JANUARY

A horrific murder in a month of earthquakes

The news year started before the new year began, with former Pope Benedict XVI dying on New Year’s Eve. Benedict canonised Malta’s first saint, Ġorġ Preca, in 2007. 

Four days later, another death, this time of former Labour MP Silvio Parnis, rattled the headlines.

On January 18, Malta woke up to shocking news ‒ the murder of Turkish Pelin Kaya. Kaya was just one hour into her 30th year when a car intentionally ploughed into her before hitting a petrol station and the Gżira KFC outlet.  The driver was charged with her murder.

January also brought relief to two men who stood charged with the 2005 murder of Sion Grech, who was stabbed at least 17 times and found dead in Marsa. Both men standing trial were acquitted.

In another courtroom that month, heirs of the late Lino Cauchi were awarded €615,000 in compensation, 41 years after he was murdered, dismembered and thrown into a well.

January also saw Transport Minister Aaron Farrugia make vague promises about fixing traffic congestion by staggering services during peak hours. Nothing really moved since then.

There was plenty of movement of another kind, though, as Malta was shaken by 28 tremors in January.

On the entertainment front, singer Aidan Cassar was disqualified from the Malta Eurovision Song Contest for breaking regulations while Miss Universe Malta Maxine Formosa Gruppetta won the Congeniality Award in the Miss Universe contest.

There was unusual news in the world of local sport, where construction tycoon Joseph Portelli resigned as president of Ħamrun Spartans football club to register himself as a player with the club.

The authorities nipped that idea in the bud and a month later, he was back as club president. 

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FEBRUARY

A month of damning decisions

February was a month of damning decisions. On February 23, Malta learnt that an inquiry found that the State failed femicide victim Bernice Cassar ‒ shot dead in November 2022 ‒ because the police and the courts lacked resources and were overburdened with cases.

The inquiry report had been presented to the government a month before but its conclusions and recommendations were only announced on February 23 – the eve of a damning court judgment.

The following morning, February 24, the Maltese courts annulled contracts privatising three State hospitals, Gozo General Hospital, St Luke’s and Karin Grech. 

Former PN leader Adrian Delia, who led the five-year legal battle against the deal, was vindicated as the court decreed the deals to be “fraudulent”.

Days before that political storm came a real one: Storm Helios caused widespread damage on February 9 and 10.

And, in a storm of a different kind, there was widespread outrage when convicted killer George Degiorgio, who admitted to blowing up journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia, was photographed out of prison at a family baptism party.

It was also the month when Kyran Bonello won Malta’s Got Talent and The Busker won the Malta Eurovision Song Contest.

MARCH

Rosianne’s downfall

Author and former National Book Council chairman Mark Camilleri lit a political tinderbox in March when he published a cache of WhatsApp chats between former junior minister Rosianne Cutajar and businessman Yorgen Fenech.

Cutajar had sued Camilleri for libel after he claimed that she had an affair with Fenech and used that to get ahead politically. He responded by publishing thousands of conversations between the two,  which left little to the imagination. The police immediately investigated and a judge ordered an investigation into Camilleri.

The leaks were highly damaging to Cutajar, however. Her admission to Fenech that she was pocketing ITS consultancy money because “everyone is pigging out” led to her being forced out of the Labour parliamentary group and would spark a damning NAO probe.

March was also the month when a court judgment risked toppling the Planning Authority’s house of cards when a judge blocked a permit to turn a Santa Luċija house in a neighbourhood of terraced houses into an apartment block. Maximum building heights, the court ruled, should not automatically apply for every permit.

Malta also got a new ombudsman and a standards commissioner in public life in March, though not without drama. The PN opposed the nomination of retired judge Joseph Azzopardi as standards commissioner and, when negotiations failed, the government introduced an ‘anti-deadlock’ mechanism that would allow it to push forward with the nomination without a two-thirds majority in parliament.

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APRIL

No more money for Air Malta

Air Malta ended up being the butt of the joke in April after the European Commission forbade the government from injecting any more cash into the national airline.

