Comments on: Labour loves a good lie

By: johnmary spiteri

johnmary spiteri — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 06:50:43 +0000

Xi haga f’din id-drama ta` Harry Vassallo ma daqqetlix! Ma stajtx
nifhem x’inhi. HV, avukat u ma tax kaz li jimxi skond il-proceduri
stabbiliti mill-Ligi dwar id-Diretturi tal-Kumpaniji? HV, avukat u ma
tax kaz id-digriet tal-Qorti? HV, Kap ta` partit politiku riesaq ghal
elezzjoni u ma jirregolarizzax ruhu mal-ligi? Il-PN, riesaq ghal
elezzjoni tant krucjali ghall-pajjiz u jaghmel att suwicidali fl-ahhar
ta` kampanja elettorali? Ma kontx naf x’qed jinkwetani dwar dan
il-Kaz. Sakemm fittixt id-dettalji li johorgu minn dak li qal u ghamel
HV innifsu. Qal li cemplulu l-pulizija wara li kien mistoqsi minn
gurnalista tal-Media.Link dwar l-irregolarita` ta` ghemilu mal-Qorti.
Qallhom li kien ma jiflahx u ma setghax johrog u jekk ma jimportax
imorru huma ghandu d-dar. Hekk ghamlu. HV kellu indikazzjoni ghal xiex
gejjin. Nafu issa x’ghadda bejn HV u l-Pulizija mill-istqarrija
tal-Kummissarju. HV, ohrog il-ghageb wara li telqu l-pulizija, mhux
talli marlu l-mard kollu, talli gibed mieghu it-tfal u rhiela lejn
il-HQ tal-AD. Kellu bzonn kemm it-tfal kif ukoll il-backdrop tal-AD
ghal konferenza stampa. Kellu bzonn konferenza stampa; Il-partiti
l-ohrajn kien ser ikollhom l-ahhar kelma qabel l-elezzjoni. L-AD
kellha bzonn konferenza stampa wkoll. Kellha bzonn platform: “bad
publicity better than no publicity at all”. HV haseb li jekk imur hu
l-ghassa, din ma fiha news value ta` xejn, tigri kuljum. Ried xena
drammatika bil-pulizija wara biebu. Allura l-iskuza tal-mard. Wara
ried il-media, allura l-backdrop tal-AD. HV ried is-simpatija, allura
l-mara u t-tfal. HV jrid il-voti ghal AD, allura l-montatura li
tpoggih fl-istampa tal-kampanja elettorali bhala vittma.
HV. kelli rispett lejn l-AD. Kelli ammirazzjoni sigrieta ghalik. Issa naf ahjar

By: Leonard

Leonard — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 22:50:31 +0000

Isn’t it unusual for a Green party not to field a single female candidate?

By: DVella

DVella — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 22:46:49 +0000

In my relative ignorance on legal matters, does conviction by a criminal court against a person technically make that person a criminal? If this is the case, does our constitution not have a safeguard clause which prohibits persons having a criminal conviction from submitting their candidature for a general election? Does the electoral office have no responsibility for verifying the integrity and record of persons submitting their nomination for an election? What are the implications if a person with a criminal conviction is elected to the House of Representatives? Overlooking the fact that some of the primates that, on occasion, graced our parliament are hardly exemplary specimens of polite and educated society, I find the notion somewhat disturbing and possibly a precedent for an even worse scenario.

By: Fausto Majistral

Fausto Majistral — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 22:29:43 +0000

It has been confirmed from an OPM statement tonight that Vassallo's petition for a Presidential pardon would have been considered positively ... if only he bothered to fill in the forms for a company which still appears in the Companies' Register and for which he still appears as its majority shareholder, director, company secretary and legal representative.

By: Stephen

Stephen — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 22:25:59 +0000

I have disagreed with Daphne many times however i must say that i sincerely admire her and this time she is one hundred percent right ! Shame on you both Dr Harry Vassallo and Dr Alfred Sant ! Have you no self respect ? Don’t either of you feel any sense of duty towards our beloved country ?

By: James De Giorgio

James De Giorgio — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 22:09:53 +0000

For those who missed the debate, you can watch it on this link:

http://public.di-ve.com/streaming/on_demand_media_streamer.aspx?id=883&encoding=8&backUrl=streaming%2fon_demand_event_encoding.aspx%3fid%3d883

Needless to say, Gonzi emerged as the clear winner.

By: K Zammit

K Zammit — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 20:59:47 +0000

Can the person who sent the email saying that Gonzi baqa issumat explain to me whether he saw the same political debate I just finished watching?
Well done Gonzi. Sums up in an hour the previous five week campaign. Sant with the same tactics up till the end and on the other hand the constructive campaigning of Gonzi.
Its up to the maltese know to choose what they want.

