Top comment (3)

Published: November 21, 2014 at 1:46pm

Posted by Ciccio:

According to the TVM news, Manuel Mallia is arguing that the false version of events published by the Department of Information on Wednesday night was obtained from the scene, “a caldo” so to speak.

If this is his excuse, justification and defence, then I think even the Minister in charge of the Department of Information should go. Is that the Prime Minister?

Did the DOI publish a press release without any degree of independent verification?

If this is the quality of information published in DOI press releases, then why should we believe the DOI when it says that the health and energy minister’s marriage “is as strong as ever”, and that the prime minister’s chief of staff does not know where his first cousin Ryan Schembri has absconded to, and that he was never in business with him?

The government’s Department of Information is not there to release to the press and the public statements that compromise of a single person’s version of events, presenting them as indisputable fact.




32 Comments Comment

  1. valletta calling says:

    Head of communications is Kurt Farrugia, but who is the chief of staff responsible for communications?

  2. Jozef says:

    Stand them in a vat and throw in the grapes.

    Chilmadeau et Yhawdu

  3. Justitia says:

    Collective political orchiectomies …….

  4. jaqq says:

    i think that a diplomatic situation will follow if nothing is done. Had I been Mr Smith I would take my business elsewhere and pass the message that ministerial staff shoot at people

    • A+ says:

      Oh, I see, it’s the DOI’s fault. It’s not Mallia’s fault, someone else is to blame in the same way as it is never Evarist Bartolo’s fault, but some stupid civil servant that conjures policies behind his back and without his knowledge. What a skip.

      So who told the DOI what to say in its press release?

  5. ciccio says:

    The DOI is the new CNN, reporting directly from the site of accidents.

    Except that CNN tries to verify the information, or cautions the viewers about unverified sources.

  6. Wigi says:

    The DOI – Chinese style media –

    Chinese journalist Gao Yu faces trial for leaking state secrets

    http://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-china-blog-30125635

  7. Benny Hill says:

    Malta has always been a country characterised by mediocrity and incompetence. The DOI is exactly this – mediocre and run by incompetents – and it has only gotten worse under this administration.

    To make matters worse, in this case, not only are those in charge not up to scratch when it comes to verifying facts, but we have good reason to believe that they are also guilty of purposely not giving the right information.

    The DOI in Malta should be renamed the DOM – Department of Misinformation.

  8. M says:

    Whatever Mallia says, someone put the statement out and someone phoned it in.

    Does anyone need protection so Mallia is willing to drag the Department of Information through the mud as well?

    Are we in the state of complete corruption already with omerta coming in handy time and time again or is Mallia suggesting that that is the modus operandi of the DOI?

    It is time to ask some more questions to the PM it seems. Is the situation at the DOI sustainable?

  9. Mim says:

    Oh so the DOI is familiar with and issues reports ‘fazulli’ then?

  10. ChrisM says:

    If Minister Mallia or the Department of Information did not have the proper facts they should have not held that charade of a press conference.

  11. Jozef says:

    http://www.independent.com.mt/articles/2014-11-21/local-news/Shooting-incident-PM-insists-it-was-no-cover-up-just-a-mistake-which-was-corrected-6736126109

    ‘…Asked by The Malta Independent if he had spoken to British High Commissioner Rob Luke after the incident and whether the Briton is still arrested, Dr Muscat simply answered that the government would not go into police investigations on the matter….’

    • Francis Saliba M.D. says:

      A Maltese proverb: “Isma’ bil-fors. Emmen jekk trid” (jew jekk int iblah).

      Translated: You may have to listen, but you believe only what you want to believe (unless you are a credulous fool).

  12. Joe Micallef says:

    I cannot help drawing parallels between this story and the pre-election story involving Anglu Farrugia.

    Given that the cover up by Mallia is exponentially more serious than what Anglu Farrugia said back then, it is either the Prime Minister is held hostage by Mallia or Farrugia’s dismissal was staged.

  13. bob-a-job says:

    DOM rides again – Department of Misinformation

  14. Socrates says:

    L-‘Onorevoli’ MInistru Mallia irid jifhem li hu responsabli ghal sensiela ta’ paprati li waqqghu ghar-redikolu lilu nnifsu, lil Partit Laburista, u lil Gvern li huwa jifforma parti mill-‘cabinet’ tieghu.

    Minhabba fl-incident tal-bierah biss, imissu diga’ sparixxa mix-xena politika. Qed juri kemm huwa inkompetenti u kemm ma kienx u ma’ jista’ qatt ikun kompetenti u serju f’eghmilu u fi kliemu. Kulhadd perswaz kemm qed jimbarazza lil Joseph Muscat.

