Mrs and Mrs Keith ‘Kasco’ Schembri: picked up on the apron after a weekend in Sicily
Keith Schembri, the prime minister’s chief of staff, uses the airport’s ministerial lounge limo service when he comes back from a weekend in Sicily with his wife
Mr and Mrs Keith Schembri – he is the prime minister’s chief of staff and owner of the multi-million-turnover business Kasco, and she is an interior designer with a shop called Loft, in Naxxar – were on the 11.30pm flight back from Catania yesterday.
A friend who was on the plane took this picture of the airport ministerial lounge limo with attendant airport employees waiting for the Schembris on the apron.
Their bags were brought straight out of the hold and put into the waiting BMW. The Schembris walked down the steps, from the plane straight into the limo. And off they went, sirens blaring and lights flashing…”chasing their road map,” said my friend.
The prime minister’s chief of staff is supposed to use the ministerial lounge and its limo service only when travelling with his boss on official business, and most certainly not when returning from a weekend in Sicily with his wife.
The interesting thing is that whereas in the past several of the people who were entitled to use this service felt awkward doing so even when travelling on official business, because it drew attention to themselves from all the other passengers on the plane, Mrs and Mrs PM’s chief of staff love it so much that they even use it when they are not supposed to do so, because they think it makes them look really important.
D’ you know what all these people remind me of, suddenly? All those stories that began to emerge about the behaviour of the Gaddafi family, after civil war broke out three years ago.
48 Comments Comment
Leave a Comment
http://www.kasco.com.mt/?m=about
Jew Eva Peron. Tixtri u tilbes l-aħjar ilbies biex tiddandan hi u n-nies jittewbu. Biex hi tidher importanti u n-nies jadurawha.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fiyULjFOHdI
Kasco built the new Progress Press in Mriehel. Oh well.
http://www.kascoengineering.com/CaseProfile/39/Building_the_new_Progress_Press_facility
Daphne, wasn’t Keith Schembri charged with assaulting his wife? And wasn’t his wife’s boyfriend refused a boxing licence?
[Daphne – You’re confusing him with Silvio Scerri, the Police Minister’s chief of staff.]
Ah yes, thank you.
Nothing to be surprised about.
It is typical behaviour of people who buy their own furniture, as we say in English.
Bil-Malti hemm ghidut daqxen vulgari, imma jqaxxar l-attiduni ta’ dawn in-nies ezatt -” meta l-ibes il-qalziet l-ewwel darba h –a fih”.
Making the best of these five years, as Mrs Muscat said so soon after the PL victory. Vera qatt ma raw xejn.
Is not passing your bag through customs even legal?
[Daphne – Malta and Sicily are in the EU, so there’s no customs.]
But customs can search bags for other reasons such as money-laundering and drugs. It happened to me last time I arrived at Catania airport when all passengers from Malta were being stopped by the Guardia Di Finanzia and questions asked about the amount of cash they were carrying and some were even searched.
[Daphne – Yes, you are right about that. The bags should never be unloaded straight from the hold into the waiting car. I think some questions have to be asked about that. ]
Is Taormina the new Tunny Net?
bhali BLA edukazzjoni
A spot of DIY psychology: all this ostentation is a sure sign of an acute inferiority complex. The whole bunch of them feel they can only find acceptance and approval by showing off the trappings of power.
Because without this power over others, they’re not worth much, they feel. So they have to keep endlessly reminding us, and themselves.
Gaddafi? Really? Because I don’t see the Maltese ever doing the right thing. Ghax mhux sewwa.
Actually there are other services which use the limo but not the Ministerial lounge. Anyone can pay and make use of that service.
Just because they used the MIA limo does not mean they made use of the lounge.
[Daphne – Wrong. The service the government pays the airport to provide to its people involves the ministerial lounge. Rest assured that this man and his wife are not paying for it themselves. They’re using it because it’s free (to them).]
No guard of honour for him? That’s bad.
And why weren’t the prime minister, the minister of foreign affairs, and the minister of national security waiting for him on the tarmac?
The prime minister could have taken the opportunity yet again to invite “selected media” and explain to them that this is how his government had been working in silence to secure the liberation of a Maltese national in Libya.
If one really wishes to understand PL and its daily abuses, read Ignazio Silone’s FONTAMARA, which portrays what happened under fascists in the neighbourhoods of Toscana.
So they had “nothing to declare” I suppose.
[Daphne – They wouldn’t have anyway, EU port to EU port.]
Daphne, ghandek zball.
Da zgur li hemm customs. Izda sa fejn naf jien jistghu jifittxu biss jekk ghandhom suspett qawwi – u ghal xi raguni jew ohra il-logika tieghi tghidli l-agir ta’ din il-koppja bil-fors tqajjem suspett – tiftakru lil Meini C.? That’s how it all starts.
