I will not comment at this stage about the PN-inflated Dubai saga, as I intend to do so in court where I intend to take further unilateral legal action over and above the action taken so far together with my parliamentary colleagues.
But the point at issue is whether public funds have been involved or not.
The answer is definitely “no”.
This contrasts very sharply with the accusations levelled against serving ambassador Richard Muscat, who has been accused of irregularities in the conduct of his business at the helm of the government funded Voice of the Mediterranean by the Auditor General.
Things took a turn for the worse when, following scrutiny of the auditor general’s report in the Public Accounts Committee, a leading local Maltese language newspaper revealed additional items where Mr Muscat had allegedly incurred certain personal expenses and billed them
to the Voice of the Mediterranean.
What is most interesting is how the Nationalists have tried to deflate this saga.
• Austin Gatt, who is normally known for his Rambo-style tactics, acted like a dove during the last session of the PAC by suggesting that his motion of censure of the NAO (National Audit Office) operations be withdrawn in exchange for a non-existent trade off. One begs to ask why? Was it because he found out that he did not have a leg to stand on? Could it be that he and his party had realised that they had turned public opinion against them? Or had they suddenly realised that since the VOM report had been signed by the Auditor General, their criticism would not have been limited to the Auditor General’s office but would have also been pinned to the Auditor General himself, who can only be put in the dock by two-thirds of the House, rather than by a mere parliamentary committee?
• Minister Frendo shirked his responsibility to sack Richard Muscat as ambassador when, from the evidence that surfaced during the PAC proceedings, it was so manifestly obvious that there had been a lack of good governance in the conduct of his business at the helm of the VOM. In doing so, the minister burdened himself with the responsibility for irregular behaviour by one of his subordinates which, to be fair, had not happened when he was minister in office.
What intrigued me most about the Dubai saga in the Nationalist media is that they timed it with the budget debate in Parliament to deflect attention from a lacklustre budget about which hardly anybody is bothering to talk or comment – as can be confirmed by the various home visits I have been carrying out in recent weeks.
Fly away Peter, fly away Paul
The helicopter saga in Gozo would have been pathetic, had it not been almost tragic.
It was manifestly obvious, from the word go, that with the rates the Spanish operators were going to charge their potential customers this project was a non-starter, particularly when Malta has now been put on the map as a low-cost airline destination, where a trip from Dublin or Pisa would cost far less than a helicopter trip from Gudja International Airport to Gozo.
But what was most glaring was the apparent lack of coordination between senior Nationalist cabinet ministers and the Prime Minister’s Office over this issue.
On the one hand we had Giovanna Debono claiming that the venture would be such a runaway success that demand was far exceeding the supply of seats available.
When the Spaniards took flight, ministers disagreed among themselves as to whether or not the Spanish operators had contractual obligations to provide such a service for five years. To make matters worse, while Minister Censu Galea apparently only found out that the Spaniards had taken flight after they had unceremoniously left, according to our shadow minister Anton Refalo, PM Gonzi was reported to have said that he had long known that the Spanish operators were experiencing financial difficulties regarding their operations here and were seriously considering their position.
Il-Gens correspondent Asterisk is not exactly a pro-Labour sympathiser, but to be fair to the journalist he calls a spade a spade. So much so that in January last year he had the following comments to make about the Spanish operation of the helicopter service.
“Everybody knows that a project of this nature, given the prices involved, can hardly take off the ground… the project is a baby that is bound to die before it is even born. The project is still-born and misguided (huwa zbaljat minn qaddisu) because it apparently seems that no consideration was given to the most fundamental aspect of it all – the price for the service to be provided.”
To reach such conclusions one need neither be a prophet or an economist.
Ironically, when Asterisk levelled such criticism against the project he/she had, by his own admission, encountered resistance from Minister Censu Galea, who went on to justify the prices being charged.
There are serious environmental and logistical considerations as to whether the fixed wing aircraft option should be considered for Gozo, particularly when the EU allows subsidies for the provision of helicopter services to small islands like Gozo.
The Labour Party is already committed to introducing a subsidised helicopter service when elected. Meanwhile lobbying for the introduction of fixed wing aircraft continues to gain ground, particularly by those who might have a financial interest in the running of such an operation.
Whichever way this saga ends, it will show the shortsightedness of this administration, its technical incom- petence and its total lack of coordination at ministerial level when it comes to handling a project that is relatively simple and straightforward.
Who knows – there might still be some additional twists to the whole saga?
Meanwhile the Nationalist press conveniently chooses to go ahead full steam with its “revelations” about the Dubai “scandal”, as a diversionary tactic.
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