Another reason why we don’t have Electrogas prosecutions

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2021-08-12T09:28:35+02:00Thu, 12th Aug '21, 09:28|

L-orizzont today rushed in defence of the only person they like in the Nationalist Party, Adrian Delia. They mocked Repubblika’s remark that should allegations that Adrian Delia conspired with Yorgen Fenech while Parliament was debating his ownership of 17 Black he should withdraw from politics for good. L-orizzont said this was part of Repubblika’s silly [...]

MONEY MAGAZINE: Sacking Malta and Gozo

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2021-08-12T08:39:02+02:00Thu, 12th Aug '21, 08:39|

This is my article in this month's Money Magazine: In March 2019, four months after the world learnt that Yorgen Fenech owned the company that Keith Schembri and Konrad Mizzi’s accountants told Mossack Fonseca was their “target” to pay them, with others, $2 million for no reason whatsoever, the chief executive at the Planning Authority, Johann [...]

He’s accountable to God. So shut up.

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2021-08-12T08:17:11+02:00Thu, 12th Aug '21, 08:17|

Was George Vella elected president of a democratic republic or made mullah of a theocracy? His comments to Times of Malta today answer that question. He was asked if he felt accountable for the assassination of Daphne Caruana Galizia given that an inquiry had found him, along with all of Joseph Muscat’s Ministers, collectively responsible [...]

Half-hearted vote-buying

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2021-08-11T16:43:38+02:00Wed, 11th Aug '21, 16:43|

I wrote this piece yesterday about Ministers using public money in their constituency to help their personal re-election campaigns. I specifically mentioned Alex Muscat who swindled almost a million euro from the moneys earned from the passport swindled to swindlers to pay for the lighting up of the Mosta church in his constituency. Today he [...]

Adrian Delia’s lawsuit against Lovin Malta is nothing short of SLAPP

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2021-08-11T15:57:06+02:00Wed, 11th Aug '21, 15:57|

Adrian Delia knows full well that Lovin Malta’s reporting about what Yorgen Fenech had told a third party about him is entirely accurate. Lovin Malta reported a conversation Yorgen Fenech had with Diane Izzo about the Parliamentary debate that discussed the revelation he owned 17 Black. In that conversation, Yorgen Fenech admits that Rosianne Cutajar’s [...]

When a Minister calls an inquiry

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2021-08-10T12:23:14+02:00Tue, 10th Aug '21, 11:36|

The government appears to have finally realised that the regularity with which prisoners try or manage to kill themselves can become a political problem. Utterly unable or unwilling to touch any of the friends of Joseph Muscat, they seem unable or unwilling to do the obvious: fire Alex Dalli and replace that tinpot tyrant with [...]

‘Money is our power’

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2021-08-10T09:43:27+02:00Tue, 10th Aug '21, 09:43|

Melvyn Theuma told the court yesterday that Yorgen Fenech had used that phrase – ‘money is our power’ – when Theuma had suggested to Fenech that he could stop paying the imprisoned Degiorgios the tens of thousands they had been extorting from him. It’s one of those quotes that would be left hanging in silence, [...]

Charity begins at the local church

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2021-08-10T08:51:36+02:00Tue, 10th Aug '21, 08:51|

Several months ago, Repubblika argued MPs should not be government Ministers. Access to public money and contesting a constituency seat are a toxic combination. Byron Camilleri, the guy who stood idly by as prisoner after prisoner was found dead or dying in prison, has found public money to pay for the repair of the roof [...]

Tangentopoli

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2021-08-09T10:55:20+02:00Mon, 9th Aug '21, 10:55|

Many have good reasons to take a dim view of Sandro Chetcuti and be wary of what he has to say. Some would stop themselves listening to him because he was a notorious acolyte of Dom Mintoff. Or because he stood alongside Joseph Muscat in that man’s rise to power, brokering contacts for him as [...]

This is who we are

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2021-08-09T09:41:40+02:00Mon, 9th Aug '21, 09:41|

If you haven't listened to the podcast, you may prefer to read the detailed feature by the BBC's Jane Mackenzie on the El Hiblu 3. The photos with the piece are by Joanna Demarco. Three young men were arrested when they were still boys, clearly wrongfully accused of terrorism. Malta rushed into exaggerated accusations based [...]

GUEST POST: The national sasla

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2021-08-09T08:37:11+02:00Mon, 9th Aug '21, 08:37|

This was sent in by someone I know who calls himself ‘Flower’. Beneath is a tangential note by Manuel Delia. Sasla.  If I were a gambling man, I would easily win a bet if I stated that no one born this side of the millennium does not think this is a bad autocorrect of a [...]

GUEST POST: I am angry

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2021-08-05T13:51:40+02:00Thu, 5th Aug '21, 13:51|

I am angry. No scratch that. I am beyond angry. I am livid. I am livid and mad at what is happening to my country. I am angry at the forces in my country that have created a society that only works for the favoured few. A culture with an agenda of greed, and the [...]

Cautionary tale

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2021-08-09T13:44:58+02:00Thu, 5th Aug '21, 09:49|

This cartoon by the great Seb Tanti Burlo' is a lesson for me as well. Treat people with respect, steer clear of murdering bastards, and lay off the doughnuts. How's that Edward Zammit Lewis?

GUEST POST: The bastards must face trial

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2021-08-05T09:53:19+02:00Thu, 5th Aug '21, 09:45|

The public inquiry was clear-cut and unequivocal in its findings: the Maltese State is responsible for the brutal assassination of Daphne Caruana Galizia. The report details a culture saturated in impunity, from its governing politicians to the police force to the judiciary to businessmen to public bodies responsible for safeguarding the interests, needs and very [...]

Top reason Edward Zammit Lewis must go

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2021-08-04T10:46:31+02:00Wed, 4th Aug '21, 10:43|

It's not because he spoke of his electorate in offensive terms, describing the average Labour Party supporter as an imbecile. They're right to feel hurt but they can deal with that when it's their turn to vote in the next election. Edward Zammit Lewis had his Ġaħan conversation with a person he described and continues [...]

Have mercy

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2021-08-04T10:18:24+02:00Wed, 4th Aug '21, 10:18|

I have often argued that the power of deciding on immunity from prosecution or relief from punishment handed down by courts to acquire witnesses for the prosecution should not be a political decision. Right now ministers decide who gets to be pardoned to turn state’s evidence and who doesn’t, when that decision has a direct [...]

Meantime, Edward Zammit Lewis still needs to be persuaded to resign

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2021-08-03T13:12:09+02:00Tue, 3rd Aug '21, 13:11|

Edward Zammit Lewis admits to "friendship" with Yorgen Fenech. He exchanged nearly a 1,000 messages with Yorgen Fenech after Yorgen Fenech was exposed as the owner of 17 Black. With Robert Abela he delivered a press conference mocking Simon Busuttil's efforts in court to have the 17 Black revelations investigated. After that he shared what [...]

After suspension, arrest and prosecution

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2021-08-03T13:01:15+02:00Tue, 3rd Aug '21, 13:01|

In June of last year Ian Abdilla was transferred out of the Economic Crimes Unit. Yesterday he was suspended altogether from the police force. The police department says he’ll face PSC proceedings. That’s nowhere near enough. Ian Abdilla is not accused of taking a part-time job without his boss’s permission. He’s not being disciplined because [...]

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