[Daphne – I didn’t wish to bring that up, but you’re exactly right. The reason that the rules on use of the ministerial lounge were tightened up pretty strictly is because cocaine trafficker Meinrad Calleja used to bring in his stuff through the ministerial lounge when his father was commanding officer of the Armed Forces of Malta.]
And they called Austin Gatt arrogant. I can’t for the life of me imagine him whizzing back from a weekend in Sicily with Mrs Gatt and demanding the ministerial lounge limo and full service. And he was a minister, not a chief of staff.
He would have used it anyway since he was a minister. The perks of being in government I suppose. The argument here is that Keith Kasco is not a minister and thus should not have made use of the ministerial services.
They’re probably kicking themselves about all the smuggling they could have done if those stupid people hadn’t voted for Malta to join the EU.
Code of conduct? Ethics? Abuse of power? Blah, blah, blah. Are these people so little and feel so insignificant that they need such props to boost their ego? Totally unaware that people are sniggering with contempt.
Some people are sniggering but a lot look at them with awe and think they’re fabulous. You see, these are part of the PL.
If they were PN officials then hell would have been let loose.
Ried iqum kmieni għax-xogħol hux.
Arrogance galore! After all we pay the bill!
The journey started at Catania airport; I wonder how the Schembris felt among the hoi poloi as I believe they are nobodies in the Sicilian city.
I’m told that ‘The Loft’ of Naxxar features, directly and indirectly, on many invoices related to Castille’s interior decoration works. A PQ would help reveal (if answered, and if answered correctly) would reveal a lot.
L’etat, c’est moi.
Ara veru qatt ma hargu mid-dar dawn in-nies.
Niftakar nies ta’ madwar il-Ministru Wistin Abela fis-snin tmenin li kienu jaghmlu hekk.
In their pre-election run up they projected onto the Nationalist administration everything they are themselves. Their cries were not cries of justice but of envy. We have to wear it for now.
“All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.”
They can make all the money by fair and foul means, but will never acquire class. Too arrogant to ever learn.
In-nies jaghmlu il- flus imma il-flus qatt ma ghamlu lil-hadd nies
Why would any kidnapper change the place where he will just drop the kidnapped person?
Kidnappers change the meeting place to exchange and release the prisoner in a secure environment for themselves.
“Diplomats in Tripoli say militias often carry out kidnappings to blackmail countries into releasing Libyans they hold.”
http://www.news24.com/Africa/News/Maltese-worker-kidnapped-in-Libya-freed-20140729-6
So, Mr Prime Minister was there a prisoner exchange?
This is how democratic leaders behave. They inform the family and the public. No beating around the bush, half truths and lies.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/10867353/Americas-only-prisoner-of-war-released-in-exchange-for-Taliban-detainees-from-Guantanamo.html
Not a prisoner, exchange, perhaps, but an exchange of favours – releasing a hostage in exchange for hospital treatment treatment in a secure environment away from Libya.
No, in that case they wouldn’t have needed to meet (for a swap) on a bridge.
They would have just dropped Mr Galea somewhere and phoned Marisa Farrugia to inform her about the drop-off location. The less contact the better.
Satellite/GPS tracking of a suitcase would become irrelevant as soon as the abductors throw away the suitcase.
… and the funny thing is: most of the Maltese will say “u imbilli… ma jistax?”. Or even worse: “Tal PN hadu 500 Euro zieda, x’hemm hazin?”.
And unfortunately, those account for more than 50% of the population. I have lost faith in the backbone of our Maltese society.
As the saying goes,” Make hay till the sun shines”.
Power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely.
More brain drain from our important institutions, now we will get a ‘taghna lkoll appointee’ – pity Norman Hamilton is in London.
http://www.maltatoday.com.mt/news/national/41748/mta_chief_decides_to_call_it_a_day#.U9ifd2IaySM
Daphne, you are always talking about The Other Malta. This is a case in point, of course. It is heartening to come here and read people’s comments condemning such behaviour. At least, there are a number who find these actions revolting.
Why do you think there are these two competing cultural norms in Malta?
They must have been knackered from the 30 minute plane ride over from Sicily, imsieken
Min qatt ma ra laham, s**m ommhu jahsbu xaham
The Maltese nation was proper deceived by these people. Hopefully they will remember all this in a few years and give these bunch of corrupts the same lesson they gave to the Nationalists in the last election.
Are we sure that this is not the La Valette Club chauffer service?
http://www.lavaletteclub.com/Services/Chauffeur?referrer=undefined
[Daphne – The La Valette chauffeur service does not include taking your bags from the hold straight into the waiting car.]
Meta ma jkollok xejn, meta qatt ma tkun xi hadd, meta qatt ma tkun hrigt mill ghatba il barra, kull ftit tarah hafna, kull hin tahseb li sirt xi hadd u dak kollu li jlellex tmur ghalih ghax ma tarafx it-tlellix mid-deheb veru, Il-kumplament hu l-gherf ta mohh f`loku u f`postu.