Detail of front cover of "Fearless: The Story of Daphne Caruana Galizia" by Gattaldo. The original Roman calendar had only ten months, and October was the eighth month. January and February hadn’t been added to the calendar yet. Like its neighbouring months September, November, and December, the numerical name stuck even after Julius Caesar expanded the [...]
We should all be grateful to the Electrogas directors for informing us of their internal inquiry that found no corruption in the deal for which their company exists. It’s nice that they looked into the matter and it’s nice they told us about it. Now, if they don’t mind very much, they can fuck back [...]
The casual way with which I referred to Christian Grima and Simon Mercieca in the same sentence without contrasting the two and what they are doing was flippant and inexcusable. I apologise to Christian Grima for allowing that fact to suggest that the sins of the latter could be visited on the former. I also [...]
There is something which does not make even an ounce of sense in what Louis Grech told the Daphne Caruana Galizia inquiry today. Here’s an extended quote from Malta Today’s court report: “Asked about the Panama Papers revelations that emerged in 2016, Grech said this was “a setback” for the government that had achieved so [...]
In the post linked here I explained how I've been trying since last November to visit the prisons and other detention facilities in Malta to verify directly the veracity of persistent reports of overcrowding, inhuman conditions, torture and degrading treatment. In this post I described just how limited the visit I was allowed to make [...]
Louis Grech described the Panama Papers as a "setback" for the Labour government this morning. MaltaToday's court reporter quotes Louis Grech saying: "We had implemented so much of our manifesto and achieved civil rights. There was a lot of good. One should not be defined only by the bad aspects, but also by the good. [...]
Updated at 15:17 Includes reaction by Christian Grima. It’s reasonable for Yorgen Fenech to protest his innocence. It would be surprising if he didn’t. The attitude that wealth justifies everything that we heard on the recordings of him taped secretly by his accomplice Melvyn Theuma does not just go away, even when facing the prospect of [...]
Manuel Delia · Malta's Double Dealings Robert Abela stood with the heads of government of 6 other southern EU countries yesterday after a meeting in Corsica that was supposed to show a common front. As expected, Robert Abela underlined the challenge of migratory flows. He rightly remarked that it was not practical to develop policy [...]
Alfred Sant's article in The Malta Independent today is split in three. The third part is interesting. Fascinating. Here it is: HOGAN’S STORY The resignation of Phil Hogan as EU Trade Commissioner from Ireland was hardly noticed in Malta. One wonders why... Hogan was one of the Commissioners most in view and was considered as [...]
For weeks now, I’ve had that lingering sickly feeling which just won’t go away. Sartre uses the term ‘nausea’ to describe that sense of dislocation when you realise life is fundamentally meaningless and absurd. In Malta, the absurd has long since become the accepted normality. The head of the Hate Crimes Unit commits these crimes [...]
The economy ministry has just written to 69 former Air Malta pilots, made redundant a few weeks ago, to inform them the government would honour a promise made to them by former Minister Konrad Mizzi that if they were to be made redundant the government would still continue to pay them their big pilot pay [...]
I just cannot fathom why the Partit Laburista has been attacking Dr Bernard Grech ever since he declared his candidature for the leadership of the Partit Nazzjonalista. Likewise, I cannot understand the Labour Party’s defence of Dr Adrian Delia. Imagine Eddie Fenech Adami publicly rooting for Karmenu Mifsud Bonnici or Alfred Sant or their internal [...]
The word ‘Minister’ originates from the Old French menistrer “to serve, administer, attend, wait on” and directly from Latin ministrare “to serve, attend wait upon” from minister “inferior, servant”. Lately, the public has seen and heard about the work of a number of our formidable ministers. Their words and actions are for you to judge. [...]
Lawrence Cutajar is testifying this morning at the Daphne Caruana Galizia inquiry. He's been reminded of his former Deputy Police Chief, Silvio Valletta and Valletta's blatant conflict of interest as head of the investigation into Daphne's killing whilst being married to a minister in Joseph Muscat's government. Lawrence Cutajar is reminded that Daphne's family had [...]
Victoria Buttigieg was the State Advocate. She applied to become the Attorney General. This is not a promotion. The two positions carry the same salary. They have the same level of security of tenure. The positions both carry identical constitutional prestige. By any standard this is a lateral career move. Except the job Victoria Buttigieg [...]
In his interview with me yesterday, US financial crime blogger Kenneth Rijock said his sources tell him the United States is conducting an ongoing investigation into criminal activities connected to the sale of passports by Malta. At that interview (listen to it here if you haven’t already), I asked Kenneth Rijock to clarify how a [...]
I think that the brief exchange between Victoria Buttigieg, at the time deputy attorney general, and lawyers for Electrogas published yesterday by Matthew Caruana Galizia deserves further reflection. The exchange comes out of the leak of Electrogas emails that was sent to Daphne Caruana Galizia a little before she was killed. She was killed, it [...]
Victoria Buttigieg has been appointed Attorney General to replace Peter Grech. “Replace” is right. Some might say Peter Grech’s clone has taken office. This is a mess of incredible proportions and I’ll try to explain why. The Venice Commission said we should separate the two roles the Attorney General used to have in our rule [...]
Manuel Delia · Followup Interview with Kenneth Rijock Kenneth Rijock has been covering corruption and money laundering in and out of Malta for a long time now. This week he quoted sources tell him that Maltese cabinet ministers, now in office, are cooperating with law enforcement agencies of the United States and another unnamed country [...]
Human rights NGO Amnesty International denounced the Maltese government accusing it of “illegal tactics” in the Mediterranean to prevent the arrival of immigrants making the dangerous crossing from North Africa. Amnesty International’s statement of today says that “The Maltese government has used dangerous and illegal measures to deal with the arrivals of refugees and migrants [...]