Who is the Auditor's General?
The auditor's general
How time flies.
It’s a week already since Miriam Dalli cultivated that oh-so-serious image on Super One’s TX with a pair of plaits.
Now here she is today, promoting this evening’s edition on Facebook.
She’ll be talking about the Auditor’s General.
Miriam Dalli: The Auditor’s General report about the Delimara powerstation contract awarded to BWSC tonight on TX at 20:45 on ONE TV.
Are you convinced that there were no irregularities in awarding this tender? Have your say on [email protected] or on our facebook page
It doesn’t say much for the credibility of the show if its chief researcher and host doesn’t even know who and what the Auditor-General is, and that’s to say nothing of the fact that she used to be head of news at Super One. Par plaits iehor jonqosha issa to really raise the credibility quotient of the show.
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Who is General Failure and why is he reading my hard disk?
Daphne, could you tell me please whether the taxis provided by the government to our judges are also available for their wives?
Marlene Mizzi makes use of this service every day to enter Valletta. Is this right? I wish you say something about it.
[Daphne – They’re not taxis, but cars on long lease, provided to judges and magistrates for their personal use as they deem fit. So yes, Marlene Mizzi is within her rights when she uses her magistrate husband’s ‘perk of the job’. In fact, several people have emailed me to tell me that they frequently see Magistrate Mizzi’s official car laden with deliveries of toys but I didn’t upload their reports for precisely that reason. It is not against the rules, as far as I can make out, though it is execrable behaviour all the same, in my view at least.]
They might be cars on a long-term lease, but they seem to be provided with drivers (presumably off our taxes, too).
Whilst this may be excusable for the ferrying of magistrates to and from magisterial inquiries or simply for their routine magisterial work in court, surely discretion should be exercised by all and sundry when it comes to using the driver for personal matters?
Well, imagine this happening in the UK. What would journalists say?
Emm….x’tip ta’ toys?
So sad. Possibly the Auditor’s Janitor will be the special guest. Just to clean up the dirt.
And who will clean up the mud thrown over the past year?
Tonight, we’ll hear Miriam Dalli quoting several instances of conclusive evidence of corruption in the BWSC contract, put forward by the Auditor. Then later we’ll be told that she had quoted from a different, secret, report prepared by his General.
Why is it that Miriam is asking her followers whether “they are convinced that there were no irregularities”?
Is the Auditor-General’s report not clear on his findings? He said that he had no conclusive evidence of corruption, which is equal to saying that the Auditor-General found no corruption, full stop.
In a court, which is the nearest system where decisions and judgements are based on evidence, the Auditor-General’s conclusion is equal to stating that the accusations have not been substantiated.
Who the hell would expect the Auditor-General to make a statement that there was no corruption? No auditor would ever completely rule out corruption, fraud, breach of law, irregularities etc. in an investigation, since an auditor can never be sure he collected, or was provided with, all the evidence.
Auditors are known to word their reports with a lot of ambiguity and conceptual language which they use specifically to exclude taking on themselves any major responsibility, and fairly so.
So, if Miriam Dalli keeps asking her question, she must be doubting the work of the Auditor-General. Or of his General.
The General, you asked:
“Why is it that Miriam is asking her followers whether “they are convinced that there were no irregularities”?”
It’s back to Alfred Sant’s “moral conviction.”
His nickname was “Black Jack”.
Looks like, by a miracle, flights will be back to normal – or almost – tomorrow and I WILL make the Spurs game!
That’s great, good luck in all senses. Hate these early kick-offs though; beer has a funny taste at eight in the morning. Here’s a short clip from last Saturday.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5CqhNMZ4v8o
Miriam Dalli would be more credible were she to hold a discussion program regarding the abuse victims of St. Joseph’s Home and were she to focus on WHY the defence team requested that the case be heard behind closed doors even though the victims themselves – from what I gather – did not want it to be that way.
Miriam Dalli and her guests (including Herr Flick) have been asking a litany of questions since the program started. Seems like they have been reading too many mltstra Leaders recently.
Godfrey Grima qisu rebah is-Super 5.
Carlatan bhal huh.
Tghid dan xi super-kandidat ghal-2013? Fil-kaz, Joe Grima jidher li diga sabhomlu il-5,000 vot li jrid – Nemmnu li se Nsibu 5,000 Ruh lesti jivvutaw Labour fl-Elezzjoni tat-2013.
Sirt dilettant tal-loghob tal-ballun, hawn il-Bayern kontra Lijon.
