Lil hinn mill-insulti

Fi tmiem il-ġimgħa tellajt fuq facebook meme dwar Keith Schembri u Joseph Muscat b’messaġġ wieħed, ċar u sempliċi. Ritratt ta’ Keith Schembri bil-kliem segwenti: jiena nemmen f’Joseph, għax Joseph jemmen fija.

Dan kien messaġġ politiku qawwi dwar il-ħidma politika tal-Partit Laburista f’dawn l-aħħar snin. Il-metodi operattivi ta’ Keith Schembri, li issa, bħala riżultat tal-ħidma tal-Pulizija ħarġu fil-beraħ, saru l-metodi operattivi tal-Partit Laburista.

Dan sar taħt it-tmexxija ta’ Joseph Muscat. Imma, tajjeb li niftakru li t-tmexxija ta’ Robert Abela hi waħda ta’ “kontinwità” ma dik tal-predeċessur tiegħu. Ir-responsabbiltà politika ta’ dak li għaddej bħalissa trid tintrefa mill-Partit Laburista u minn Robert Abela ukoll u mhiex biss ta’ Joseph Muscat.

Dan il-messaġġ wasal u nftiehem sewwa u għalhekk daħlu kwantità kbira ta’ reazzjonijiet li ħallejthom kollha fuq il-paġna tiegħi. Huma reazzjonijiet ta’ nies li filwaqt li huma konxji tat-tajjeb li għamel il-Partit Laburista fil-Gvern iridu jaħarbu mill-ħmieġ kollu li ħiereġ.

Sodisfatt li lil hinn mill-insulti li rċevejt, il-messaġġ wasal b’mod mill-iktar ċar.

Grazzi lil kull min ħa sehem.

A mess by design

Did you ever wonder why it is possible for the land use planning regulator in Malta to be in such a mess? Just take a look at the criminal proceedings currently under way on money laundering. A former Planning Authority Board member, Matthew Pace, is one of the accused. A police inspector, explaining the investigation results has described him as a professional money launderer.

Few may remember that, way back in June 2018, an item in the news had announced that the Financial Intelligence Analysis Unit (FIAU) had fined Matthew Pace the sum of €38,750 for breaching a number of anti-money laundering laws when dealing with investments held by a client of his named Keith Schembri. It was public knowledge and government was apparently happy as it did not act about it.

It would be interesting to know if the then legal advisor of the Planning Authority, a certain Dr Robert Abela, had flagged the issue and drawn the attention of the Authority on the need to take action. If not, could the legal advisor to Joseph Muscat, the same Dr Robert Abela, have drawn attention of his then boss to the matter? We have heard nothing about it. As we are by now aware, they are all compromised. Good governance my foot!

Mr Matthew Pace spent years as a member of the Planning Authority Board and it was only after his blatant case of conflict of interest in the dB Pembroke case that he was forced to resign as a result of public pressures by environmentalists. I say he was “forced to resign” as, when the Court annulled the dB Pembroke permit on the basis of Matthew Pace’s conflict of interest, he initially refused to make way. It was proven that he sat in judgement and participated in the decision on the dB Pembroke permit, voting in favour of its approval. Simultaneously he had an interest in an estate agency which was already “selling” units forming part of the dB Pembroke development even before the development permit was approved by the Planning Board with Matthew Pace’s vote in favour! Governance at its best!

This is the Planning Authority. Unfortunately, the other members of the Board are impacted by association. It will be many years before this regulator recovers.

There is more.

Environmentalists have discovered, almost by accident, that the current Chairman of the Environment and Planning Review Tribunal (EPRT) while sitting in judgement on appeal cases concerning planning and environmental issues is still an employee of the Planning Authority. He is currently on leave without pay having the right to return to his employment with the Planning Authority when his current term as Chairman of the EPRT expires.

How can an employee of the Planning Authority sit in judgement on the decisions of his employer? Yet this is what the Chairman of the EPRT does every day. He cannot by any stretch of the imagination be impartial even if he tries his very best. Yet whenever he was challenged, he has refused to accept that his specific circumstances render him unsuitable to Chair the EPRT in all cases concerning the Planning Authority. This matter will eventually have to be decided by the Courts with possible considerable consequences.

The mess gets worse every day.

With these ethical failures it is no wonder that the credibility of the land use planning process has gone to the dogs.

published in The Malta Independent on Sunday: 28 March 2021

……….. u wara, marru jieħdu tazza te

……….. u wara, marru jieħdu tazza te!

Jiġifieri, qiesu ma ġara xejn. Hekk jirrakkonta l-Koħħu. Il-bomba splodiet, u wara marru jieħdu te u qagħdu jisimgħu l-aħbarijiet ħa jaraw x’ġara. Bir-reazzjoni li kien hemm dehrilhom li ma marrux tajjeb, setgħu talbu iktar!

