‘Replicated’ email that Gatt will report to police for inconsistent formatting

Minister suspected ‘Labour frame-up’ after MaltaToday’s email of Farrugia-Gatt meeting were incorrectly replicated by Times.

14 February 2013, 12:00am
by Matthew Vella

3 min read

An email that was claimed to have been part of some frame-up was in reality down to some 'press confusion'.

A surreal press conference if there ever was one.

Transport minister Austin Gatt today declared he was filing a police report against the Labour Party, accusing them of manipulating an email circulating on Facebook, an email whose contents were first published in MaltaToday on Wednesday.

The problem was... there are three emails. The first one is MaltaToday's, published in its entirety on Wednesday, 13 February in its Midweek print edition; and then on maltatoday.com.mt with a snapshot of the email itself.

The second email is allegedly the same one, but circulating on Facebook.

The third one - and this is where things got messy - was published in The Times's print edition of Thursday, 14 February. Only that it's not strictly the original one: the Times replicated the 'Facebook email' - and it duly captioned the reproduction by stating that it was a replica - however giving the original typos a spellcheck and reformatting it with some broken paragraphs.

The result? A frame-up that may not be a frame-up.

Austin Gatt told journalists today he categorically denied discussing any contracts for the supply of oil to Enemalta during his time as energy minister, with George Farrugia, the Trafigura and Total agent. Indeed, emails between Farrugia and a Total representation show the trader claiming that he had held a meeting with Gatt.

But it was at the point that the Bondiplus presenter Lou Bondì - Gatt's Gozitan cousin - started inquiring about the email that the minister braced himself for his announcement.

Ministry aides entered the press conference with A3 copies of the email that appeared in The Times and the one in MaltaToday a day earlier, and the minister proceeded to point out the differences in formatting and spelling. He also pointed out, that in another email, this time from George Farrugia to then Enemalta chairman Tancred Tabone on 4 June 2003, the date appeared in the English language - not in Maltese, as the Farrugia-Total emails carried by the Times and MaltaToday show.

It was only until the intervention of a representative from the Times that it was clearly explained that the newspaper had replicated the contents of the email off the 'Facebook email' - because they did not have the original version - having duly captioned it as a 'replica'.

"If MaltaToday's email is the original version, then the Facebook one is false," Gatt replied. "I have no doubt that the MaltaToday email is the original one," he later said.

Adding further to the confusion was the fact that MaltaToday's snapshot did not capture the email's sentences in their entirety, clipping off some consonants and vowels. As can be seen from the photos, the Times's replica does not include the missing words either.

And yet despite this clarification, Gatt insisted that he would still go to the Commissioner of Police on Friday morning to report the alleged 'fabrication' of the email - the Facebook one - claiming that "only Labour stood to benefit" from the "frame-up".

But when it turned out that the 'frame-up' was a confusing replica that the Times had produced, why was he still reporting it to the police?

"I have a suspicion that this is a frame-up, because I believe Labour is behind it. I still think it is valid to go to the police... since this matter is in Labour's interest, the natural suspicion falls on Labour."

Matthew Vella, a freelance journalist at MaltaToday, was formerly executive editor at Malt...

•

God, AG is really finicky about punctuation, just like my primary school teacher, Mr.Brennan, at Poala Primary.

•

Joseph Muscat and the PL movement has a first priority to establish a commission to investigate if all these millions in commissions were declared as income and taxes paid and in what financial institution they are stashed, then have these people investigated and brought before the courts if necessary to have these funds returned to the Maltese tax payers. Let’s all hope that this Christian country will do the moral and decent action especially when someone over a thousand euros was sent to jail and interdicted while these weasels taking millions are being allowed to manipulate stories and the media because they are convinced that the Maltese people are really that stupid to believe them. Truly you see the Aust or AG or whatever he deserves to be called making a big fuss over an improperly formatted e-mail as if the original was irrelevant makes one weep at the state of political affairs in Malta. Is it any wonder why such arrogance was shown to the common citizen by these blood suckers that were draining the Maltese assets and keeping their noses in the nation trough? Let Joseph Muscat be reminded what he is promising in this election fairness and equality to the Maltese citizen and he must start by bringing these people to justice. Malta Today has uplifted Maltese journalism to another level by exposing these debaucheries to the detriment of the Maltese people

