At some point, a while ago, the Castille memo must have read: “Everyman and his country must grow a beard NOW.” And one by one, they all obediently obliged. One of the members of the government’s beard club is none other than Neville spot-me-in-Libya Gafà.
This Gafà would normally be a man of inconsequential relevance but was catapulted to the limelight when he started travelling to Libya as a “special envoy of the Prime Minister”. Later he was allegedly embroiled in a fraudulent racket – getting money in return for medical visas off Libyans who wanted to escape their ravaged country. Despite this, police never pressed charges and Gafà was kept on the government payroll.
Then, last December, he was spotted in Libya having a sit-down chat with Haithem Tajouri, the leader of a feared militia group, a man condemned by the UN Security Council for his human rights violations, including disappearances, torture and Mafia-style extortions.
Back then Gafà described this meeting as “nothing serious” and he had simply “informally bumped” into this bad news chap. Health Minister Chris Fearne, who was Gafà’s boss at the time, was not impressed and promptly fired him; but the Prime Minister fished him out and engaged Gafà directly at the OPM.
Six months on, he pops up again. Last week, beard and all, wearing a fancy suit without a tie, he seems to have informally stumbled into a room where the Libyan Deputy Prime Minister was having some rather formal talks.
Perhaps he could care to tell us what a visa-schemer and militiaman-buddy was doing in that room? “I do not want to waste time explaining what I was doing there,” Gafà told Times of Malta.
Perhaps the Prime Minister could enlighten us then, seeing as OPM was the direct employer?
“Um yes, he was there representing Malta on government business,” said the Prime Minister with a very, very, but very furrowed brow.
Really? Perhaps the Prime Minister could care to tell us exactly as what? “I do not know what his contract says, and I don’t have it on me at the moment,” Joseph Muscat said.
You don’t say.
According to the law of holes, when in a hole stop digging.
The reputation game
Winters were particularly tough when I worked in the newsroom of Times of Malta: the top floor open plan office had no heating system. I would sit at my desk, wrapped in coat, scarf and mittens, fighting brain freeze. The former managing director of Allied Newspapers repeatedly asked us to bear it out as there was no money to get proper heating.
Clearly money for heating was the last thing on his mind, as the next thing I know, he had become a subject of magisterial inquiry – still ongoing two years on – on claims of money laundering. Keith Schembri, the Prime Minister’s Chief of Staff, was found to have passed on €650,000 to Hillman for “editorial services”.
Last week, beard and all, wearing a fancy suit without a tie, he seems to have informally stumbled into a room where the Libyan Deputy Prime Minister was having some rather formal talks
No longer employed at Allied, Hillman was swiftly appointed as the government’s representative on the Board of Trustees of the pseudo-biċċa ghost university, the American University of Malta. On inauguration day, Mr Hillman was asked not to tour the building with the Prime Minister, so no pictures could be snapped of the two of them and cause potential PR damage.
Now we learnt that on direct order from the Office of the Prime Minister, Mr Hillman has been appointed to manage the reputation and PR of the government’s Malta Gaming Authority, the authority most sensitive to money laundering activities. Mr Hillman is rarely seen at the offices of the authority and does not even have a desk there, but he still gets €4,000 a month from our taxes.
Perhaps he works remotely and sends e-mail to prospective clients? “Hi I’m Adrian, and I would like to tell you all about gaming in Malta. Rest assured that Malta’s reputation is top-notch, just don’t google my name, please.”
Perhaps the Prime Minister would tell us exactly what Mr Hillman’s job is, unless, that is, he misplaced this contract too, in that hole which he started digging a while ago.
The crooked kingdom
Azerbaijan is the only country which unfailingly always gives us douze or dix points in the Eurovision Song Contest. It also gave cinq votes on Wednesday against the Council of Europe’s damning report on Daphne Caruana Galizia’s assassination and the rule of law.
The Azeris were unhappy that they got trois mentions in the report because the daughters of the corrupt Azeri President Aliyev had held accounts at the infamous Malta-based Pilatus Bank; because the Electrogas power station deal allowed Azeri State-owned energy company SOCAR to provide Malta with LNG at a price well above the market rate; and because the Electrogas director Yorgen Fenech owns the Dubai company 17 Black, which, surprise, surprise, had received large sums of money from an Azeri national.
The Azeris auto-défense votes proved totally futile among the Council of Europe Assembly’s overwhelming vote in favour. Perhaps the Prime Minister would care to tell us why our country’s main ally is now one of the most corrupt countries in the world? Or will he keep on digging this hole too?
The power of one
The Council of Europe report is an unmistakable condemnation of the great concentration of power in the hands of the Prime Minister in Malta.
The Maltese government and Super One would have us think that this report was written by some PN fazzjoni, but that’s because they have no concept of the words ‘professional’ and ‘independent’.
The report was compiled by Dutch MP Pieter Omtzigt and is based on “established, uncontested facts, not just speculation or allegations” and he took note of “clear evidence and well-founded suspicions, that have not been properly investigated”.
The report specifically mentions:
▪ How dangerous it is that the Prime Minister is directly responsible for areas of activity that could lend themselves to money laundering activities, such as the IIP passport scheme, the gaming industry and financial services.
▪ How people in charge of law-enforcement placed there by the Prime Minister may be discouraged from investigating areas of activity that are directly associated with him and how they are “manifestly failing” to investigate suspicions and collect and examine the evidence.
▪ How Maltese authorities are unable to conduct proper proceedings even against the suspected hitmen who killed Caruana Galizia, let alone against who ordered the assassination.
▪ How there is compelling evidence that Keith Schembri and Konrad Mizzi are involved in several serious cases of abuse of office, corruption and money laundering and instead of resigning, they continue to be protected by the Prime Minister
▪ How the allegations against Prime Minister Muscat himself were dismissed through a procedure that lacked guarantees of independence, in circumstances that invite suspicion of political influence.
▪ It concluded with a warning that “Malta’s failures are not just a domestic matter, however; they make all of Europe vulnerable – Maltese citizenship is EU citizenship, a Maltese visa is a Schengen visa, and a Maltese bank gives access to the European banking system… if Malta cannot put its own house in order, then European institutions must intervene.”
And by the end, the Assembly had some advice for Joseph Muscat’s government: “When you’re in a hole, stop digging.”
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twitter: @krischetcuti