In the Press: Investigation into missing email | Justice minister comes clean about accident

MaltaToday

Justice and culture minister Owen Bonnici admitted that, in hindsight, a statement should have been released by his ministry about the accident he was involved in last Thursday. A statement was eventually released, several days after the incident. He said that the injured man’s relatives had asked for privacy and that he would respect that. The minister drew criticism after the incident, following which a young man was hospitalised and underwent urgent surgery, was not made public via police statement.

Incumbent MEP Joseph Cuschieri has announced that he would not be contesting the forthcoming elections, complaining that the Labour Party seemed to want him “on the losers’ side”. He cited the fact that the campaign team was not giving him the support that other candidates were receiving in what he called the Labour party machine’s “unfairness” and an act of “discrimination”.

The Times of Malta

The Times’ front page reports that, according to police, the PM’s recent ophthalmological discomfort was not the result of sabotage. It is thought that the symptoms, compatible with those sustained by exposure to strong UV radiation, stem from the lights and/or television screens present at the event. The police are considering it a case of negligence rather than intentional sabotage.

In-Nazzjon

Justice Minister Bonnici’s traffic accident and MEP candidate Joseph Cuschieri’s story occupy most of the front page of today’s Nazzjon. Also reported is a report on the unemployment situation in Malta. The newspaper suggests that the PM’s solution for unemployment is to increase government jobs. In-Nazzjon quotes the statistics – an 8% increase in unemployment over the past year and a 30% increase in employment with the government. The PN interprets these numbers as proof that the economy is suffering and the government is resorting to employing people itself.

L-Orizzont

The headline report says that the newspaper has information that reveals a substantial amount of contracts were issued to companies of which Stefano Mallia – a PN MEP candidate – was director. Between 2008 and 2013, some €2.5 million were awarded to companies under Mallia’s directorship.

The Malta Independent

The PN are calling for an investigation into the alleged disappearance of an email sent from the former minister of health to the media. Godfrey Farrugia claims that an email he sent, announcing his resignation to the media, mysteriously disappeared. The news of his resignation was then inadvertently leaked when his partner MP Marlene Farrugia posted a copy of the letter on Facebook, after he assured her that the media had already been informed. The PN will request an investigation in parliament when the Opposition plans to repeal a legal notice that gives the minister for education access to student data.