On a WhatsApp group chat of Labour Party loyalists, Chris Cardona posted this image this morning. It's not just that it's Simon Busuttil birthday today. It's that some time this afternoon, it would seem, Simon Busuttil's "empty" boxes of evidence filed in 2017, will be kick-starting the prosecution of a criminal gang that took possession [...]
On the 21st of March, on the first day of every spring, the Italian anti-mafia NGO Libera marks the day of memory of innocent victims of mafia organisations. The initiative started from the pain of a mother of one of the victims of the Capaci massacre. His name was not mentioned in the initial reporting. [...]
Here's Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando abandoning the Keith Schembri's ship as it sinks. Think of how many times he called us liars and traitors, how many times he asked us for "the proof", how many times he insulted us, how he attacked protesters calling for the institutions to catch up with Keith Schembri, how he denounced [...]
A series of people are showing up at the police’s economic crimes office for what is reportedly a last session of interrogations before they’re arraigned in court with charges of money laundering and related crimes. I do not have visibility of the charges but it appears by all accounts, including the account of the chief [...]
Look how the mighty have fallen. Keith Schembri’s Facebook rant today was a proper squirm-fest. Any day now he’s going to be dragged to a court room and charged with a small fraction of his many responsibilities. We have to start somewhere. Looks like we might. Even Keith Schembri must be right some of the [...]
Issa sew. Robert Abela yesterday said he wanted to clear the air after Vince Muscat told a court a sitting Minister helped him and his gang execute a criminal act. The working theory is that Vince Muscat was referring to the 2010 HSBC bank heist and that Carmelo Abela, then an MP, now a Minister, [...]
The general line I try to take is to ignore people like Christian Grima. It didn’t start that way. When he first came back from wherever he was, I thought his motivations were genuine. On that basis I reacted to things he said that did not make sense to me. Then I regretted my reaction. [...]
Right. A witness for the prosecution tells an open court that a sitting minister helped out his gang in a criminal action. I suggested yesterday he may have been referring to the 2010 HSBC heist and to Minister Carmelo Abela who at the time was an Opposition MP and a Manager at HSBC. Predictably, microphones [...]
Vince Muscat this morning told an open court that Chris Cardona and another minister currently in office helped him and other accomplices of his gang in a major crime they were involved in. The police were unlikely surprised to hear Vince Muscat say this today. A Times of Malta report last November had already indicated [...]
The police must tell us if Chris Cardona is the subject of a criminal investigation into a separate plot to kill Daphne Caruana Galizia. In court we heard Vincent Muscat give detailed evidence in reply to questions put to him by the Caruana Galizia family lawyer Jason Azzopardi, and in several points corroborated by other [...]
The American Embassy in Malta announced their nominee for the US State Department’s award for the person with outstanding achievements in the fight against corruption. Some people that could have been on their short list are: Peter Grech, Ian Abdilla, Kenneth Farrugia, Silvio Valletta, Owen Bonnici, Edward Zammit Lewis, Aaron Bugeja, Anġlu Farrugia, Mario Cutajar, [...]
Edward Zammit Lewis mocked objections to the changes he is proposing to the law that is supposed to provide clarification to the Constitution but will instead turn the Constitution on its head. First, some background. The issue here is about fines imposed by administrative authorities which in respect of money laundering can be hefty. So [...]
If this is what they mean by chilling effect, this morning I’m feeling the shudder. In 2019, Yorgen Fenech was known as the owner of 17 Black and therefore the man behind one of the Dubai companies that Brian Tonna’s Nexia BT told Panama’s Mossack Fonseca would be paying $5,000 a day to Hearnville and [...]
From my article in The Sunday Times: "I have written about David Gatt, about Chris Cardona, about Keith Schembri. They can’t have liked what I wrote about them and they’re roaming free without a realistic prospect of that condition changing. Is someone 10 metres away from me, watching me as I write this by my home [...]
Earlier today I spoke at a seminar organised jointly between Repubblika and the Ragusa chapter of Italian anti-mafia NGO Libera. This was my intervention. Malta has always had to be creative about finding ways of making money. The most remarkable thing about it is that it is small. And crowded. Primary resources are inexistent and manufacturing [...]
Filed by someone I know. Having served as a senior public officer in political office both under the Fenech Adami and the Gonzi administrations, the current situation in the country makes me even more frustrated than many. What we are witnessing across the board is the way the culture of ‘u ejja’ has permeated every [...]
Anthony Abela Medici, commissioner for voluntary organisations, is moving to ban Repubblika. One of the trumped up charges he came up with is that Repubblika is essentially a front for a political party. One presumes he has the Nationalist Party in mind. Except for inveterate watchers of One TV and exclusive admirers of KullĦadd's cartoonist [...]
Do you remember the BWSC “scandal”? Do you remember accusations of corruption? I worked at the Ministry responsible for Enemalta at the time. I headed Austin Gatt’s personal staff. I was at meetings with Enemalta officials when the decision to purchase a new plant was taken. And then, as always happened at the time, the [...]
From a piece in today's Times I co-wrote with Alessandra Dee Crespo and Vicki Ann Cremona "You’ll be pleased to know then that we shall continue writing our articles and we shall continue levelling criticism where it needs to be addressed. We shall also continue offering our suggestions to make Malta a better place to [...]
For some time now we have tried to reconstruct in our minds and in our writings the killing of Daphne Caruana Galizia. We heard Matthew’s testimony. We heard evidence from eye witnesses on the scene. We heard the reconstructions of the forensic experts. And now, today, we heard one of the killers. We heard him [...]