Court drama, Covid-19 and the little things in life: Our 40 most read stories of 2021

Albert Galea Sunday, 2 January 2022, 08:00 Last update: about 3 years ago

It would be a bit of an understatement to say that 2021 was an eventful year.

The Covid-19 pandemic raged on while there was no shortage of drama in the country’s law courts either, with a number of high-profile cases hitting the headlines throughout the year.

Sometimes, though, it was the seemingly trivial things – such as a former Prime Minister finding himself without water at home or a comedian’s travails with an old Maltese bus – which caught the eyes of readers, perhaps showing that while it can be easy to get caught up in all that is serious, the little things can be just as noteworthy.

This is all reflected in our round-up of the most read stories on The Malta Independent’s website throughout the past year

Keith Schembri, Joseph Muscat, money laundering: The court stories, which dominated the headlines

2021 was a dramatic year in Malta’s law courts, with multiple high-profile cases either starting or continuing throughout the year.

Without a doubt the one of most significance was the arrest and subsequent charging of Keith Schembri in connection with an inquiry into payments between him and former Allied Newspapers director Adrian Hillmann.

The Malta Independent’s 14-hour long live blog on 20 March, which gave comprehensive coverage of everything happening on the day, which saw Schembri charged with corruption and money laundering and be sent to Corradino Correctional Facility as bail was refused, was the most read story of the year.

Other court stories however made the list.

The arrest and subsequent charging of Darren Debono’s step-daughter Floren Sultana with money laundering and the shocking details in a case where two Gozitan priests were accused of raping and defiling minors also featured in our top 40.

Former Prime Minister Joseph Muscat also featured, first after his testimony in a case on the concession granted by government to Vitals Global Healthcare – where a judge noted that the court had been turned into an episode of Xarabank – and then as he lost parte civile status in the Egrant perjury case.

There were other significant court outcomes throughout the year, namely the state being found guilty of creating the climate which allowed for Daphne Caruana Galizia to be murdered and the false starts surrounding the case of former EU Commissioner John Dalli.

Covid-19: The defining part of 2021

Many had hoped that 2021 would be the year where Covid-19 would be vanquished to the history books, but alas it was not to be.

While the vaccination programme sprinted forwards – at a pace quicker than anywhere else in Europe – the pandemic still fluctuated throughout the year, with spikes in March and more recently in November and December continuing to happen.

Seventeen of our top 40 stories in fact were centred on Covid-19, be them updates from the government about the situation or The Malta Independent’s own stories delving into different aspects of the pandemic.

Press conferences and stories from the spike in cases in March feature quite highly on this list, as do announcements concerning the EU’s digital vaccine certificate, which has now come to characterise much of what can and can’t be done.

Something which affected us quite personally was when one of our colleagues, Stephen Calleja, contracted Covid-19. He subsequently spent two weeks at Mater Dei’s Intensive Therapy Unit fighting for his life and his account of his time in hospital with the virus was one of our most-read and certainly most emotionally powerful and moving, stories.

Another story, which features in this list, is this newsroom’s lifting of the lid on the happenings at the SiGMA Summit back in November.

The first story on this subject, which exposed how there were no checks whatsoever being done at the event – held at a time when cases had started to increase again in the community – features in this list, and ultimately led to other stories on the event such as when the police shut down a party connected to the event and on how the organisers had wanted to bring some 1,500 unvaccinated people into the country.

The scandals: migrants, passports, and greylisting

The Malta Independent was, despite being a small team, for another year at the forefront on reporting from and exposing some of the most important scandals which rocked the country throughout 2021.

It was this newsroom which was the first to share footage of a migrant worker who had been dumped on a pavement by his boss – a contractor – after he fell two storeys at a construction site and broke his back.

The contractor was subsequently caught and charged and the story restarted an examination of Malta’s consciousness when it comes to race and racism.

This newsroom was also part of a team of investigative journalists which looked into Malta’s ever-controversial passport programme. The result of that investigation was titled the Passport Papers.

A story from that project, which looks into the range of supposed genuine links which passport applicants showed to Maltese authorities to prove their ties to Malta in their bid for citizenship, makes this list, and this, along with a number of other stories, went as far as the European Parliament, which has since opened infringement proceedings against the country on the passport-selling practice.

Malta’s greylisting by the Financial Action Task Force last June also features in this list and the effects of this will no doubt be something considered throughout this year.

The little things in life

It’s not always the supremely serious stories which gain the most traction throughout a year. That’s something we saw this year as well.

In among the minefield that was Covid-19, court drama and countless scandals and resignations, some seemingly more trivial stories made the list in this top 40.

A couple of those concern the weather, particularly instances towards the end of the year where Malta was battered by heavy rains and winds.

However, other well performing stories were when a medical consultant was left fuming after the car he was using (his wife’s) to go to work at Mater Dei Hospital was clamped on a Sunday or when a British comedian bought an old Maltese bus only to realise that he had to ship it across Europe or even when former Prime Minister Alfred Sant was left in a state of lament after his house was left without a water supply for a number of days.

Sometimes the most relatable things truly are the smallest things.

The 40 most-read stories on The Malta Independent’s website in full

1. Keith Schembri charged with corruption, money laundering and is refused bail – 20 March

2. Covid-19 vaccine certificate to be available from Tuesday, government announces – 31 May

3. Malta no longer charming: Rethinking tourism – 13 June

4. Police questioning Maltese man on migrant worker allegedly dumped on pavement – 28 September

5. Schools, gyms, non-essential shops to close; travel to Gozo restricted, government announces – 10 March

6. ‘Doctors now have to choose who will live and who will die’ – MUMN president – 10 March

7. 'If Covid-19 cases remain high, we will have to take more measures', Fearne warns – 6 January

8. Italian entertainment icon Raffaella Carra' dies, aged 78 – 5 July

9. New ferry service to run route between Malta and Sicily – 12 March

10. EU digital certificate now available for download – 5 July