Issa qed jgħidulna li l-aħwa Degiorgio ukoll iridu jikxfu. Bil-maħfra jikxfu ħafna iktar, qalu. Anke Ministru tal-lum u ex-Ministru.

L-istorja jidher li imħawda waħda sewwa. L-ismijiet ta’ dawn il-Ministri ilhom jissemmew.

Fil-fatt ilu jingħad li possibilment kien hemm żewġ kuntratti ta’ qtil. Wieħed li dwaru qed nisimgħu bħalissa x-xhieda fil-Qorti u ieħor. Jidher li l-aħwa Degiorgio jista’ jkollhom informazzjoni fuq il-kuntratt l-ieħor li fih qed jgħidu li hemm ex-Ministru involut. Issa ex-Ministri ma hemmx ħafna, jiġifieri mhux diffiċli biex wieħed ikollu idea x’qed jippruvaw jgħidu.

Hi gravi ukoll l-informazzjoni dwar dak li għadu Ministru li s’issa għalkemm ismu ma issemmiex kulħadd jaf għal min qed jgħidu.

Issa x’ser jiġri? Id-Degiorgio jrid ikanta. X’ser jagħmel il-Ministru u l-ex? Imorru jieħdu te ħdejn it-tinda tal-patata!

Għaliex issa?

Għaliex il-Pulizija aġixxiet issa? L-apoloġisti tal-Labour ilhom is-siegħat jeqirdu li dan hu prova ta’ kemm l-istituzzjonijiet jaħdmu. Fir-realtà hu propju prova bil-maqlub. Prova ta’ kemm l-istiutuzzjonijiet ma ħadmux meta kellhom. Kemm kellhom ikunu sfurzati biex jiċċaqilqu u jaħdmu.

L-istituzzjonijiet iċċaqilqu illum. Iċċaqilqu għax ħareġ rapport (anzi tnejn) minn Maġistrat u dan fuq talba ta’ Simon Busuttil li 4 snin ilu ġibed l-attenzjoni tal-Qorti għall-provi li kellu (dawk li kienu fil-kaxxi “vojta”). U l-Qorti ħadet 4 snin.

Dan xogħol li messha għamlitu l-Pulizija 4 snin ilu. Imma ma għamlitux.

Messha għamlitu l-FIAU u m’għamlitux.

Messu iċċaqlaq l-Avukat Ġenerali. Imma baqa’ sieket.

Kellna dawn kollha li m’għamlux dmirhom. Uħud dawru wiċċhom. Oħrajn għalqu għajnejhom. Kellna min ipprefera jirreżenja flok jiffaċċja r-realtà u jagħmel dmiru.

Issa l-Pulizja iċċaqilqet. Għax sfurzata mir-rapporti tal-Maġistrat.

Għax mhux biżżejjed li għandna l-istituzzjonijiet. Jekk jimtlew b’irġiel u nisa dgħajfa, qegħdin hemm għalxejn, kif kienu hemm għalxejn għal bosta snin.

The octopus in our midst

During the past weeks we have been witnessing the exposure of a web of criminality which has infiltrated and infected all sectors of our society.  Revelations are being made public by instalments, as if a new edition of La Piovra (made in Malta) is being launched.

Information leaking from the Yorgen Fenech investigation as well as from other related investigations has revealed an intricate network which pervades practically all local institutions. Just like the octopus which with its eight long tentacles seeks to control all from far away.

We cannot say that we were not warned about this. At a point in time, it was stated that if Yorgen Fenech falls, all around him will collapse too. One instalment after the other we are realising the extent of control of the octopus.

One witness after another is confirming that the criminal gang under investigation was continuously aware of the different moves of the police investigators, in real time and with substantial notice. Those carrying out the assassination were even aware, with a three-week notice, as to when they were to be arrested. It was sufficient notice, we were told, that enabled them to plan where they would prefer the arrest to take place. They selected the potato shed at Marsa as their preference!

You would undoubtedly remember the first news instalments on Silvio Valletta, then still Deputy Commissioner of Police and in charge of the criminal investigation into the assassination of Daphne Caruana Galizia. He was introduced as Uncle Silvio to Yorgen Fenech’s family. The two men (Silvio and Yorgen), one year after the assassination were on such close terms that on the 29 September 2018, they were together at Stamford Bridge enjoying a game of football: Chelsea playing against Liverpool.

It is no news that Yorgen Fenech has a sharp eye for strategic investment opportunities. He chose his portfolio with care. He invested carefully in Silvio Valletta. Silvio was after all also a member of the Board of the Financial Intelligence Analysis Unit (FIAU). Such focused investments yield handsome dividends. Most probably there is still much more that we do not know yet as to the dividends actually reaped.

