UPDATED: 11:05 with PN statement Rosianne Cutajar admitted receiving €9,000 in cash as a “birthday gift” from Yorgen Fenech, the man charged with killing Daphne Caruana Galizia. She admitted she didn’t declare the gift. The record shows she spoke in Yorgen Fenech’s defence in Malta’s Parliament and at the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of [...]
Read this Lovin Malta report of another point brought up by Robert Abela yesterday. He told business owners being “terrorised be institutions” to speak to him directly over WhatsApp or some other way that would avoid a paper trail so that he could defend them from the government of which he is chief executive. I [...]
This is my article in the current Winter edition of the Index on Censorship Magazine. This is a link to subscribe to the magazine.
Robert Abela has declared his intention to vote against and to instruct his MPs to vote down a draft law introducing anti-mafia legislation in our statute books. He’s only spoken in the negative about some of the other proposals and said nothing good about the rest of the package transposed by the Opposition from the [...]
There are just some premises that betray the unintended motivations of those who postulate them. “Who farted?” is a question asked by the person in the room implicitly admitting they did the deed. It’s just one of those things. Who smelt it dealt it. This is a South Park way of saying that the guy [...]
In his interview with the Times of the 23rd August 2021, Joseph Muscat said “I am an economist. I give economic advice, I provide advisory services to people both locally and internationally. I look at trends in their industries, strategies in their sectors and advice on how they can perfect them”. I did not know [...]
Even taking into account all the state capture in Joseph Muscat’s times, I think the point we’re at now in terms of the quivering weakness of the rule of law is as terrible as any we’ve seen. Robert Abela, with the full might of the executive and the ruling party within him and behind him, [...]
Robert Abela cannot outplay Joseph Muscat’s tune so he dances to it instead. Consider the quote on l-orizzont’s front page today: “Għall-PN, it-tisħiħ tal-istituzzjonijiet ifisser li jdaħħluhom fil-logħba partiġġjana.” That’s a direct quote from remarks by the prime minister who, while denying he’s doing just that, is increasing the pressure on the inquiring magistrate looking [...]
I doubt Robert Abela privately thinks Joseph Muscat is a god who can do no wrong. But Robert Abela knows the only reason he was elected party leader instead of Chris Fearne was the fact that Chris Fearne had signalled he would not worship on the Joseph Muscat altar after Muscat’s resignation. Robert Abela instead [...]
I understand the scepticism. Even the cynicism. We’ve been through many dramatic moments that turned out to be largely meaningless not to think that a raid on Joseph Muscat’s house, two years after the inquiry it is part of started, five years after allegations of wrongdoing became known, and days after the subject of the [...]
A few days ago on the Central Bank's official Instagram account, Edward Scicluna mourned David Sassoli the president of the European Parliament who died in office. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Central Bank of Malta (@centralbankmalta) Fair enough you'd say since Edward Scicluna was himself an MEP and he [...]
A few more observations about remarks by Joseph Muscat and Robert Abela after yesterday’s police raid on the former prime minister’s house. They said the same thing which suggests they co-ordinated their remarks. From Times of Malta’s interview with Joseph Muscat: “Muscat said his faith in the inquiry had now been dented, as his initial [...]
Robert Abela is not in a good place. Like Joseph Muscat he appears to have been pre-advised of the raid at his predecessor’s house today. His response is rehearsed and recognisably Muscatian. Robert Abela warned the magistrate to stay within the limits of the law and not to use her powers for ulterior motives. Wipe [...]
Joseph Muscat’s house has been raided by the police and his phones have been taken away. He says he was “half surprised”, which means he had been tipped off and had been expecting this. He wasn’t surprised at all. He still has friends on the inside to tip him off. One can only hope that [...]
Most of this is sadly untranslatable. Not that sadly I suppose. One TV has a story about Leo Brincat, a former Labour Minister who sits on the EU’s Court of Auditors. The headline says Leo Brincat is doing “important” work in the EU, referring to two files of fairly routine audits on Leo Brincat’s desk. [...]
Repubblika has recently alleged that the police are under pressure not to act in a way that causes the government any embarrassment between now and the election. There are many examples that outwardly suggest this to be true. Franco Vassallo writes this morning that three years after then Magistrate, now Judge, Aaron Bugeja ordered action [...]
Roberta Metsola is on track to become the third female President in the history of the European Parliament. Roberta Metsola’s journey to the European Parliament was quite unlikely, but she was always driven by this motto: if you believe in something, don't give up on it. She can be an example and inspiration for young [...]
Watching Robert Abela look for ways of looking good basking in the light of Roberta Metsola’s election would be funny if it weren’t so fucking typical of this country that such a strategy would work. There are sheep out there who think that this election happened because Robert Abela permitted it. Is it a good [...]
Former government official Neville Gafà who worked for Joseph Muscat and Robert Abela to push migrants back to Libya is named in a complaint filed with the International Criminal Court in The Hague and identified as a suspect for war crimes, this website can confirm. Gafà and other Maltese government officials may face trial for [...]
This set is by Jon Borg.