•

So Mr Rizzo who is still grappling to solve a double murder that happened in an apartment with one clear witness over a year ago,is trying to convince us that, in just one week, he has now exhausted all avenues to pin those involved in the oil purchase commissions and actually needed a state witness otherwise he would not have solved the case???? Irid ikollok

•

imma dan ir ragel kemm jahseb li ahna boloh.gel bil labour frameup issa biex forsi jirbhu xi ftit voti.mela l emails kollha frame up hux AG?? imma l kont tal bank ehhh dak zgur li mhux frame up.is soltu storja dawn tal pn ihammgu lil kulhadd ax jahsbu li huma puri.

•

Bhala ministru responsabli mil IT Dr Gatt missu jaf li email tista tiffowardja (skuzawni, forward it) b auto spell check and correction. Hemm il possibilta li iz zewg emails huma l istess, imma meta giet mghoddija lil terzi persuni saret korrezzjoni automatika. Din tispjega ukoll id differenza fid data u il formatting. Din l email imxiet u qed naraw kopja ta l istess email min komjuters differenti.

•

Gatt should also take the Secretarial School that trained the TOM typist to court and even report it, not to the Police, but to his colleague, you know, Duluri, the Minister of Education. Thereby, he might have obtained some faked HA!HA!HA! effect at his press conference! Wasn't it ridiculous of him to keep insisting of a frame up (by the Labour Party, ta') when the TOM reporter explained, there and then, what had caused the differences in the email's reproduction? Just whom are they, one would ask, (Would it be the PN strategy group coordinating this defence, as you could easily follow the line on certain b(l)ogs, certain PBS programmes and varied commentators?) thinking they are taking for a ride? Certainly not the unbiased, uncommitted voter that has been suffering so much from the huge bills for electricity, that now turn out to have been needlessly inflated. ALL ON OUR BACKS! I heard mention that Gatt insisted rightly that the Authorities Boards', and relative working committees, should be accountable. Of course they should! Agreed! As much as himself, all CEOs', CFOs' and outside auditors, especially those contracted on trust from politicians, if any. Incidentally, any intelligent observer would enquire where were these "professionals" recruited from? From the deaf and dumb register? NO ONE ever noted anything untoward??? IVA, NO ONE!!!! More importantly, where were they employed after their stint at these Authorities? Any connections there, an intelligent observer would ask? Also, it is well known around Malta , especially in Hamrun, (because they never made any secret of it, but were proud of it) that all directors/owners of John's Garage are, or at least were back then, staunch Nationalist supporters, for which they have every right. They also have every right to help their preferred party!! Surely, Gatt does not want to make us believe that all these emails came from the Labour Party, does he? I would say to GonziPN, TIME UP! GAME OVER! But let's be clear not until all responsible have been put behind bars and ALL monies stolen refunded, even if they have to sell their soul and their children's souls. The Maltese consumer, taxpayer, citizen and voter has suffered long enough.

Lawrence Covin •

X'il-qahbec ser imur ghand il-Kummissarju jaghmel, jahlilu hinu? Jekk l-email hi replicated xorta jibqa l-fatt li s-sustanza fiz-zewg emails hi l-istess. Fuq spelling mistakes sejjer dan? U il-Kummissarju tat-taxxa nterna baghat ghal Austin fuq 'l-izball' tieghu? Lapsus dan? Xorta hemm piena u multi ghalih, Aust! Saqsi lill-min hareg b'din l-iskuza ma tat-taxxi u jghidlek kemm sab min emmnu u ghadru. Dak serq. Minghalija anke dik it-troll ta' Daphne kella xi kaz simili -fuq il-vat!

