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January kicked off with two MaltaToday front page stories high up on the news agenda for political stations NET TV and One TV relishing in the exclusive revelations in the run-up to the March local elections: One News harped on for weeks on MaltaToday’s story that Indri Zammit, arraigned in court on charges of drug trafficking, was a past business associate of Junior Minister Tony Abela.
But One News viewers who had not read MaltaToday were completely unaware of another story appearing on the same issue of MaltaToday, which exposed Notary Charles Mangion’s signature on the notarial deed for the sale of Pender Place, a deal previously condemned by the MLP leader Alfred Sant.
NET News did exactly the same, by trumpeting Charles Mangion’s political gaffe whilst ignoring the revelation that Tony Abela’s name was still listed alongside that of Indri Zammit as a shareholder in Ajaca Company Ltd.
MaltaToday’s revelations on the two political exponents from the rival political camps set the tone for the following months in which MaltaToday continued to expose conflict of interests, patronage networks and abuse of power.
In so doing MaltaToday spared nobody, highlighting the privileges and abuses of port workers, contractors, hunters, bureaucrats, media barons and bogus charities. Partisan TV stations reacted by spinning MaltaToday stories on the rival party in their own media while ignoring other stories deemed damaging for their own party. And the national broadcaster simply abdicated its responsibility and ignored most of the stories appearing on MaltaToday.
Silencing the news
Some of those scrutinised by MaltaToday, namely Dom Mintoff, Albert Mizzi, Norman Lowell and Peter Fenech went one step ahead by resorting to libel procedures to silence the newspaper.
The politically appointed chairman of the Mediterranean Conference Centre, Dr Peter Fenech, presented the first libel suit in 2006. During the proceedings Fenech never disputed the facts carried by MaltaToday, namely that the government had written off Lm109,000 in rent owed by VAB Company Ltd for the Jumbo Lido in Tigné. Also revealed was the fact that the same company was demanding Lm138,000 from Marisa Camilleri in management fees for the use of the Jumbo Lido after having won Lm43,000 in court. Fenech, who happens to be a director of the company owing the rent to the government, simply insisted that his father owns the company.
When questioned by MaltaToday the Ministry for Home Affairs claimed it did not know of the pending cases when it wrote off VAB’s debts on the assumption the company lacked the assets to pay the rent due.
Blast from the past
Some of the stories investigated by MaltaToday in the past years have also returned to haunt Malta’s news agenda.
One of the most notable cases was an investigation by the late Julian Manduca on the controversial demise of the Voice of the Mediterranean and the dubious role of its then head, former Nationalist MP Richard Muscat.
Richard Muscat had bought new cars to the tune of Lm31,000, spent Lm78,000 on new equipment, and was also responsible for a contract worth Lm3,000 monthly to a website provider which employed his son. Back in 2005 Manduca revealed that the European Union had approved a EUR300,000 project to the defunct VOM almost a year after the radio station had been closed down.
In 2006 Ambassador to Ireland Richard Muscat, took centre stage when he faced a damning Auditor General’s investigation into his extravagant spending spree when he was managing director of the radio station.
Scandal rocks ADT
In June 2006 MaltaToday was the first newspaper to reveal that the Transport Authority was investigating allegations of bribery in its official driving test procedures following reports implicating one of its officers and a motoring school
The Transport Authority’s driving test was in chaos in the weeks following MaltaToday’s story, as four out of its total of six examiners were suspended from work as they were interrogated by the police in investigations of a bribery scandal.
One of the Transport Authority’s driving examiners, Nicolai Magrin, implicated in the cash for licences scandal, had also run over the elderly father of Labour MP Joseph Cuschieri while drunk in April. According to the inquiry report, the official would have remained unprosecuted by the police had MaltaToday not revealed the accident.
17 November: a forgotten tragedy
Not all cases investigated by MaltaToday made it to the news of rival political stations. One serious case declared “closed” by a junior Minister and ignored by the opposition was the plight of 29 immigrants who lost their lives after an order was given to army rescuers to “keep at a distance.”
The order recorded in the AFM log book was issued after a boat carrying 200 migrants in gale force winds was spotted in Maltese waters – hours before 9 of them drowned and at least 20 went missing in a shipwreck off the coast of Sicily. Steadfastly refusing to answer questions directly by MaltaToday, Parliamentary Secretary Tony Abela considered the 17 November migrants’ tragedy “case closed”.
