The snarling of a cornered rat
Before the Labour luvvies pounce and say that I have described Joseph Muscat as a rat, I’ll just be quick to point out that this is an idiomatic expression. They’ve made so many mistakes before, and become so hysterical about things they think I’ve said, because they speak Globish, not English, that I think it’s best to add on the occasional disclaimer when I feel like it.
Joseph Muscat, Anglu Farrugia, Toni Abela and, sad to say, Louis Grech in Brussels (so disappointing) are feeling hopelessly let down because the European Commission has decided to close infringement proceedings against Malta on the B-O-R-I-N-G power station tender issue.
Perhaps even they have had it up to the gills (note to Labour luvvies: I am not saying that the European Commission is made up of fish).The rest of us certainly have. BWSC? Dwejra sand? Click goes the Off switch.
After months and months of telling us that they are morally convinced – shades of Alfred Sant – that there was corruption, after having convinced themselves that the European Commission would find against Malta and that they would be immediately catapulted into office after the collapse of gONziPN, Joseph Muscat and his brigade have been left with egg streaming down their faces (no, Labour luvvies, not literally).
So now the cornered rats are snarling. I love mixing metaphors and sending the Labour luvvies into a spin.
Unable to refer to the European Commission’s infringement proceedings because they found nothing untoward, Muscat has taken to his street corner this morning to say that “the company broke Maltese law when it did not declare that a number of its subcontractors had been involved in cases of corruption abroad.”
The European Commission, he said, had investigated only whether EU rules had been broken, not Maltese law.
Oh, clutch at some more straws, will you.
And then came the inevitable empty promise, again the sort of promise/threat for which Alfred Sant became notorious: WHEN WE ARE IN GOVERNMENT WE WILL INVESTIGATE THEM FOR CORRUPTION AND ROUND UP THESE BARONS AND PUNISH THEM MIGHTILY.
Well, ha ha ha to that.
The first thing Alfred Sant did with his barons was to find that oh, my goodness, they aren’t corrupt after all and would they please head some of his corporations and commissions. And some of them did.
Now his successor is doing the same tedious thing. It’s enough to make the Dwejra sand seem thrilling.
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WELL DONE SUPER JOURNALIST.
THANK YOU
Vague, huffy, desperate rantings. No sense of shame, no decorum whatsoever. How terribly sad.
A perverse cruelty within makes me WANT him to win the next election, just to ultimately showcase the glaring ineptitude of this PM and Government in waiting.
Very VERY poor showing.
Labour’s campaign about the BWSC is now literally going up in smoke.
So the argument has now been shifted to corruption carried out abroad by a number of the subcontractors.
Can Labour tell us what is the issue with the BWSC contract exactly: is it the commission, the local corruption, the corruption abroad, the environment, the toxic waste, the heavy fuel oil?
On 30 May 2010, Labour MP Evarist Bartolo wrote in MaltaToday about Siemens, a BWSC subcontractor. His arguments about Siemens illustrate somes of the distorted arguments that Labour has made throughout the BWSC saga.
In his article, Mr. Bartolo stated that “Siemens had been named in numerous cases of corruption in many countries around the world” and he goes on to mention a number of them. He also names another electrical giant, ABB, as involved in corruption around the globe.
Is Mr. Bartolo really suggesting that Malta should bar any business dealings with Siemens, or ABB?
If Malta had to do so, one would need to throw out several specialised Siemens equipment from the Mater Dei Hospital, and one would also question how Malta bought that equipment in the first place.
Labour’s arguments about the black listing of a number of companies, including Siemens, by the World Bank is similarly fallacious. As far as I can gather, the World Bank is not financing the Delimara power extension project. So their black list is not binding on us in any way.
A search on the internet about other major global corporates like Airbus and Boeing reveals cases involving corruption. Why did Mr. Bartolo never have any objection to Malta buying airliners from those companies?
Does that mean that all transactions carried out by Airbus and Boeing, including those with Malta, were fraught with corruption?
Mintoff kien tela’ fuq l-ghajta tal-korruzzjoni u tad-dejn fl-1971, korruzzjoni ma sab xejn, staqsu l-ahwa Cachia Zammit.
Fredu qabbad lil-Perit Busuttil u lil-Edgar Mizzi biex ma jsibu xejn, u ‘l-Mater Dei IRDUPPJAH u ‘l Marin Hili ma’ setax jghaddi minghajru il-Freeport.
Meta’ jitla’ Joseph, ghax imzazen hawn kemm trid, se joghoqod ihaqqaqha mal-BWSC? Min qed jahseb hekk nghidlu “insa”, ghax jekk huma veru korrotti ixahhmuh u jiskot, u jekk m’humiex korrotti ‘they go the whole hog’ u jwaqqaw lilu u lil Malta ghan-nejk mas-settur ta’ l-energija fid-dinja.
Se tasal l-elezzjoni sentejn ohra u jkun ghadu jdoqq l-istess diska mzarzra tal-BWSC.
Joe Mizzi fuq it-TV beda jargumenta (insomma jinterrompi) fuq il-programm 1205 li ir-riforma fit-trasport se tkun ghalja u mhux se tkun tajba,”il-ghala?”, “ghax tifel ta’ l-iskola li juza’ l-pass se jkollu jhallas iktar!”