By: Amanda Mallia

Amanda Mallia — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 19:49:39 +0000

Thursday, 6th March 2008 – 18:12CET

UPDATED: Vassallo can still regularise his position – Ministry
Taken from The Times online of this evening:

The Finance Ministry said this afternoon that contrary to what was claimed yesterday by Alternattiva Demokratika leader Harry Vassallo, according to the Registry of Companies the company Abelweld Ltd still existed and Dr Vassallo was shown as being its majority shareholder, director, company secretary and the person legally responsible for the company.

It was not the case, therefore, that Dr Vassallo no longer represented the company, as he claimed yesterday.

Therefore, the ministry said, when Dr Vassallo informed the VAT Department that he was no longer responsible, he was misleading the department.

The ministry said a Presidential pardon could not be given to Dr Vassallo because he was refusing to fill in the 37 VAT returns covering the period for which the courts found him to be legally responsible and guilty.

Dr Vassallo, however, was still in time to regularise his position by filling in the VAT forms for the years at issue so that his plea for a pardon could be considered.

The ministry also published the report of the VAT Commissioner on the case.

In his report the VAT commissioner said Dr Vassallo registered the company for VAT purposes on September 29, 1994. The company did not submit VAT returns between August 1, 1999 and July 31, 2005. It sent one return in 1999 but failed to file the other 37 due to date. After several warnings, legal action was instituted by the police.The police sued Dr Vassallo as the person responsible under the law and he was arraigned on November 2002, convicted and fined Lm100 and Lm6 for every day that he failed to settle the fine. Since Dr Vassallo did not follow the court’s orders, fresh legal action was instituted in November 2005. Dr Vassallo was again found guilty and fined a total of Lm3,954 covering the period January 2003 to October 2004. Dr Vassallo was arraigned again in May 2005 on similar charges, convicted once more and again fined Lm100. Since he did not submit the returns, Dr Vassallo was again arraigned in September 2006 and fined Lm2,100. In January 2006 Dr Vassallo requested a Presidential pardon but since the returns were still not submitted, the request was denied.The comissioner said DrVassallo was still a major shareholder of the company Abelweid Limited as well as director and legal representative.

By: Angela

Angela — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 18:53:56 +0000

Hi Daphne,

Thanks for being one of the few maltese journalists with the courage to speak your mind.

Right now I’m listening to Micheal Falzon at the last mass meeting, its unbelievable.

Can you believe that they are saying that PN are the party of failures and that they do not believe in the potential of the maltese people. Are they serious?

I used to consider myself a floating voter but the more I listen to labour the more they disgust me and the mere thought of ever associating with them gives me the creeps.

I cannot understand how people can thirst to listen to their nonsense, let alone follow them!

By: C Gauci

C Gauci — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 18:41:42 +0000

So the police went to talk to Dr Vassallo originally about a neighbouring burglary and not the arrest. And they decided to remind him of the pending arrest warrants.

This implies that Dr Vassallo had been served with the warrants before.

Or wasn’t he?

If he was, could we please know when?
Such date would be both on police records and court records. Official.
Why hasn’t the date when Dr Vassallo was notified about the arrest warrants been mentioned in any of the media?

If he hadn’t been informed at all previously, we’re just back to square one!

i.e.

How come an arrest warrant got notified:

a) 5 months after it was issued;
b) how come this coincidentally occurred on the eve of the election, and
c) excluding clairvoyance, how come the PN journalist knew that it was going to happen before it happened?
To be precise he/she got to know a whole 5 months after the warrant was issued which is quite tardy, but 4 hours BEFORE action was taken by the police and 2 days before the general election…

Another thing: Why is there no track of Dr Vassallo’s case on http://www2.justice.gov.mt/sentenzi/default.asp?lng=ENG

All this without going into the merits of whether Dr Vassallo was right in asking a re-consideration of the case consisting in him having to pay fines for the lack of submittance of VAT returns for a company whom he had not been representing at that time.

I’m sorry but apparently this ‘saga’ is far from solved. Actually, it’s getting all the more complicated the more it develops. A very stinky kettle of fish indeed, and believe me I hate to be saying this.

Please I implore journalists to inform us, the electorate, whether Dr Vassallo had been served with the arrest warrants, during the period between September 2007 and March 2008. Only then we might be getting a hint of the truth.

As a floating voter now I feel that I can’t trust anyone, I don’t know whether I’m going to invalidate my vote or vote MLP now. The latter is remote, I think I’ll invalidate at this point. Or not go at all and disconnect my telephone.