Metro-tram hybrid transport system proposed by green ADPD

Oct 4 2021

The Maltese Green Party ADPD suggested creating a hybrid metro-tram system at street level instead of the underground metro. The ADPD proposed transportation system would serve to avoid generating huge amounts of waste and result in massive land reclamation through dumping at sea. Apart from causing less environmental damage, their proposal would also be less costly and be implemented in a shorter time frame.

This comes after Transport Minister Ian Borg and Prime Minister Robert Abela unveiled a proposal to develop a 25-station and €6.2 billion underground metro system. For the ADPD however, the announcement only conveyed ‘scant information’, stating that it is clear the government has reports by international consultancy firm Arup explaining their metro proposals in detail.

The ADPD stated that these reports have not yet been published and it is impossible to have a serious public consultation exercise if these reports are not made public. The party added that the project’s website does not contain detailed information explaining the proposals being made.

The main issue to be considered seriously is whether the proposed metro should be mainly above ground or underground due to the amount of waste generated, primarily excavation waste. ADPD said the country needs a clear vision on transport and not a blurred proposal.

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Photo Source: Indra Infra Hub

Three arrested after police confiscate around €600,000 worth of cocaine

Oct 4 2021

Three individuals suspected to be members of an international drug trafficking ring were arrested on Saturday after an operation resulted in the seizure of around €600,000 worth of cocaine. The police revealed on Monday that the arrests followed weeks of investigation and surveillance on the trio, all of them foreign nationals. Five kg of suspected cocaine with as street value of about €600,000 were confiscated.

The first arrest was that of a 20-year-old Spanish woman, with the operation carried out at Malta International Airport on Saturday. She was taken into custody upon arrival from Madrid. A 30-year-old man from Venezuela was arrested after being followed by police to an Msida apartment.

The police confirmed the man had also recently arrived from Madrid. Finally, a stakeout on a St Julians hotel on Sunday led to the arrest of a 38-year-old man, also from Spain, who was found in possession of more drugs believed to be cocaine. A magisterial inquiry is being led by Elaine Mercieca. The police confirm the investigation is still open, but the trio are to be arraigned in court on Monday before duty magistrate Noel Bartolo.

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Photo Source: Malta Police Force Communications

Government fulfils over two-thirds of 2021 budget measures

Oct 4 2021

Principal Permanent Secretary Mario Cutajar said in a press conference that over two-thirds of measures promised during the 2021 budget in 2020 were enacted into policy and functioning. Almost half of these are related to social assistance, with the government being able to implement 364 measures announced in last year’s budget as well as an additional 159 projects which were projected for completion in 2021.

Cutajar was speaking one week before next year’s budget is due to be presented in parliament as the Budget 2022 speech is set for October 11th. The purchase of COVID-19 vaccines, the voucher scheme, community policing, free internet to post-secondary students, Gozo fast ferry services, health centre modernisation, tele care improvement and financial schemes aiding the purchase of personal homes were some of the concluded projects.

In terms of projects which began this year but are set to be completed at a future date include the Central Link Project, the Marsaxlokk breakwater, the construction of a new school in Qawra and the closure of the fuel storage facility in Birzebbuga. Cutajar stated that any measure which had not been fulfilled would be rolled over into next year’s budget and no proposals were about to be put on the shelf indefinitely.

Cutajar pointed out how 49% were related to social projects, 26% to improving the environment and 25% addressed economic needs. He also highlighted how the government has achieved a 72% completion rate of budget proposals over the past eight years. 1,970 budget proposals have been implemented over that time period. This year, the government fulfilled 79% of budget promises, an increase of 7% over the average.

Finance Minister Clyde Caruana said that all the new proposals and financial estimates for next year’s budget have been closed. He said that the resilience and work that the government had put into supporting health services and the economy would emerge as a clear narrative in his speech. He also claimed that compared to other countries, Malta managed to address the pandemic successfully, even though we were not perfect.

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Photo Source: Clyde Caruana FB

Pandora Papers reveal offshore assets of even former Maltese MPs

Oct 4 2021

Over a dozen heads of state and government, international and local, have been hiding millions in offshore tax havens, according to the so-called Pandora Papers investigation. Published Sunday by the ICIJ media consortium and involving around 600 journalists from BBC, The Guardian, the Washington Post and local Times of Malta, the investigation is based on the leak of some 11.9 million documents from 14 financial services companies around the world.

Former Finance Minister and European Commissioner John Dalli was found to have have owned an offshore company in the British Virgin Islands when he occupied the MP position. The report claims that Dalli used nominee services provided by the Panama law firm Alcogal to hide his ownership of the BVI company Westmead Overseas Limited.

Instead of deciding to openly appear in any public records as Westmead’s owner, Dalli instead chose to pay Alcogal to disguise his ownership via a nominee company. Dalli told Times of Malta that he was advising on a project and his compensation was to be a shareholding in the company if the project came to be. Dalli said that the company was formed to hold the equity of the project but the project never materialised and the company was not used. The company was also set up in 2006 at the same time Dalli was an MP.

Dalli subsequently ‘resigned’ from Westmead after learning he was going to be reappointed to cabinet in March of 2008. The company was taken over by his daughters as the company directors six months later, exiting in September 2009. He also denied that a power station project for Malta was the project Westmead had planned to hold equity in, though no further elaboration was made.

Owning an offshore company is not illegal, but they are no less of an embarrassment for leaders who may have campaigned publicly against corruption or advocated austerity measures at home. Dalli did not declare the company in his asset filings at the time, telling Times of Malta that this was because the company was inactive, with Westmead being struck off from the BVI registry for non-payment of fees in 2013.

Meanwhile, around 34 other current and former leaders are featured in the documents analysed by the ICIJ, facing allegations ranging from corruption to money laundering and global tax avoidance. King Abdullah II created a network of offshore companies and tax havens to amass a $100 million property empire from Malibu, California to Washington and London. Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis also failed to declare an offshore investment company used to purchase a chateau worth $22 million in Southern France.

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Photo Source: The Guardian, Maltese History and Heritage, International Consortium of Investigative Journalists