...]

Ministers would like nothing better than for journalists to stay indoors. Few newsrooms can afford to have journalists lying in wait for politicians who do not pick up the phone. Unfortunately for politicians the Parliament building does not have an underground car park so sometimes ministers can’t avoid annoying questions. For just those situations they [...]

Sometimes you only spot the odd things after they’re gone. Consider this esoteric detail of small time Ħamrun politics. A Labour Councillor resigned without a formal announcement. The Council, the Labour Party, and the Councillor herself said bugger all. We came to know of her resignation because the Electoral Commission announced the election of her [...]

Look at this Facebook post by Jason Azzopardi this morning. It’s another situation of a magisterial inquiry finding that people have a case to answer but, perhaps because of the serious political repercussions of prosecuting the case, the Attorney General, Victoria Buttigieg, has done nothing about. In theory the process of conducting and filing an [...]

The authorities announced that Philip Galea Farrugia and four other lawyers will be appointed magistrates shortly. Philip Galea Farrugia is the Deputy Attorney General who prosecuted the Degiorgio brothers. When it came to trial there was only time for his opening presentation. When he finished and it was time for the jury to start hearing [...]

I don’t know how generous is the “generous” offer the government made to teachers. I may not be a fan of every tactical choice the MUT makes. I know that whatever the offer teachers have and whatever methods their union resorts to, to force the offer upwards somewhat, the final deal will be a far [...]

Robert Abela reacted to a suggestion from the Parliamentary Speaker Anġlu Farrugia by saying he’s “seriously considering” it. The qualifier ‘seriously’ is either over-compensation or a slip of the tongue betraying the prime minister’s habit of treating suggestions from others with utter contempt. Back story. That grotesque man-child Clayton Bartolo sits on Parliament’s Public Accounts [...]

After yesterday’s session hearing his case to have Magistrate Gabriella Vella removed from the inquiry into corruption in the privatisation of three hospitals, Joseph Muscat predictably went to Facebook, his favourite court room. He picked on a couple of issues, one of which was an answer he got from Robert Aquilina, Repubblika’s president, who was [...]

Read this report of a justification, such as it is, that tourism minister Clayton Bartolo gave for going back on the government’s promise of publishing a report into spending by the Malta Film Commission. Clayton Bartolo departs from the stock excuses the government uses to cover up information. You know the ones: ‘it’s commercially sensitive’, [...]