After a year. I'm back

The last blog was just under a year ago, when I commented on the massacre of Eagles.  What a short memory we all have.  Be back soon.

Why I support Birdlife

The massacre of endangered eagles has convinced me that the time has come for everyone to support Birdlife.  I guess it is not a spring moratorium that is needed but a ban on hunting in Malta. Put pressure on  your MPs.  Muscat's hunter talk has led to this.

When Gonzi asked Saviour Balzan not to publish election survey

Balzan was testifying in a libel suit filed by Galea Curmi over a newspaper report and an opinion piece by Balzan, on the way former Nationalist councillor Cyrus Engerer's father was arrested on possession of cannabis shortly after Engerer left the PN.Mediatoday managing editor Saviour Balzan yesterday told a court that former prime minister Lawrence Gonzi had asked him personally not to publish election surveys in MaltaToday, and that his personal assistant Edgar Galea Curmi had tried to convince him to leak a story about people's health issues in this newspaper.

"Our working relationship went from good to disgusting," Balzan said of Galea Curmi. "But as journalists, it's accepted that one retains a working connection with the personal assistant of the PM."

Sadder than sad

I have not quite figured out what makes politicians so bloody thick.  But the decision to defend Peter Bonello’s (the St Julian’s Mayor) decision to issue a direct tender before the election to Zaren Vassallo is foolish.

To blame it on junior Labour minister Franco Mercieca is silly if not diabolical.

On another matter, the Darryl Luke Borg case, the decision to question the veracity of the Police board report because of the composition of its members is also questionable.  Yes, some of the board members have political connections and links.

Jason Azzopardi sticks up for cop

MaltaToday reports that Azzopardi insisted that the board wrongfully sanctioned an inspector and let members of the Criminal Investigation Department get away scot-free.Nationalist MP Jason Azzopardi today said that the police board which investigated the wrongful prosecution of 27-year-old Darryl Luke Borg was not independent.

Findings from the police board inquiry into the case concluded that Police Inspector Elton Taliana had failed to inform investigating officers that a second suspect had been interrogated and admitted to committing the crime while Borg was in prison for a crime he didn't commit. It also recommended that disciplinary measures should be taken against Taliana

However, Jason Azzopardi shed doubt on the board's independence and insisted that Taliana was not at fault.

Azzopardi said that the police board headed by former judge Franco Depasquale was "appointed by Joseph Muscat and proceeded against inspector Elton Taliana who carried out his duty and arraigned in court the person who was in fact guilty of crime."

The MP insisted that although the board was presided by an independent person "this didn't make the board independent."

The fuel procurement scandal

Lack of security in Enemalta procurement, $500,000 ‘severance’ for Frank Sammut  - MaltaToday 

Procedure demanded that bids submitted via email and later analysed by Enemalta's FPC, had to be followed by a resetting of the email's password to ensure security.Policy guidelines on activating the fuel procurement committee's generic email account were not adhered to in four instances out of a possible seven, the Auditor General told the parliamentary accounts committee today.

Information provided by the Malta Information Technology Agency (MITA), showed there had been four instances when this request was not made by the FPC, raising questions on why a new password had not been requested.

It transpires that on two occasions, the contracts were awarded to TOTSA, the company represented by oil trader George Farrugia, now State's evidence on the corruption charges against former Enemalta officials.

"By way of example, during an FPC meeting on 12 May 2011 which awarded a contract to TOTSA, no calls were made to MITA to reset the password. However, two calls were carried out from Enemalta to MITA three days before and another one the following day," deputy auditor general Charles Deguara said.

U ejja, what next

Never met the guy, but really what the f*** does this man know about Freeport.  The criteria for choosing people to posts must surely be based on some form of meritocracy.  Apart from being a Labour follower, can anyone inform me what does Aaron Farrugia know about the commercial aspect of freeports.  I'm waiting!  This is what MaltaToday reported.

Former chairman of Labour’s think-tank appointed Freeport CEO

MaltaToday is informed that his appointment will be made official in the coming days.Aaron Farrugia, former chairman of Labour’s think-tank ‘Fondazzjoni Ideat’ is set to be appointed Chief Executive Officer of the Malta Freeport Corporation.

After the change in the party’s leadership in 2008, Farrugia was chosen to serve in the Labour Party’s central administration in the role of education secretary.