According to the Prime Minister’s spokesman, the migrants were exercising their right of innocent passage on their way through the Maltese Search and Rescue Area and since no request for help was made, the authorities could not intervene.
Abela had previously declared in parliament that migrants had refused help given that there was no contact with the boat people.
MEPA under scrutiny
Throughout 2006, MaltaToday continued to highlight environmental and planning issues while exposing inconsistencies and outright conflict of interests at the Malta Environment and Planning Authority.
MaltaToday was the first to reveal the extent of the proposed villa development in Ta’ Cenc and Hondoq ir-Rummien. Following the government’s decision to extend development boundaries, MaltaToday screened the entire process, revealing that the proposed development affected sites of archaeological importance and others of scenic beauty.
A number of sites mentioned by MaltaToday like the area next to the Mgarr Church were eventually removed from the approved plans. We also revealed the names of some of the beneficiaries of the new schemes, which included notorious Lorry Sant henchmen Piju Camilleri, and were the first to question whether the announced rationalisation was in breach of a European Union Directive, which requires an environment impact assessment for any approved plan which has an impact on the environment.
Following questions sent by MaltaToday, official sources within the European Commission confirmed that an investigation was underway to establish whether the Maltese government’s plans were in breach of the European Union’s directive on strategic impact assessments (SEA).
The SEA directive clearly states that “modifications” to plans affecting land use and town and country planning should be submitted to a strategic impact assessment aimed at assessing the environmental impact of these plans. The EU Commission’s investigation is still pending. In November the investigation was widened to cover changes to the Grand Harbour local plan aimed at paving the way for Smart City.
MaltaToday was also the first to reveal that the SmartCity Malta project hailed by Minister Austin Gatt as the largest ever job creator in Malta’s history may serve to offer the Dubai-based investors lucrative opportunities in real estate. Plans show that only 65,573 square metres – 19% of the whole project – will be dedicated to office space related to the Internet and Media City. On the other hand 70,557 square metres (20%) are earmarked for the development of villas and apartments.
Fraudulent charities
Throughout 2006 MaltaToday exposed a number of cases involving fraud, misappropriation of funds or lack of transparency in the NGO sector, highlighting the need for stricter rules to regulate the sector.
The most clamorous case involved the bogus Speranza Complex for Handicapped People and their Elderly Parents in Valley Road, Birkirkara promoted to benefactors as “a unique complex in Malta” which offers “the best specialised and most sophisticated services.”
MaltaToday revealed that the three-storey complex was empty of clients yet full of beds, soft toys, obsolete computers, knick knacks and old, outlandish furniture. Of all the toilets and bathrooms, not one was suitable for people with physical disabilities and people using wheelchairs can hardly pass through the rooms.
Another charity deemed “unaccountable” by the National Commission for People with Disabilities (KNPD), was Malta Special Olympics. The chairman of the Malta branch of the international sports organisation for people with intellectual disabilities was accused in reports filed to the Maltese authorities and to the organisation’s headquarters abroad of allegedly misusing sponsorship money.
Even the Red Cross Society, one of Malta’s most respectable organisations fell victim to fraud. The society’s former accountant Tony Formosa who uncovered the fraud believes the sum in question could amount to more than Lm23,000. Formosa discovered that cash donations and payments received by the society for first-aid courses were being replaced by cheques received in the previous months. In this way the amount deposited always tallied with the receipts issued.
Chevening scholarships
The award of scholarships also came under this newspaper’s scrutiny. In October the British High Commission announced that it intends reviewing the current situation whereby a majority of students benefiting from the bursary hail from influential families. But it refused to divulge the names of the successful applicants for the prestigious Chevening scholarship.
Reacting to an opinion article penned by MaltaToday columnist Anna Mallia, British High Commissioner Nick Archer acknowledged that the British Council does not get applicants from “a wide enough range of backgrounds” for the Chevening scholarships. Mallia had expressed her concern at the trend that seemed to have developed over recent years to award Chevening scholarships to students hailing from well connected, influential and political families. This year’s recipients included the Prime Minister’s son, the daughter of EU Commissioner Joe Borg, and the granddaughter of former President of the Republic Guido de Marco.
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