Not a Jedi moment. The episode this week of a police officer caught smuggling people in breach of border rules at the airport is an inevitable warning. It is also an inevitable consequence. The government's decision to engage, promote and re-instate people with criminal records in the police force was never a good idea. There [...]
The Council of Europe's platform for the protection of journalists and media freedom raised an alert of a "state act having chilling affects on media freedom" after Cyprus issues an arrest warrant on Maria Efimova after a complaint from a former employer. An alert on the Council of Europe's platforms is raised when a partner [...]
Pilatus Bank threatened The Malta Independent, Malta Today and The Times with prohibitive SLAPP law-suits filed in the United States the publications would not even afford to respond to. Appearing in your own defense and engaging lawyers in the United States is more than any news organisation in Malta could afford. Under that pressure, all [...]
The gut reaction would be "not to politicise a tragedy". The government reminds everyone that it is undignified to exploit the death of someone and the terrible tragedy that struck a family to score political points. And the rest of us murmur agreement that these things cannot be helped and it is unseemly to blame [...]
St Luke's, Karin Grech and Gozo General Hospitals have just been tied up in a hypothec as security for a loan taken out by Vitals from AgriBank plc. AgriBank plc advertises itself as bank specialised in lending money to British farmers. Vitals has had financial problems in the last two years to the extent that [...]
After Etienne Grech's toe-curling performance at the Council of Europe, Malta's government deployed Owen Bonnici as its champion at the European Parliament's committee meeting reviewing the rule of law report the EP delegates prepared. As the diva would say, she can sing it beautifully but if the song is bad no one will like it [...]
Yesterday I reported how an online business that appears to be dormant, www.buttardi.com, is reported on Zoominfo to generate revenues of 2.4 million US dollars. This would be suspicious for any tax authority in any case, but is especially problematic since Buttardi clearly belongs, at least in part, to Michelle Muscat, the prime minister's wife, [...]
Worldwide calls for international oversight of the investigations into the killing of Daphne Caruana Galizia are coming from every direction now. The UK House of Commons is considering a motion tabled by 4 MPs from 4 different political parties that "urges the international community to ensure full oversight of the investigation". The MPs tabling the [...]
On-line and retail jeweller Buttardi, reputedly co-owned by the prime minister’s wife Michelle Muscat and her partner Michelle Buttigieg, appears unwilling to sell any of its produce. Their main means of commerce is website www.buttardi.com. The site’s own credits say it was designed in 2012 and it does look like it comes from another internet [...]
114 members of parliaments from across all of Europe and across all political groupings signed a motion for a resolution of the parliamentary assembly of the Council of Europe demanding international monitoring of the investigations after the killing of Daphne Caruana Galizia. Motions presented to the assembly are typically supported by 20 to 30 members. [...]
In a 2015 interview, Minister Konrad Mizzi told The Sunday Times his plans for Karin Grech were to transform it into a 320-bed geriatric public hospital. When he justified the sale of Karin Grech to VGH he said: "Doing nothing would have left our healthcare system in a pitiful state where we would constantly try to [...]
Buy yourself or your loved one something a little special. Visit now www.buttardi.com. No, really, do it. "Our Designs can be perceived in different ways, but our Mission is to make a Statement." Play that quote from their website in your head as you push 'Pay' after entering your credit card details. Do please try [...]
On 8 April 2015, Michelle Buttigieg, and her husband William, bought property Unit 1E, a single residential unit in 402 East 74th Street, New York. The purchase was registered in September 2015 showing a purchase price of 790,000 US Dollars. The purchase was secured in view of a mortgage granted to Michelle Buttigieg and her [...]
perhaps you can take a stroll to this address on the Upper East Side of Manhattan.
This guest post is by Charles Schembri who dedicates this piece "to Iris Rohmann and her like". A faithful representation of the islands’ fatigue in understanding its current socio-economic and political script, where the relevance of ethics and morals wherever you look have become blared by events, is the Theatre of Happenings. This theatre [...]
It is good news that the Attorney General has decided the questions that remain open in the case of the death of 17-year old Mike Mansholt need to be looked into. The boy's body was found at the bottom of Dingli Cliffs having gone missing for a few days. The causes of his death were [...]
By George Farrugia Calleja When reading newspaper reports, especially in the post-truth world of SLAPPed media and tamed journalists, it's a good idea to deconstruct what you read. Here's how you do it, the bits in CAPS being my pointers as to how to go about this and the sort of conclusions you can draw. [...]
The government started what it called a consultation process on extending the program of selling Maltese and European citizenship to anyone that can pay a million euro. Its so-called consultation dodged the one real question that should be asked: should the scheme be extended. The government has already decided it will be. It just needs [...]
When students become functionaries of the state, the situation is truly desperate. Pulse, the Labour Party's student organisation, has this morning organised a "silent protest" at MCAST. They are not protesting for freedom of speech or for the rule of law. They are not demanding better learning conditions or improved access to education for students [...]
Our anti-money laundering agency works Sundays. As taxpayers we would welcome such zeal if it was directed at finding criminals. But today's over-time sheet has been stamped because our intrepid enforcers of propriety needed to defend their clients Konrad Mizzi and Keith Schembri. Konrad Mizzi and Keith Schembri were, according to a suppressed FIAU report [...]