As the hammer fell on Air Malta, the government began preparations to shut it down and replace it with a new national airline with a clean slate. KM Malta Airlines was officially announced in October, with Air Malta set to operate its last flight on March 31, 2024.

Malta’s femicide laws, introduced after the murder of Paulina Dembska, faced their first test in April after the first person to be charged with femicide, Roderick Cassar, challenged their validity and called them sexist and discriminatory. The case has yet to be decided.

There was a victory in the battle for Malta’s green spaces, when the Gżira local council won a lengthy legal battle to stop a petrol station from relocating to the town’s only public garden.

News also emerged that the education ministry was swindled out of €300,000 when employees mistakenly paid out invoices that had turned out to be sent by hackers.

In April, Times of Malta also revealed that an HSBC mortgage protection manager is thought to have stolen at least €1 million from client accounts and used it to fund his lavish lifestyle ‒ including a penchant for collecting exotic birds.

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MAY

Joseph Muscat and his exotic contracts

Joseph Muscat is no stranger to headlines and May’s big ones were all his.

An investigation by Times of Malta, OCCRP and Shift News connected the former prime minister to a suspect money trail linked to the Vitals/Steward hospitals contracts.

The investigation tied Muscat to a Swiss intermediary company that received millions of euros from Steward. That same company put Muscat on a €15,000-per-month consultancy deal, which is suspected to have been used as a front for corrupt payments.

The consultancy deal is subject to a years’ long magisterial inquiry into wrongdoing in the hospitals contract.

Times of Malta went on to reveal how Muscat netted another suspect €11,800-per-month consultancy deal with a bird breeding company called Organicum. 

Malta was also rocked by a slew of tragic road accidents in May.

On May 6, two men riding a motorcycle died following a collision with a car being driven the wrong way near Mosta.

A few weeks later, a 54-year-old former AFM soldier died when he lost control of his motorcycle on the Birkirkara bypass.

Mere days after that, 17-year-old Kacey Sciberras died in a car wreck on the Central Link road in Attard.

In the midst of all these deaths, the government pledged to set up a bureau to investigate road accidents by the end of the year. The bureau has yet to see the light of day.

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JUNE

An end to a crisis and sporting glory, at last

An end to a crisis and sporting glory, at last June spelt an end to the months-long saga that threatened to erupt into a constitutional crisis.

After months of impasse triggered by public protests and President George Vella’s threats to resign, the government unveiled an amended version of revised abortion laws. 

The adapted wording placated the opposition and pro-life movement but was decried as a “betrayal” by the pro-choice coalition.

It was approved and signed into law days later.

Although abortion won the headline battle in June, online chatter was dominated by something altogether less serious.

There was gossip, discussion, controversy and more memes than you could count as thousands of people tuned in to Love Island every night to watch couples seek love while housed in a villa full of cameras.

Excitement culminated during the final episode, when Chelsea Bagnall-Falzon and Allen Piscopo were crowned winners, walking away with €20,000 and a trip to a Cyprus resort.

The real winners in June were the Team Malta athletes taking part in the 2023 Games of the Small States of Europe (GSSE). Maltese athletes won 97 medals in total ‒ the country’s best-ever performance at the games and the first time it topped the medals ranking.

Little else in politics managed to overshadow Love Island in June but Finance Minister Clyde Caruana probably got the closest when he told Times of Malta that, based on the current economic model, the population could reach 800,000 by 2040. The figure shocked many.

Three days earlier, Times of Malta had revealed that 40 foreign workers were sharing a single apartment in Sliema, in cramped and unsanitary conditions.

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JULY

Power cuts and an inquiry U-turn

July saw Malta gripped by seemingly never-ending power cuts during a brutal heatwave that pushed temperatures, and patience, to the limit.

With the country sizzling in over 40 degrees Celsius, air conditioners and even tap water were put out of action in areas of the country. Some were forced to throw away weeks-worth of food while others resorted to sleeping outdoors to stay cool. At least four people died from heat-related issues.