    Dal-pajjiz ivvota sabiex persuni tat-tip ta’ Manwel Mallia qed itellfuna dak kollu li ksibna fid-decenni ta’ qabel. L-anqas il-Gvern ta’ Alfred Sant ma kien daqstant arrognati, pruzuntus u peclieqi.

    Muscat imissu diga’ tajjar lil Mallia u minfloku ghamel tal-anqas persuna li min naha tal-PL u tal-PN tgawdi certu rispett. Hu fatt li l-maggoranza tal-PL kienet rebha cara, izda bl-ebda mod ma din ir-rebha tirrifletti ruhha fil-kwalita tal-ministri maghzula minn Muscat. Verament tal-misthija!

  15. Bored says:

    Isn’t Manuel Mallia meant to be some kind of a hot-shot lawyer with a brain trained to think before shooting from the hip?

    As things unfold, reality has started to seem clearer – he’s just a fat mediocre lawyer who just wanted a slice of the political cake but has surrounded himself with dim wits and criminals who are helping him dig holes too big for him to crawl out of.

    Can we have a Nationalist government now PLEASE? I’m exhausted already.

    • rjc says:

      They’re not past the 22-month itch that sent Sant to the country. No harm in dreaming I suppose.

    • Francis Saliba M.D. says:

      A successful criminal defence lawyer has to be proficient in histrionics and the art of bamboozling a bored jury anxious to go back home.

      That is a skill that would be very useful also in politics to bamboozle a bored electorate anxious to try something new for a change.

  16. Natalie Mallett says:

    Does Minister Manuel Mallia ever get out of the criminal defence lawyer mode?

    Perhaps he thinks that he can fool all the public all of the time.

    His version of events have been proved to be dishonest and whatever he and the Department of Information say from now on will be taken with a pinch of salt.

  17. Another John says:

    The current impasse will be solved with a back-room deal – at the tax-payer’s expense, of course. The short-term scape-goat will be Sheehan, but his future will too be assured.

  18. Tabatha White says:

    Although we knew it, this situation provides incontestable proof that the DOI issues false statements knowingly.

  19. Jozef says:

    http://www.independent.com.mt/articles/2014-11-21/local-news/Magisterial-inquiry-will-not-cover-political-responsibilities-of-shooting-incident-PN-6736126113

    So the car was moved before the magistrate made it to the scene.

    The picture of Sheehan on his mobile phone could answer the PN’s questions.

  20. Karlu Manju says:

    This is obviously another attempt to obfuscate the truth. The Department of Information does not draft or actively encourage the drafting and issuing of these types of press statements unless it is ordered to, still less after 5:15pm.

    There can be no doubt that the press statement was drafted by Kurt Farrugia or Silvio Scerri or Ramona Attard (or all together perhaps – a ménage à trois of sorts) and passed on. The Department of Information simply pressed the “send” button.

    Note that the Prime Minister refers to the “Dipartiment tal-Komunikazzjoni tal-Gvern” and not to the “Dipartiment tal-Informazzjoni”. When someone in the Prime Minister’s position wants to refer to the Department of Information they use the specific title; it’s not a natural reaction to give another title to such a commonly discussed entity.

  21. Pippa says:

    Just thinking of the previous government gives you a sense of relief.

    Yet there are still PN supporters moaning that the Nationalist Party “ma qdiehomx”.

    I think many of these supporters, unfortunately, do not realise how bad things really are.

  22. Failed cover up says:

    Id-DOI wehel. Jahasra kemm haseb li l-poplu injurant.

  23. anthony says:

    Having worked for forty years as a criminal lawyer Mallia thinks he can hoodwink everyone.

    Eventually he will discover that this is not so.

    In the meantime he is making a bloody fool of himself, his government and his party every other day.

    He has become a huge embarrassment for the entire executive and for Malta.

  24. Cuchu says:

    Mistoqsija..’Ghaliex il-vettura kienet fuq il-low loader?’ Twegiba..’Ghaliex l-investigaturi kienu jafu mill-ewwel li kien hemm tiri sparati lejn il-vettura ghaliex vettura ma tittehidx lejn id-depot tal-pulizija ghax laqtet mera ta vettura ta’ Ministru’. Allura ghaliex harget stqarrija li it-tiri kienu sparati fl-arja?

  25. Gez says:

    “A caldo”, my foot!

    The Vauxhall was stopped in Tal-Qroqq tunnels after 20:00 hrs. At that time in an outside location, it usually is dark, however the tunnels are well lit with halides and there were several policemen from the RIU present on the scene.

    It is also plainly evident from the media footage that there were several other people in plain clothes present in that tunnel following its closure to traffic after the incident.

    The location is paramount as it is well lit.

    You could be forgiven missing the bullet holes if you were out in the dark (although members of the RIU are equipped with powerful torches) but you cannot miss those bullet holes when inspecting the scene in such a well lit area.

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