What the Sunday papers say…

MaltaToday reveals that foreign nationals who are buying Maltese passports for €650,000 appear to be wilfully ignoring requirements to buy a €350,000 property. The newspaper explains that not every IIP applicants are abiding by the requirements of the controversial programme, and that most of those who have been granted a Maltese passport may not even be living here.

In another story, MaltaToday’s survey shows that more than two thirds of the Maltese think that high-rise towers in general make the country uglier, irrespective of where these are located. The survey also shows that three-quarters of respondents would not like Malta to resemble Dubai with regard to its physical appearance.  On the backpage, the newspaper reports that the National Commission for the Promotion of Equality (NCPE) has called for the licensing of the morning-after pill, arguing that denying women access to emergency contraception was discriminatory.

Sunday newspaper Illum leads with the shocking evidence about a 60-year-old man accused of bringing prostitutes home to share with his 7-year-old son to “prevent him from growing up to be gay”. The man, who cannot be named by court order, is also accused of whipping the boy with an electrical cord when he was unable to participate and of knowingly infecting persons with a sexually-transmitted infection which he had hidden from his sexual partners – an offence punishable by up to nine years in prison.

On the frontpage, the newspaper carries comments by Archbishop Charles Scicluna who says that he is not partisan or a PN supporter, arguing that irrespective of which party is in government, he would relay criticism.

The Sunday Times of Malta says the Gozo General Hospital has effectively been privatised for 99 years and not just 30, as the government has repeatedly declared. The newspaper reports that unpublished documents show a clause in the contract gives Vitals Global Healthcare the right to extend its emphytetuical grant by a further “single and additional term of sixty-nine years.”

The newspaper also reports that traffic congestion will cost €1.28 billion a year by 2050, according to an estimate in the new national transport strategy.

The Malta Independent on Sunday reports that the government views the morning-after pill as a social right, and ministers Helena Dalli and Chris Fearne are discussing the way forward. It also says that Italian authorities have arrested a Somali national believed to be a key member of a migrant trafficking right that had brought as many as 250 people, mainly of Syrian and Somali nationalities, to Malta.

GWU-owned newspaper It-Torca says Planning Ombudsman David Pace is refusing to step down after having been found to have carried out private work while in office. The newspaper says the Ombudsman is not happy with how the situation has played out and has sought advice from the Speaker of the House.

PN news organ il-mument says European institutions are calling on Prime Minister Joseph Muscat to clean up in the wake of the Panama Papers revelations and allegations of bribery against Alfred Mifsud.

Labour newspaper Kullhadd leads with the charity swim of Michelle Muscat – wife of Prime Minister Joseph Muscat – from Marsascala to Grand Harbour.