Post-Panama Laundromat

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2017-12-02T09:19:20+01:00Fri, 1st Dec '17, 18:58|

Instead of answering questions to a delegation that flew to meet him from the European Parliament, Brian Tonna of Nexia BT, accountant to the prime minister, former front-man for Mossack Fonseca, self-confessed debtor to his clients, proud owner of Egrant Inc in Panama, and one of the protagonists of the Panama Gang, treated Joe Cuschieri [...]

The findings of the EP delegation in 32 words

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2017-12-01T18:20:19+01:00Fri, 1st Dec '17, 18:19|

Here's a preview of the report the European Parliament is going to receive from the delegation it sent to Malta to check whether there is rule of law here. This is Green Sven Giegold on twitter earlier today: #Malta needs change! Results from our fact finding mission: We came seriously concerned and left even more [...]

UK NGO Index on Censorship condemns Michael Farrugia

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2017-12-01T18:15:28+01:00Fri, 1st Dec '17, 18:15|

Index on Censorship today condemned the Police Minister Michael Farrugia for indulging in a public political battle with the grieving relatives of Daphne Caruana Galizia. “This is a deeply discouraging development, said Joy Hyvarinen, head of advocacy at Index on Censorship. The Maltese authorities should be focusing on investigating the killing of Daphne Caruana Galizia, [...]

Nexia International say they think someone hacked them to like my tweet about Brian Tonna

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2017-12-01T17:13:43+01:00Fri, 1st Dec '17, 16:43|

I received an email today from a Michael Joy whose signature says he is Executive Manager at Nexia International. He was referring to my post of yesterday about Nexia International liking my tweet saying Nexia BT should answer questions from the European Parliament. Here's the text of his email. Do notice the title: RE: Urgent [...]

Tales from the Land of Serenity

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2017-12-01T16:28:00+01:00Fri, 1st Dec '17, 16:28|

Some time ago I had asked anyone wanting to contribute to this blog to send in their writings for guest-posting. Lizzie Eldridge went one better. This website will be featuring audio podcasts by Lizzie Eldridge in a series called Tales from the Land of Serenity. The podcasts are read and produced by Pia Zammit. The [...]

Response by assassination victim’s widower and sons to minister of home affairs and national security Michael Farrugia

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2017-12-01T14:08:16+01:00Fri, 1st Dec '17, 14:08|

This statement was sent by Daphne Caruana Galizia's family to all media today: We were dismayed to see that the Minister of Home Affairs and National Security, Michael Farrugia, published our letter to him accompanied by a media statement. This was a private letter from the widower and sons of an assassination victim to their [...]

Another institution for the chop

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2017-12-01T11:18:41+01:00Fri, 1st Dec '17, 11:18|

In 1995, the PN administration set up the Ombudsman. This would be an official with security of tenure appointed by cross-party consensus and reporting directly to Parliament. The Ombudsman would hear complaints of wrongful administration, unfairness in government decisions, injustices and discrimination. Without fear of retribution the Ombudsman would have the power to speak publicly [...]

Cyrus Engerer. Really?

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2017-11-30T23:47:48+01:00Thu, 30th Nov '17, 23:47|

I'm rarely distracted by the likes of Cyrus Engerer. Although to be fair there aren't many like Cyrus Engerer. He posted today his elaborate treatise on the secret agenda of the civil society activists invited by a cross-party European Parliament delegation headed by a Socialist to speak about rule of law in Malta. Here's his [...]

Chris Cardona breaks his silence

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2017-11-30T22:50:02+01:00Thu, 30th Nov '17, 22:50|

The eerie silence of Chris Cardona for weeks after the death of Daphne Caruana Galizia was unmistakably conspicuous. But his name came up in many conversations he was not part of in all this time. That was because, of all the measures of suppression Daphne Caruana Galizia suffered in her life, few were starker than Chris [...]

Has Marlene Mizzi gone beyond early learning?

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2017-11-30T22:29:13+01:00Thu, 30th Nov '17, 22:29|

Look at the letter Marlene Mizzi sent to Manfred Weber to tell him "with all due respect that this is shameful letter, offensive to the State of Malta and to the majority of Maltese people". A political commentary about Marlene Mizzi's endemic confusion between the State of Malta and the majority of the Maltese people [...]

The EP delegation IS making a difference

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2017-12-01T11:32:51+01:00Thu, 30th Nov '17, 22:18|

Sometimes some of us have unrealistic expectations. I've had many conversations with people who seemed to think that the EU should send an army to invade Malta, put Joseph Muscat in handcuffs and grant us a new constitution. That thinking is just as colonial as the conformist compliance you come across from people that tell [...]

The Malta Police Minister looks for help from Turkey

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2017-11-30T21:45:42+01:00Thu, 30th Nov '17, 21:45|

Minister Michael Farrugia knows just which door to knock to get his policemen to act as instruments of an autocratic regime. Labour's campaign to take-over the police force had various stages. First they decapitated the corps and put on top a blabbering fool. Then they strategically promoted cronies to top positions they were not qualified [...]

Nexia International likes tweet saying Nexia BT should meet EP delegation

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2017-11-30T13:29:01+01:00Thu, 30th Nov '17, 13:29|

Nexia International is the international network of accountancy and advisory firms that includes Brian Tonna's Nexia BT of Malta. Yesterday I tweeted a link to my blog post arguing that Keith Schembri, Konrad Mizzi and Brian Tonna themselves should, if they have nothing to hide, instruct Nexia BT to meet the European Parliament delegation currently [...]

No, it is not OK for Ministers to meddle in criminal investigations.

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2017-11-30T13:21:37+01:00Thu, 30th Nov '17, 13:12|

Carmelo Abela is nobody’s least favourite Labour Minister. He certainly is not mine. He’s not alleged to have secret companies in off-shore jurisdictions. He’s not alleged to have visited brothels while on government duty. He’s not known to have threatened whistle-blowers with prison. He’s not suspected of having facilitated fabrication of documents to help illegal [...]

LISTEN: The Ferris Tapes (Part 4) (updated with transcript)

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2017-11-30T13:09:53+01:00Wed, 29th Nov '17, 23:31|

This is the fourth and final portion of an extended interview I had with whistle-blower Jonathan Ferris. For this portion, Ellen Trapp from ARD TV and myself took Mr Ferris in front of the building that houses Pilatus Bank. I asked Mr Ferris questions he could not answer because of the secrecy obligations that still [...]

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