Jien fuq tal-power station nahseb li tal-Labour qed jitkellmu ghax xi hadd ma taghhomx sehem, bhalma gara Mater Dei: filli ‘inwaqqawh gebla gebla’ u filli ‘nirduppjawh’.
Imma x’jiswa x’nahseb jien, Miriam? Provi m’ghandix.
Ghal naqra mhux gowl! Ghal naqra, Miriam, imma kemm tiswa dik in-naqra!
Kaiser Frank mhux daqsxejn upset minhabba l-underage prostitute scandal? Kont nimmagina li uber-celebrity bhalu jista’ jikseb naqra nooky b’xejn.
Once the matter concerning the use of vehicle for public officials has created some comments, one can at this stage point out that in Germany, judges use their own transport or public transport to get to court.
One TV et al are in desperate need of proof readers. However, when one creates a stink on a misplaced apostrophe and is not remotely worried about the content of the entire report, credibility takes a dive. Maybe the ‘non conclusive evidence’ was brought about by the amnesia of the main protagonists who stand to make quite a hefty profit from the deal. The sad part is that, if we have really botched this one up, it is not only our pockets that will be hurt. Some years down the line, it will all be blamed on Labour because the PN government can do no wrong.
[Daphne – You would be surprised, actually, how few people can be bothered, and how low the power station contract is on the list of things to be bothered about. It’s not that the government can do no wrong, far from it. It’s just not as ‘bread and butter’ as, for example, water and electricity rates. Let’s put it this way: Malta Drydocks drained the taxpayer of countless millions, but was that ever a priority in how people voted? No. If anything, the behaviour of some Drydocks workers was a greater motivational force is getting people to vote PN than the millions being spent on paying them at a time when nothing was being invested in health and education. As for the presumed corruption, there have been too many of these accusations and it’s getting boring now. I’m beginning to think that the Labour Party hurls out accusations of corruption only after first making sure that none of its people were involved in the contract on a professional basis. But what am I saying? I’ve just remembered that business with Charles Mangion criticising a land deal after working on it as the notary.]
Daphne, give the poor sod a break.
Whereas, say, a policy statement about this country’s future energy supply would make the headlines (how many power stations; when, where and how will we build wind turbines; connection to the power grid in Sicily, etc). PN is making the same mistake as MLP of focussing on the obvious details, viz. an accusation of corruption that is investigated (normal run-of-the-mill stuff, and it’s got its whole strategy wrong.
The drivers of magistrates’ cars are government employees. Can Marlene Mizzi explain?
I seem to remember that at Sea Malta the chairman’s car was used as a delivery van for those shops, too.
If the auditor can have his own general, why can’t the Great Leader have his own police motorcycle escort?
Is it safe to assume Marlene Mizzi is a labourite? As an outsider, I have worked it out that you are making comments about labour people. Are there any Nationalist people with cars that are being used by their family? Even if there were, would you comment on it? I agree that the rules on these cars should be tightened to only be used on official business.
interested bystander( but not an innocent one): I honestly don’t know if it’s safe to assume that Marlene Mizzi is Labour in sentiment. She did so well under Nationalist governments that you would think she a Nationalist prima donna.
OK then. As long as everybody is happy no problem exists. Daphne you would have torn such a contract to shreds had it been signed under you know who. Probably you are right when you say that few people care. I have taken steps not to care so much either. Invested in a generator last week.
[Daphne – I rarely take an interest in such matters, but that might be because I’m in tune with my audience, and they don’t either. I’m here to entertain people not bore them. There are enough columnists doing the latter by writing what they want to write rather than what people what to read about.]
Absence of evidence isn’t evidence of absence.
Oops! it almost escaped my notice. You are, of course, admitting that the people who are perceived of corruption are all NP sympathisers. Had it been otherwise, the LP would not have kicked up such a fuss, according to you.
[Daphne – I don’t get what you’re trying to say.]
The best guest was Karl!
Many people are of the opinion that the ‘black taxes’ that’s how they are generally called, as they are provided with the driver, are for the service of judges/magistrates while on duty. and not for the personal use of their missus. Happily this is Marlene Mizzi and not some other lady not on Labour’s book. They would have already called for investigation for abuse.
Yes, you are right- Notary Mangion had his piece of cake from the famous land contract at St. Julian’s – he should not throw stones at glass houses. I believe Marlene Mizzi should be cautious as well of her actions – she is still a public figure – we Maltese pay taxes for social services and not for going around with drivers paid by our government. Fl-ahhar mill-ahhar kullhadd jrid jhallas ta’ emilu, tajjeb jew hazin.