•

Sur Prim MInistru , issa li għandek ammissjoni li Dr Austin Gatt naqas li jiddikjara assi iddepozitati f'bank Zvizzeru u li b'hekk hu stess ammetta li hu ħati ta' reat fiskali , x'ser tgħid ? Dan sar meta Dr Austin Gatt bħala Ministru mhux talli ma għandux jonqos li jagħmel dan , izda għandu jkun ta' ezempju ta' korrettezza , ħaġa li inti zgum ma tistax tgħid li għamel ? Inti għandek il-kuxjenza tappoġġja persuna li naqset bil-kbir lejn il - poplu Malti kollu ? Tgħid hemm xi imma li qed izzommok mill tiddistakka ruħek min din il-kwistjoni ? Kun onest mal-poplu għall darba , Sur Prim Ministru .

•

Biex dan il-bniedem qed jgħid li ma għandu xejn fuq il-kuxjenza hija l-akbar konferma li lanqas biss għandu kuxjenza . Trid tkun veru bla kuxjenza biex tgħid li meta dak il-kont li għandu ma kienx iddikjaraħ kien zball . Anke li ma giex iddikjarat meta saret id-dikjarazzjoni li kull ministru u segretarji parlamentari huma obligati li jagħmlu , kien zball ukoll ? Dan ma hu zball xejn imma reat fiskali . Meta inti tara li kien hemm nies li għax ma bagħtux ir-return tal-VAT fil-ħin , gew mixħuta il-ħabs , mela dan li naqas li jiddikjara dawn l-assi li għandu fli-Zvizzera x'għandu jiġri ? Din għalik mhix korruzzjoni , Sur Prim Ministru ?

•

@Kris, veru li qeghed tghid ghax jien ghandi hbieb kbar tieghi mazzjionalisti w hekk hu. minhabba fih [AG] MHUX HA JIVVUTAW LIL GONZIPN.

•

Tajba din, jghamlu xi haga xi hadd u jehel xi hadd iehol. Dan Winstin dejjem hekk, u ghadu ma ndunax li issa kullhadd ser jabbandunah. The drowning clutching at straws. We are all eager to hear what more will come out of 'the truth and the whole truth' of George Farrugia.

•

Incredible but does this person thinks this is a country full of cwic? First he said any candidate worth his salt would have met the farrugias then AG could be anybody then admits AG/Aust refers to him then that they met every now and then! Get lost man!

•

How naive do AG thinks people are? His confessed financial accounts at the press conference is I suspect the tip of the iceberg. There are funds which are still kept secret. Maybe we need 007 to search for the hidden accounts. Well, within 3 weeks, AG will just fade away in history but he got much richer at the expense of the Maltese taxpayer. Maybe there is a hell after all.

•

Why is he blaming Labour? Doesn't this man realise that he is the most hated man in Malta? Doesn't he realise that even the most active and sincere Nationalists (the real ones)want to get rid of him?

Isabelle Borg •

Mahnaxejnsew.com

•

Jekk il-Ministru huwa daqshekk cert mill-innocenza tieghu, jahasra biex jaqta' dawn is-suspetti kollha ghax m'accettax l'isfida ta' Saviour Balzan biex il-kawza li ressaq issir b'urgenza qabel il-l5 ta' Marzu. Hallina, kompli gerfex wara li sallabt lil kulhadd

•

this is not good. he should resign. He is doing a lot of damage to the PN and Gonzi better realize that before the party faces destruction at the polls. Gonzi, if this happens, it's all on your hands and watch.

•

It's interesting that the exact same approach (as adopted by Austin Gatt)was taken by Daphne in her blog even before the press-conference began. And then they want us to believe that Daphne's campaigns are not being coordinated by someone at the Stamperija. Too many coincidences.