In the Press: Dalligate rekindled | MUMN threatens action over denied special leave

The Dalligate scandal was rekindled yesterday as John Dalli and Giovanni Kessler traded blows by means of letters to the Speaker of the Maltese House of Parliament. While Kessler, chief of the EU's anti-fraud agency, maintains that Dalli warned him against traveling to Malta because he risked arrest, Dalli said that he wanted to confront Kessler on his report in Malta and would not have tried to convince him to stay away.

Police Commissioner Peter Paul Zammit is refusing to cooperate in new investigations by ignoring OLAF requests for a collaboration on a later case, which emerged when Dalli disclosed his visit to the Bahamas during the initial probe.

The Times of Malta

The partner and family of Matthew Zahra, the missing man whose remains are suspected to have been found buried in a Birzebbugia field, have requested access or at least a look at a shoe that was found with the bones.

Through their lawyers, the family and girlfriend of the murdered taxi driver asked the courts to release the piece of evidence so they could find some closure. The remains have not been released yet as they are still undergoing DNA testing to confirm who they belonged to.

In-Nazzjon

The MUMN has threatened industrial action after it emerges that the HR department at Mater Dei hospital was denying midwives and nurses special leave. This newspaper claims that the refusals, which are in breach of the Public Service Management code, are being carried out in an effort to save money on overtime. A circular sent by the MUMN president warns that this might set a precedent and other rights may be endangered later on.

L-Orizzont

This newspaper covered the funeral of Anton Cassar, its founder and first editor. Condolences poured in, including from the Labour Party, Institute of Maltese Journalists and the Marsa community, in which Cassar was deeply involved.

The Malta Independent

PM Joseph Muscat is set to make 'an important announcement' today as he is the main speaker at a business breakfast organized at the Portomaso Suite at the Hilton, according to sources at the OPM.

The kiosk at San Blas, the site of much recent scrutiny, was handed an enforcement notice in 2009 but continues to operate. MEPA said that the complaint they received in June was in fact related to the kiosk and not to the small stretch of land gated off by developer Joseph Portelli. Those structures have since been removed.