This year has, to say the least, been a turbulent year, with ever bolder acts of terror around Europe, war raging in Syria and unexpected results at the polls – such as the UK's Brexit vote and the election of soon-to-be US President Donald Trump.
No-one would describe 2016 as a peaceful year. Internationally, it was one tragedy after another and, of course, we cannot forget the loss of life in the Mediterranean.
Locally, it's been a year of political scandal in Malta, with one situation after another hammering on, but one particular scenario involving a Minister and the Prime Minister's Chief of Staff will most likely be the one thing the Maltese will remember when thinking back on 2016.
Of course, 2016 did have its high points, such as the country's continued economic success, but it was also a year of secrecy. By this, we mean that the issue of transparency has popped up time and time again, creating a worrying situation where speculation begins to run rife. One such example surrounds the Vitals Global Healthcare contracts and the sheer number of blanked out pages and blanked out information; another is the ever-elusive Konrad Mizzi audit which to this day remains one big question mark.
If 2016 had to be described in one word, it would be 'controversy', and Malta has had its fair share.
This newsroom has compiled a short-list giving a brief explanation of what we believe to be 2016's biggest controversies which shocked, awed and got people talking.
The Panama Papers
What was perhaps the most controversial scandal of the year was when a minister here in Malta refused to resign – nor was he removed from Cabinet – after it was discovered that he had acquired a company in the secretive jurisdiction of Panama.
The 'Panama Papers' affair shook the financial and political world, with scandals spanning the globe.
Maltese Minister Konrad Mizzi had placed his company into a trust in New Zealand. He claimed that he created this set-up to populate it with his assets, but the situation did not go down well with the Nationalist Party, or with many others residing in Malta, or with many MEPs in the EU Parliament.
It did not help that, in one of the 'know your client' documents found in the massive leak of Mossack Fonseca emails that were eventually planned to be sent to banks under the heading 'sources of assets', the following was written: "The company is a new set-up and there are no assets being put into it. The main source of income will be in the form of consultancy services to various entities around the world." Further down in the document, it was written that it was envisaged the company would begin operating immediately.
The Prime Minister himself stopped short of removing Minister Mizzi from Cabinet, and instead just removed his Health and Energy portfolios, keeping him as a minister within the Office of the Prime Minister. Aside from this, Minister Mizzi is still perceived to be playing a major role when it comes to the energy sector, appearing at events and speaking on behalf of the government on such issues. The Prime Minister also said that an audit of Minister Mizzi's affairs had been launched but he has, however, time and time again, refused to give the name of the company carrying out the audit and – so many months later, for a company with no assets in it – the audit has still not been published. This particular controversy will likely haunt the government for the remainder of this legislature.
Keith Schembri, the Prime Minister's Chief of Staff, was also found to have companies in Panama and the British Virgin Islands.
Paceville Master Plan
The draft Paceville Master Plan left much to be desired, and the Planning Authority botched the entire thing right from the start.
Instead of being inspirational, forward-looking and logical, the Plan managed to unite residents, business owners and developers themselves against the proposal, in what was months of negative news coverage filled with criticism from all sectors of society. Most people agree that a master plan is sorely needed, given the current state of the area, but the plan that was drawn up by Mott Macdonald, the consultancy firm that was selected following a questionable call for proposals, and their sub-contractor Broadway Malyan, failed – with many calling for it to go back to the drawing board.
Taking one particular development area as an example – St George's Park – the plan would see the area sliced and diced, with roads, passages and squares cutting away at the buildings that currently occupy the area. The plan would also result in several businesses having the property they currently use expropriated for roads and squares. According to a 2005 development brief, the owners of St George's Park say that one square shown as being allocated to their land was originally intended to be on the Mercury House site.
Interestingly, Mott Macdonald had done consultancy work for Mercury House just months prior to their selection as the Paceville Master Plan designers. They claim there was no conflict of interest because their consultancy in respect of the Mercury House project was limited to electricity and structure. In addition, they said that it was a separate team that worked on the master plan, and that they had informed the Planning Authority.
The similarity between the pre-master plan design and that of the building as shown on the master plan, as well as the whole 2005 development brief, however, resulted in serious allegations of conflict of interest, and distrust in the fairness of the plan itself. The end of the consultation period was marked by an organised walk-about around the Paceville area by the GRTU, at which the press was given the opportunity to hear from business owners who would, were the plan to go through as proposed, lose their businesses.
