This is a speech I delivered yesterday in the Brussels building of the European Parliament at the event launching the political manifesto of the CHANCE network of European anti-mafia civil society organisations. The event was sponsored by the Socialist and Democrats Group in the European Parliament and hosted by Socialist MEP and former Italian chief [...]
This is what a flight on the new airline replacing Air Malta looks like. If you're struggling to tell the difference, they changed the ties and the lanyards. The rest is the same. Ah yes, they wiped several hundreds of millions in accumulated losses over time. Look, I'm happy as the next guy that the [...]
In March 2021, the Maltese government was desperate to convince the Financial Action Task Force to remove Malta from the list of "grey", untrustworthy, financial jurisdictions. One of the most important targets set to the Maltese government was to show they were serious about recovering assets from criminals. The logic is that criminals want to [...]
It is being bandied about that discussions are underway between the government and Air Malta pilots. They are the ones who, if chosen, will be flying the same planes and most of the same routes under the new “KM” brand when their old employer winds down early next year. Pilots who have been flying Air [...]
The law provides for the protection of workers’ rights in a transfer of business situation. Basically, what happens is that when there is a transfer of business, workers’ acquired rights are protected, such that there is an automatic switch over of employment (and the rights attendant thereon) from the “old” to the “new” employer. If [...]
It is true that where people are involved the temptation of corruption is present and the possibility that it occurs is inescapable. It doesn’t get better if it’s more sophisticated. But it can be somehow worse if it is cheaply and brazenly done. A kickback on the back of some major public contract laundered through [...]
From my article in The Sunday Times yesterday: "Never has the gap between the thinking of the government and the thinking of civil society about what to do with corruption been wider than it is now. We think about victims and how to alleviate the hardship they suffer because of the greed of the few [...]
This is a series of clips summarising our 20 proposals for a cleaner republic. They're co-produced with online news service Bonġu. Here's the first one. Given the time of year we're calling it an alternative Christmas calendar.
Photo: REUTERS/Darrin Zammit Lupi I am not a lawyer. I do have academic qualifications in maritime law. I am a published author on the subject and I lecture both locally and overseas. Now that’s out of the way, let’s tell some truths. I have no idea what happened aboard the El Hiblu in [...]
If you don’t know the story of Amara, Abdul, and Abdalla, you’ve been living under a rock. Their long-drawn-out torture continues now that Attorney General Victoria Buttigieg decided to serve them with an indictment for terrorism and unlawful arrest that is punishable with a life sentence. All they did was translate between captain and passengers [...]
It feels like the pain of grey-listing by the FATF is well and truly forgotten. Malta’s pretence at fighting financial crime is being retired. Jonathan Attard, flanked by Judge Antonio Mizzi, announced a raft of measures to reduce the tools the law gave, up to now, to prosecutors to fight money laundering. Those tools are [...]
Ministers would like nothing better than for journalists to stay indoors. Few newsrooms can afford to have journalists lying in wait for politicians who do not pick up the phone. Unfortunately for politicians the Parliament building does not have an underground car park so sometimes ministers can’t avoid annoying questions. For just those situations they [...]
Sometimes you only spot the odd things after they’re gone. Consider this esoteric detail of small time Ħamrun politics. A Labour Councillor resigned without a formal announcement. The Council, the Labour Party, and the Councillor herself said bugger all. We came to know of her resignation because the Electoral Commission announced the election of her [...]
Look at this Facebook post by Jason Azzopardi this morning. It’s another situation of a magisterial inquiry finding that people have a case to answer but, perhaps because of the serious political repercussions of prosecuting the case, the Attorney General, Victoria Buttigieg, has done nothing about. In theory the process of conducting and filing an [...]