These are the methods of the Mafia, a term which we normally use to describe organised crime which is so organised that it infiltrates all layers of the state. The Chief of Staff of the Prime Minister’s Office, the Deputy Police Commissioner, one Cabinet Minister, and a number of others of a lower order were depicted in the testimony to date as being in the service of organised crime. This is as serious as it gets. Whether others higher up were also in the game is still not known for certain yet.

It is not known when the whole truth will be uncovered even though periodically we learn about an additional small bit .

This has been possible because successive governments have been allergic to good governance. The abundance of institutions set up throughout the years have been staffed with a multitude of weak men and women who have generally not been capable of standing up to the exercise of raw power. In the moment of truth, because they were weak, they gave way and allowed the octopus to move unhindered.

The published information, including confidential chats on WhatsApp, with senior officers of the Malta Gaming Authority, the Malta Financial Services Authority, the Planning Authority and others, is another worrying indicator as to how the authorities set up to defend society have been seriously undermined and compromised.

The road ahead is very difficult to navigate.  Undoubtedly, much more is yet unknown. The octopus is still in control.

published in The Malta Independent on Sunday – 21st March 2021

Keith Schembri u l-kaxxi vojta: frodi, korruzzjoni u ħasil ta’ flus

Mela Keith Schembri u 10 persuni oħra, kif ukoll għoxrin kumpanija ittellgħu l-Qorti ftit tal- ħin ilu. Huma akkużati bi frodi, korruzzjoni, ħasil ta’ flus u iktar.

Dan li qed iseħħ illum huwa prova li l-istituzzjonijiet ma ħadmux kif kellhom jaħdmu. Għax kellom ikunu l-kaxxi “vojta” ta’ Simon Busuttil, li wara li saret investigazzjoni dwarhom mill-Maġistrat wasslu għall-passi tal-lum.

Illum hu jum ta’ niket. Jum ta’ għajb.

Dak li kien “in-number one” ta’ Malta hu akkużat li hu maħmuġ. Miegħu hemm oħrajn fosthom persuna li l-Gvern kien appuntah bħala membru tal-Bord tal-Awtorità tal-Ippjanar (Matthew Pace) li kellu jirreżenja għax inqabad b’kunflitt ta’interess: waqt li kien qed jivvuta favur il-permess tal-proġett tad-dB f’Pembroke kien diġa qed ibiegħ l-appartamenti permezz tal-aġenzija tal-propjetà li kellu sehem fiha.

Jum tal-mistħija għax tal-lum hi biċċa prova li l-Gvern ta’ Malta kien immexxi mill-ħmieġ.

X’serjiġri minn issa l-quddiem diffiċli tgħid. Li l-affarijiet waslu sa hawn hu pass importanti għas saltna tad-dritt.

Min imiss?

Nistennew stqarrija urġenti mill-Prim Ministru

Wara l-istqarrija fil-Qorti, iktar kmieni illum, minn Vince Muscat il-Koħħu, li hu u sħabu kellhom għajnuna, ta’ ex-Ministru kif ukoll ta’ Ministru li għadu fil-Kabinett sal-lum, nistenna li l-Prim Ministru jagħmel stqarrija u jieħu passi immedjati.

Fl-ebda pajjiż fid-dinja demokratika ma jingħadu dawn l-affarjiet u qiesu ma ġara xejn.

Pajjiżna jixraqlu ħafna aħjar minn hekk.

A post-Covid future

It is too simplistic to state that the surge in Covid-19 new cases is the unique responsibility of more efficient strains of the virus. The efficient virus was without doubt, for quite some time, assisted by a practically inexistent enforcement. Until last week, substantial gatherings around a number of bar outlets were definitely not monitored with any strain of virus present having a practically free rein. The high Covid infection rate is also a consequence of all this.

The virus is thus not just more efficient, it has also encountered a lax enforcement which together with Covid-19 fatigue have made its proliferation much easier. Matters were also not made easier as a result of over-optimism and back-to-normal-soon messages. These messages together with the denigration of warnings on the potential impact of additional waves of virus infection has led us to the current state of play.

It is only thanks to the hard work of the medical personnel that matters are not much worse. One only hopes that lessons are learnt and that errors of judgement are not repeated. In the prevailing circumstances, the only permissible errors are those made on the side of caution.

The financial support which government has provided to a number of sectors, which support has been increased and extended, has certainly been helpful in the short term. While prioritising the health of all we can also use this down-time to plan for the future, a post-Covid future.

The vaccination programme is a reasonable source of optimism even though the light at the end of the tunnel is not visible yet.

Nobody contests that even as a result of Covid-19, the economy is in tatters, not just the Maltese economy, but possibly the world economy! The national debate should, at this point in time, be focused on how we ought to proceed into the future. Do we rebuild the past or do we take this unique opportunity to reshape the future?