Cedoli
The PN loan scheme was introduced hot on the heels of the Party Financing Act in Parliament, with the PL having said that the Nationalist Party had found a loophole when it came to party financing that went against the spirit of the Act.
Through the scheme, the PN is accepting loans of €10,000 that it will repay over the next 10 years at an interest rate of four per cent.
PN President Ann Fenech told this newsroom during an interview, that: "by virtue of this voluntary scheme, we would be in a position to reduce our overall exposure, as we will be paying four per cent and not the higher rates we are paying at the moment."
The Labour Party are insisting that the PN publish the full list of people who have loaned the PN €10,000, but the PN insist that these are loans and not donations, and thus would only do so with the person's permission.
PL representatives said that the lack of transparency casts serious doubts on the sourcing of this party financing, and that nobody would know for sure whether the funds raised were from 300 people, or from just a handful.
European Court of Auditors debacle
Malta's nomination to the European Court of Auditors saw serious controversy this year, with the first nominee, Toni Abela, have his nomination to the post rejected by the European Parliament's Budgetary Committee.
The committee's job was to evaluate Dr Abela's nomination and recommend it or not to the European Parliament. During his grilling, however, Dr Abela was questioned about his connection with an incident before the 2013 election, famously known in Malta as the 'white block' case. Dr Abela had officially withdrawn his nomination for the post a few weeks later, even though he could still have been appointed, given that the EU Council has the final say.
This is where former Environment Minister Leo Brincat came in. It turns out that it was former Prime Minister Alfred Sant's vote that saved Leo Brincat and allowed him to just barely scrape through the European Parliament Budgetary Committee grilling, even though the head of the Labour Party delegation is not an actual member of the Committee.
The vote was then taken within the EU Parliament. The European Parliament had, through an overwhelming majority, objected to the former minister's nomination. Their decision was believed to be primarily due to Mr Brincat's decision not to back a motion of no confidence in the Minister without Portfolio Konrad Mizzi, due to the Panama Papers scandal. Despite this, and unlike the previous nominee, Mr Brincat went on with his nomination, and was approved by the European Council. While having two nominees fail to attain the post would have been quite embarrassing to the government, it remains to be seen whether the European Parliament would want retribution for being ignored by the Maltese government over this matter, and whether this will have any effect during Malta's EU Presidency.
Air Malta's future
The future of Air Malta has been on the minds of many people for quite some time now, and the situation this year has seen those uncertainties result in a number of unions expressing their concern.
Malta's national airline is currently in talks with Alitalia regarding the Italian airline purchasing 49 per cent of the Maltese airline's shares.
The discussions have, however, been shrouded in secrecy, with Tourism Minister Edward Zammit Lewis unable to give much information due to commercial sensitivity.
The recent news of Alitalia's financial problems has, however, resulted in further speculation as to whether this deal would, in fact, be the right one for Malta, given that, according to international reports, Alitalia reported a net loss of €199 million last year and has also said it will consider developing its long-haul network, drop unprofitable routes and reduce the size of its fleet.
Vitals Global Healthcare
Vitals Global Healthcare's take-over of three hospitals in the Maltese Islands has resulted in a fair bit of controversy. Vitals signed a deal with the government covering the operation of the Karin Grech Rehabilitation Hospital, St Luke's Hospital and Gozo General Hospital. First of all, the company itself had no experience in the health sector, but they did hire a number of well-known professionals, including former PN Candidate Professor Albert Fenech, to sit on its boards, thus acquiring the medical professionalism needed to oversee its facilities. However, this did not alter the fact that Gozo's only hospital is now being run by a private company, even though healthcare for Maltese and Gozitans is still provided free of charge.
The next part of this controversy surrounds company director Ram Tumuluri. Prominent blogs in Malta have highlighted Mr Tumuluri's alleged involvement in Canadian businesses that ended up experiencing problems, resulting in speculation as to whether he is qualified to be a director of the company. The question regarding the ultimate beneficial owner also arose, and it was eventually revealed that this would be Oxley Capital Group's Mark Pawley. Another situation that gave rise to many questions was a meeting that took place between Malta Enterprise and the company's then representatives prior to the call for applications which were issued in March 2015.