Despite calls for her resignation, Energy Minister Miriam Dalli’s tenure remained tenaciously online throughout the 11-day power cuts, while Robert Abela responded to the outages by promising to double electricity grid spending – but not before blaming them on climate change.

That month also saw Abela announce a public inquiry into the death of Jean Paul Sofia, in a dramatic U-turn after Labour MPs voted en masse against the inquiry requested by Paul Sofia’s family.

Abela was greeted with jeers and chants of “shame on you” outside Castille that night from crowds who had gathered to hold a vigil for the young man.

Also in the news was the Malta Film Commission, which came under scrutiny for going over its allocated budget and then became the subject of ridicule when its Facebook page was hacked.

Meanwhile, controversial River of Love preacher Gordon Manché told Mark Laurence Zammit “I am Jesus Christ’s parrot” in an eyebrow-raising interview, and in other entertaining – sorry, entertainment – news, the winners of Love Island announced they had split just two weeks after the show’s finale.

[attach id="1387104" size="large" align="left" type="image"]Malta was gripped by seemingly never-ending power cuts during a brutal heatwave. And in a dramatic U-turn Prime Minister Robert Abela announced a public inquiry into the death of Jean Paul Sofia. FILE PHOTOS: TIMES OF MALTA.[/attach]

AUGUST

Gladiator’s eye-watering cost

The Malta Film Commission hit the headlines again in August as it emerged that Maltese taxpayers would be spending almost €47 million for the privilege of hosting the Gladiator sequel.

Times of Malta revealed the massive scale of the rebate owed to the film production, thanks to a scheme deemed generous even by Hollywood standards.

Breaking the EU record for the biggest state aid to cinema, the revelation drew attention to the 'black box’ workings of the film commission, which refused to explain its claim the film industry injected €85 million into the economy last year.

August also saw a magisterial enquiry finally ordered into the dealings of No Deposit Cars Malta, a notorious car dealership whose directors now face claims of fraud and money laundering, amongst others, from aggrieved clients.

It was also the month when it emerged that a man who had imported explosives and tried to buy a radioactive poison online had managed to flee Malta together with his wife. Both are now on Europol’s most wanted list.

And despite a survey that month revealing the country’s reliance on foreign labour, a Times of Malta fact-check proved how a series of Facebook claims the Maltese are now outnumbered were false. That would not stop the outlandish and xenophobia-tinged claims.

SEPTEMBER

A racket leads back to Labour

A typically hot and sticky month turned hotter for an entirely different reason on its first Sunday, when Times of Malta revealed that ex-Labour MP Silvio Grixti was implicated in a years-long racket to help hundreds of people fraudulently receive monthly disability payments they were not entitled to.

The story evolved rapidly over the next days.

By the following Sunday, some cheats had started to speak out. One said he relied on a different fixer, not Grixti, to get the illegal benefit payments. He said the fixer wanted to secure their vote for Labour − and a €6,000 kickback for himself.

Others said fixers told them not to worry, because the benefit money was coming from EU funds that were earmarked for Labour supporters.

A dedicated police team has been assigned to focus solely on the probe. They are still combing through hundreds of other cases and charging people in court.

Malta also saw the EU’s biggest rise in tourist nights and hosted the much anticipated – and hotly debated – EuroPride in September. The 10 days of events culminated in a massive concert on the granaries where a crowd of 38,000 people were dazzled by grammy award-winning singer Christina Aguilera.

In a less dazzling, but nonetheless anticipated event, PN leader Bernard Grech invited MEP Roberta Metsola to address the party’s annual Independence Day gathering.

The month ended with a who’s who of European politics posing for photos on the steps of Castille. French president Emmanuel Macron, Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President Charles Michel were among the dignitaries who made it to the Malta-hosted Med9 event. They called for more efforts to tackle migration at its roots and in transit countries.

OCTOBER

Driving tests in the fast lane

Hot on the heels of the disability scandal, Times of Malta uncovered the extent of another high-level racket, this time involving driving licences.

The racket led straight to former transport minister Ian Borg and his trusted staff.

