Last week another newspaper’s business supplement carried an interesting news item about which I had been aware for months – following a tip off by friends in financial circles.

According to this report Montaigne Investment (Malta) Ltd has had its licence suspended by the MFSA because it failed to start operations after it was given a licence by the same authority in mid-2005.

What many people do not know is that the promoter of this project, who describes himself as a former US secret agent and an active participant in the Gulf War, was given the red carpet treatment when he launched his venture in Malta.

The project was launched by Investment, Industry and IT Minister Austin Gatt at a lavish ceremony, while the Prime Minister even found time to welcome him at Castille.

This may be confirmed by perusal of the archives of the DOI itself.

The newspaper report I mentioned not only claims that these people have had to move out of their lush offices in Portomaso to more modest surroundings in Mriehel but that the telephone there has also been disconnected.

The Irish media show that the man behind the project was involved with an Irish company that allegedly left its staff unpaid for a couple of months following a dispute.

The report claimed that the promoter of this venture “had high hopes” for his Malta operation, hinting that investment within five years would run into “seven digits”.

I do not know if he made this statement at the time of the launch of his Malta company or after he had had his company licence suspended!

What is definitely true is that neither the PM nor the Investment Minister seem to have bothered to check the man’s “credentials” before agreeing to boost his profile in Malta through their association with his project launch. I am a bit surprised that even the MFSA, who are usually known for their thoroughness – as confirmed by the praise quite rightly showered on them in Parliament last week, did not carry out a more detailed probe into the people involved.

I say so because a mere Google Search provides enough food for thought and areas of concern.

What is an undisputed fact is that PM Gonzi’s photo opportunity definitely misfired – especially in terms of result

orientation.

Foreign policy document

consultation underway

As has been the case with other policy documents and vision statements published by the MLP, our recent vision statement on foreign affairs which was published a few weeks ago is now entering its second stage.

Having presented it to the media, emailed it to all the embassies located in Malta and abroad, and placed it on the party’s website, last Friday we began our first round of consultations with potentially interested parties. The first meeting was with the Malta-China Friendship Society.

The only criticism that has come our way from the Nationalists was not about the substance of the vision statement but solely that we seem to have ignored the EU almost completely.

All those like Ms B. Sullivan, in another section of the local press, show that this is evidently the only spin that the Nationalists could come up with.

While Dr Sant made it clear that a future Labour government will be giving priority to EU relations, our main opposition spokesman on European Affairs recently said during a public forum that not only will a Labour government be working closely with its Socialist allies and friends in Europe, but it will be doing so to safeguard the rights of Malta as an EU member state through its intensive activity (hidma qawwija).

This shows a firm commitment on our part, since we could not have been clearer than that.

Although some have fallen victim to the Nationalist spin that we forgot to mention the EU, many are suddenly realising that after all this document was meant to be moulded this way, particularly since my brief was to prepare a draft document that focused exclusively on relations with third country non-EU states and organisations.

In his intro to the meeting with the Malta-China Friendship Society, Dr Sant said that, apart from the fact that conceptually relations with non-EU member states are different from relations with the EU, EU relations had been deliberately excluded from this document because, according to the MLP leader, there is a clear distinction between Malta’s European relations and its bilateral and multilateral relations with non-EU member states.

The audacity of hope

I must confess that I have not yet read Barack Obama’s new book The Audacity Of Hope but regardless of the man’s merits or demerits, I was particularly struck by a particular quote of his, which runs something like this:

“I imagine they (the people) are waiting for a politics with the maturity to balance idealism and realism, to distinguish between what can and cannot be compromised, to admit the possibility that the other side might sometimes have a point. They don’t always understand the arguments between right and left, conservative and liberal, but they recognise the difference between dogma and common sense, responsibility and irresponsibility, between those things that last and those that are fleeting.

They are out there, waiting for Republicans and Democrats to catch up with them.”

I do not know if he wrote this himself or whether it was ghost-written.

What is sure and undisputed is that this is stirring stuff indeed!

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