Medical Visas
The Malta Independent revealed the existence of a racket involving medical visas for injured Libyans, which allegedly saw a Maltese government official netting significant amounts in kickbacks.
It was alleged that the official involved was Neville Gafà – who worked at the Office of the Prime Minister and later at the Health Ministry.
Mr Gafà insisted that no Libyan national had ever been charged for a visa to obtain medical treatment – not even the standard €66 visa fee – but receipts made available to this newspaper purport to show payments of close to €35,000 made to Mr Gafà between the end of August 2015 and the beginning of October 2015.
Transcripts from Viber conversations between middleman Khaled Ben Nasan and Mr Gafà made available to this newspaper showed how the former regularly hounded Mr Gafà for the funds to be returned to the applicants over the first three months of the year. In the transcripts, Mr Gafà never questions or denies Mr Ben Nasan's claims for reimbursement for the Libyan nationals who did not receive their visas, and instead acknowledged the fact but continually postponed various requested meetings.
Funnily enough, just as the government announced its intention to do away with criminal libel once and for all, the police – at the behest of government functionary Neville Gafà and his lawyer, former Commissioner of Police Peter Paul Zammit – had instituted criminal libel proceedings against the editor of this newspaper. The criminal libel was filed as a result of this newspaper having carried a right of reply from Mr Gafà not as a separate news item on its front page but for having instead incorporated the right of reply in a lengthier article.
The LNG tanker
The arrival of the LNG tanker in Malta caused quite a bit of concern, primarily voiced by those in the Nationalist Party.
The public consultation regarding the Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control application, which includes the operation of the gas power station and the LNG tanker, ended in December, with the Environment and Resources Authority (ERA) Board voting in favour.
Concerns surrounded the safety of such a tanker being a permanent fixture in Marsaxlokk Bay, but a Control of Major Accident Hazards (Comah) representative said that the levels of risk are within the tolerable and acceptable limits.
The ERA decision meant that the plant will most likely begin operating soon, after several government deadlines have been missed.
CapitalOne
An inquiry was set up to investigate why police failed to pursue an investigation into money laundering by an international firm when the name of one of its then directors, Beppe Fenech Adami, cropped up.
CapitalOne's shares were held by Baltimore Fiduciary Services Ltd, which at the time included a number of Cypriot companies belonging to Dutch national Robert Soogea. Mr Soogea's four properties were raided in November 2012 and close to €100,000 in cash and papers regarding his beneficial ownership of these companies were found by Dutch police.
PN Deputy Leader Beppe Fenech Adami was bought before the inquiry board regarding the CapitalOne case and said that he never knew of an investigation into the company.
In his deposition, Dr Fenech Adami declared that in 2010 he was appointed by the Prime Minister as a Parliamentary Assistant within the Ministry for the Interior. This, he said, was a parliamentary appointment, not an executive appointment, "and at no time during this appointment did I exercise any sort of executive power".
Foundation for Tomorrow's Schools
Former Foundation for Tomorrow's Schools (FTS) CEO Philip Rizzo resigned, making accusations against Education Minister Evarist Bartolo and his permanent secretary.
The Education Ministry had released a statement saying that Mr Rizzo had made false and baseless allegations against the Minister, accusing him of failing to report cases of allegations and corruption. The scandal involves Minister Bartolo and his canvasser Edward Caruana.
A former Foundation for Tomorrow's Schools employee, Mr Caruana, who is being accused of irregularities including bribery (specifically in a school refurbishment procurement process), suspended himself after being transferred to the Agriculture Department within the Environment Ministry.
He retained the same wage package, of €36,500 per year, (with adjustments) after he was transferred. Mr Rizzo declared that the Education Minister Evarist Bartolo, under whom the FTS falls, had done nothing to correct the matter despite it being brought to his attention.
'Honourable mentions' of further controversies
Certain appointments made to the judiciary, including Speaker Anglu Farrugia's daughter Magistrate Caroline Farrugia; The General Workers Union's questionable unemployment scheme; and the involvement of PN MP and former Finance Minister Tonio Fenech in the collapse of Falcon Funds, which was linked to Swedish pensions.
from The Malta Independent http://ift.tt/2hYoO9A
via IFTTT
No comments:
Post a Comment