WhatsApp chats obtained by Times of Malta show Borg, his canvasser Jesmond Zammit, and his ministry personnel regularly piled pressure on Transport Malta’s then director of licensing, Clint Mansueto, to "help" candidates at different stages of the licensing process.

While Mansueto and two other Transport Malta officials were charged in August 2022 in connection with the racket, others exposed were not.

Prime Minister Robert Abela was unable to explain how Borg and other officials, including his assistant Rachel Debono, could legally “help” driving candidates pass their test.

Steward Health Care had their appeal against a court ruling that effectively ended their term in Malta dismissed by three judges, who also concluded top government officials had colluded to privatise hospitals in a way that did not serve the national interest.

October also saw the end of a long-drawn court case against the driver of a Porsche car who crashed into the crowd during the 2015 Paqpaqli għall-Istrina.

Paul Bailey was ordered to perform 300 hours of community service after he pleaded guilty in court.

On the international front, the world looked on in horror as Hamas launched a surprise attack on Israel, resulting in over 1,000 deaths on October 7 alone.

As Israel responded with a brutal bombing of Gaza, top European Union officials including European Parliament President Robert Metsola rallied around the country, drawing criticism from across the continent.

Metsola came under criticism for not condemning Israel’s response to the attack, which has resulted in the deaths of thousands of Palestinians living in Gaza.

 

NOVEMBER

The trees that sparked national outrage and a ‘fraudulent’ ITS job

When Mosta councillors unanimously agreed to transplant ficus trees away from the town’s square, they barely spent five minutes discussing that plan. The decision came back to haunt them in November, when the trees were heavily pruned ahead of transplanting, bringing their plan to public attention.

Protesters gathered to stop diggers from uprooting the “butchered” trunks and it all got out of hand when Moviment Graffitti activist Andre Callus was thrown to the ground by police officers, handcuffed and carried away. The  incident was streamed live.

Robert Abela and Bernard Grech leaned on their councillors to reverse the transplanting decision, and the Mosta council quickly relented.

November was also the month when many schools ground to a halt for a day after teachers overwhelmingly voted to go on strike over a collective agreement dispute. The strike was called off as negotiations over pay packages for educators continue.

Elsewhere on the island, the first phase of Malta’s tallest building opened its doors, introducing the Mercury Towers complex with a piazza and mall to the public.

The NAO concluded that Rosianne Cutajar’s ITS consultancy job was “fraudulent,” publishing the results of their investigation following the MP’s leaked chats. Both the head of ITS, Pierre Fenech, and Cutujar defended the consultancy.

It was also an eventful month for the law  courts: the years-long case against Yorgen Fenech for Daphne Caruana Galizia’s murder resumed after a court ordered that more evidence be allowed into the case, and three young men accused of hijacking the El Hiblu oil tanker when they were teens received confirmation that they will be tried on terrorism charges.

DECEMBER

Watching the bottom line

Closing out the year was the usual slew of holiday-related topics, but what caught readers’ eyes this Christmas season were concerns from caterers that patrons were spending less at each table.

Blaming inflation for the sector’s slow business, the Association of Catering Establishments (ACE) secretary Matthew Pace said that sales have decreased by around 20 per cent compared to last year.

Many readers took to comment sections, criticising the ACE’s stance as they complained about gourmet price tags for unimaginative food. Many comments placed consumers’ lack of interest on rising prices, emphasising that dining has become more expensive while quality has remained the same.

Aside from the gift-giving season, December was a daunting month for workers as several stories focused on mass sackings.

Times of Malta unearthed a Maltese company which charged nearly 200 non-EU nationals more than €100,000 before employing them, only to fire many of them within months.

One worker came to Malta after they were promised a wage of €2,000 a month but after working several odd jobs for Trebee, they claimed to have never seen a cent.

Elsewhere, around 200 HSBC UK employees were told that the bank’s global call centre in Swatar will shut its doors in June.

Speaking to Times of Malta, one worker said that “people were in tears” after hearing the news.