What a tangled web of abuse and corruption they weave

Published: January 24, 2016 at 10:09am

Stephen Ciangura is a bombardier (soldier) with the Armed Forces of Malta. But for years he owned and ran a private business providing bouncers and security officers to nightclubs, bars and similar. He even moonlighted as a bouncer himself, and was prosecuted for breaking a man’s jaw at a nightclub.

When challenged about his involvement with the company, he’d say that it was his mother’s. But now he is a registered director of the company, while still officially a member of the Armed Forces of Malta, and for some weird and unexplained reason on secondment, approved by the Commander of the Armed Forces, to the Malta Council for Science and Technology where he works as personal chauffeur to the executive chairman, Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando.

Paid by the state, and supposedly a full-time soldier, he drives Pullicino Orlando everywhere he wants to go, including to Pavi supermarket for his groceries.

But the publication of the magistrate’s inquiry report into the disaster at PlusOne Nightclub in Paceville reveals far worse. The nightclub is not licensed, there were no safety measures, minors were routinely allowed in and alcohol sold to them, and the bouncers, all of whom were provided by Stephen Ciangura’s company, were unlicensed, untrained and in some cases could speak neither English nor Maltese.

The magistrate said that Stephen Ciangura – Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando’s personal chauffeur – should be prosecuted.

This is truly an only-in-Malta-and-Sicily situation: a soldier is on secondment to a state council chairman as a driver, because the state council chairman has demanded his services personally, and as though that were not bad enough, the soldier also moonlights as a bouncer and runs a company providing illegal bouncers to illegal nightclubs, with the full knowledge of the Commander of the Armed Forces of Malta and the state council chairman.

How corrupt and abusive this is.

Lance Bombardier Stephen Ciangura of the Armed Forces of Malta, photographed at the wheel of Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando's personal car outside Pavi supermarket at noon on a workday, while Pullicino Orlando did his grocery shopping inside.

Lance Bombardier Stephen Ciangura of the Armed Forces of Malta, photographed at the wheel of Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando’s personal car outside Pavi supermarket at noon on a workday, while Pullicino Orlando did his grocery shopping inside.

The executive chairman of the Malta Council for Science and Technology, seen here with his personal assistant Lara Boffa. The magistrate's inquiry report into the disaster at PlusOne Nightclub says that Pullicino Orlando's personal chauffeur, Stephen Ciangura, should be prosecuted for providing unlicensed and untrained bouncers to an unlicensed nightclub, leading to the injury of 75 young people in a stampede.

The executive chairman of the Malta Council for Science and Technology, seen here with his personal assistant Lara Boffa. The magistrate’s inquiry report into the disaster at PlusOne Nightclub says that Pullicino Orlando’s personal chauffeur, Stephen Ciangura, should be prosecuted for providing unlicensed and untrained bouncers to an unlicensed nightclub, leading to the injury of 75 young people in a stampede.

Stephen Ciangura (on right) provided an unofficial personal bodyguard service to Pullicino Orlando in the months before the general election, while still officially a soldier with the Armed Forces of Malta. It is unclear in what capacity he provided this service, but Pullicino Orlando had said at the time that Michelle Muscat had rung his then girlfriend, Carmen Ciantar, and offered to provide them with "security" at the Labour Party's expense.

Stephen Ciangura (on right) provided an unofficial personal bodyguard service to Pullicino Orlando in the months before the general election, while still officially a soldier with the Armed Forces of Malta. It is unclear in what capacity he provided this service, but Pullicino Orlando had said at the time that Michelle Muscat had rung his then girlfriend, Carmen Ciantar, and offered to provide them with “security” at the Labour Party’s expense.