The education of future generations has been dealt a severe blow as at the end of this Covid-phase at least two years of formal education will have been wiped out. Online education has certainly been of considerable help even though it is no substitute to the direct contact between our educators and students. This applies to all levels of education but more importantly at the primary and secondary school levels. It would be indeed unfortunate if anyone of the most vulnerable goes below the educational radar, as a result of Covid.  

Recovery will definitely not be easy.

A positive aspect of the tools utilised to cope with Covid was the increased reliance on digitalisation in general and tele-working in particular. We will definitely need to discuss the implications of this in considerable depth in the debate on the post-Covid future as both rights and duties in this area are not sufficiently clear yet.

Covid, like other major epidemics (AIDS, Ebola, SARS) is a direct result of the mistreatment of nature. It is specifically the consequence of the human assault on biodiversity.

Nature has a habit of calling the shots whenever it deems fit. Viruses follow natural paths and until brought in check by proper behaviour on our part, they will reign supreme.

Tinkering with nature and natural processes always backfires. There is then a price to pay and we ignore this at our peril.

None of us, most probably, has consumed infected meat from bats or chimpanzees. However, we tinker with nature in other ways, which, in the longer term are just as lethal as viruses which jump from bats to man.

Covid has shown that nature runs roughshod over an economy which is disrespectful to the ecology and eco-systems. Nature always has the final word. Can we possibly learn the lesson this time?

In the coming weeks when hopefully matters are clearer it would be opportune if we embark on planning the future, together. Our future requires a green plan which is both fair and sustainable: A Green New Deal. A future which does not repeat past errors but which instead seeks a healthy re-establishment of the links between man and nature. Too much damage has been caused over the years through the rupture of our links with nature in an effort to conquer and domesticate it. The future does not lie in man’s violent control of nature but rather through working in partnership with it.

After all this is what sustainability is all about.

published in The Malta Independent on Sunday : 14 March 2021

Rent reform is long overdue

Over the years, successive governments have refrained from carrying out essential far-reaching changes to rent legislation.

The emergency which justified the original restrictive legislation was instead made more restrictive over the years. Court decisions from Valletta to Strasbourg denouncing the current state of play have been piling up. The rent reforms of 1995 and 2008 cannot be discarded, however they were not followed up. They were appropriate small first steps but too much time elapsed with no adequate follow-up action. Successive governments have been reluctant to disturb a hornet’s nest hoping that somehow time will solve the matter.

It is within this context that Government’s proposal to carry out a root and branch reform of the 9,700 remaining pre-1995 tenancies is thus a responsible and courageous political move. Through it government will be shouldering the accumulated shortcomings of all its predecessors, red and blue, which have generally ignored the matter over the years. The Greens in Malta have over the years actively campaigned on this specific issue: justice for the landlords must be carried out together with adequate protection of vulnerable tenants.

At the time of writing the statements made by Prime Minister Robert Abela and Social Accommodation Minister Roderick Galdes have not been followed up with the publication of the specific legal texts which will implement the policy declarations made.

The proposals as described so far, are, in my view acceptable in principle. It is however expected that when the detailed legislative proposals are published, these are accompanied by studies carried out, including costings. An essential healthy public debate needs to be adequately buttressed by well-researched background information.

The proposal as spelled out by Abela and Galdes is based on two fundamental points. It seeks to tread the difficult path of protecting both tenants and landlords.

Tenant protection will be achieved through ensuring that vulnerable tenants will at all times have access to a home, be it their current one or, in some cases, possible alternatives provided through access to social accommodation. This is essentially a transitory provision applicable to the identified 9,700 pre-1995 tenancies and is undoubtedly a restrictive condition on landlords. It is however of central importance. It is to be counterbalanced by a mechanism which determines a more reasonable determination of rental income which will be coughed up by the state in part or in whole depending on the vulnerability of the tenant. It is also a mechanism which over the past years has generally been accepted by the Courts as constituting a fair and reasonable rental income.

Of fundamental importance in the proposal as communicated so far is the manner of determination of the payable rent. This will not be left completely to the whims of market forces as it will be capped at 2 per cent of the property’s value. This signifies that, hopefully, some lessons have been learnt from the fallout resulting from the complete liberalisation of the post-1995 rental market.   

The proposal will be addressing an accumulated social problem with a substantial financial outlay consisting of millions of euros annually.

So far, the rent payable in respect of pre-1995 tenancies have been subsidised by the landlords who, in a number of cases are themselves in need of help! It is appropriate that this support is shouldered by the whole community, through the state, who now steps forward to shoulder the problem in the spirit of national solidarity.

So far most have acknowledged that pre-1995 tenancies are a tough challenge. What matters, now, is that we face this challenge head-on. It cannot be postponed any further.

published on The Malta Independent on Sunday: 7 March 2021