Ara min se jkollna ministru tat-trasport!
Hawn xi hadd jaf b’xi tfal li juzaw il-pass? Jien ilni ma’ nara pass, ghomor.
X’tistenna mill-Labour mhux li jaqbdu ma’ xi tibna jew ahjar tentufa!
Way back when, these guys, not sure if it was JM or Varist, said that they would stand by the decision of the EU. How things change when the tune is not so melodious to their ears.
What amazes me is that JM is getting better trust ratings than Gonzi (or so I am informed). This to me is inexplicable.
Joseph Muscat and Varist want us to believe that they are the only ones who are right about all this. They have ascribed their premature conclusions to the European Commission. Notice how they claim that the Commission confirmed the findings of the Auditor General.
Based on what they suggest, there was one massive collusion between all those involved, including the government, Enemalta management, bankers, suppliers, lawyers, consultants and auditors.
This must be bigger than Madoff’s Ponzi scheme, and must make the cases against Dick Fuld and Calisto Tanzi look petty in comparison.
http://www.kullhadd.com/201008212016/Ahbarijiet/il-pl-jippubblika-l-ittra-mill-ke-li-lawrence-gonzi-ried-izomm-mistura.html
If you are eager to comment on what the Leader of the Opposition has said this morning, Daphne it is advisable
that you answer the letter of Marianne Theuma, published
today on page 25 of the Independent on Sunday. It concerns you and your views. After all you might be the cornered rat snarling vehemently.
[Daphne – Marianne Theuma is a natural-childbirth and suckling fanatic. I have no time for the obsessed.]
very well said, Daphne !
Niftakkru il-famuza stqarrija ta’ Alfred Sant go xarabank meta qal illi kif jitla hu fiz-zmien tlett xhur il-kummissarji George Grech irrid jispicca (ghax ma paxxiehx fuq il-magni tal-biljetti tal-karozzi tal-linja).
X’ gara? mhux talli ma spiccax George Grech talli spicca hu mil-gvern.
It-taxxa tal-korruzzjoni xi tkun?
Very simple. Let us take the BWSC Scandal as an example.
– Joseph Mizzi is reported (and this has never been denied) to have received about €4 million for his efforts to get them the contract (by “tapping people high in the political chain”).
– Since BWSC is not a charitable institution, they will want to recover that cost by tacking it onto the total bill for the project.
– The gov will have to pay an extra €4 million – which will have to come from an extra €4 million taxation
See?
[Daphne – Ding. Dong. Bell. It is normal practice for suppliers to pay commission to their area agents or representatives. Normal. Taken for granted. As read. Under certain agency agreements, the commission is paid even if the client (including the state) buys direct. If no commission is paid, the price stays the same and the seller makes a bigger profit. Commission is factored into general pricing policy as a rule. Whether the commission is paid or not is irrelevant. I thought you said you were a banker? Or was that last month?]
Ah. So “taxxa tal-korruzzjoni” is a Labour buzzword (which I’m expected to know). I thought it was a standard word in the dictionary.
What was Mr. Louis Grech doing at the Steering Committee meeting of Airmalta? Was he not chairman of that company for many years?
“Irrid neqred it-taxxa tal-Korruzzjoni.”
After the Auditor General, it was the turn of the European Commission to tell Joseph Muscat that his allegations are only smoke. And this was only a week or so after his retreat about the living wage.
Joseph Muscat is rapidly transforming himself politically into the character of Don Quixote of La Malta.
The Auditor General did not say “it was only smoke”. He said there was lots of smoke, but he could not pin down the fire because people lost their memory or refused to answer.
Slightly different.
Joseph’s watch is not the only one with a red face. Rega waqa ghac-cajt.
Nhar l-gimgha rajt u smajt daqsxejn il-‘one man show’ fil programme ta’ Bundy fuq ONE. Il veru jrid jkollek wicc ta’ min ma nafx min biex wiehed jitkellem bhal Balzan. Kellu esterizmu inkalat biex jitkellem fuqek – ma hemmx x’taghmel, jrid jkun l-ONE TV biex jaghmel programm bhal dak.
Tajjeb ikkummenta Stephen Calleja tal-Independent: ‘Qisu l-programm tieghek, Salv’. Intant jiena naf kif kapaci tirejagixi int – sib l-mument opportun u uzah. Jiena kont nhares lejn John bhala bniedem tal-affari tieghu. Zvoga qal ghaliex tal-PBS keccewh.
On “Das-show” by Zoo, which goes on air after Bondi+, Toni Abela was asked to guess who this person was: one of the zoos said in a witchy voice “ja zibel……”. Tony started to smile and didn’t want to reply. I knew he thought the answer was DCG. The answer was Grace tal-Eurovision in the airport “insulting” the then minister of culture responsible for the Eurovision Song Committee. Tony’s expression was of complete shock. That guy loves you…he thinks about you all the time.
Oh dear. Warren Buffet was right. When the tide goes out you find out who’s been swimming naked.
Joseph Muscat, no proof, no evidence, no pants.
Just booooring.
X’wahda ha ghal wiccu l-boy. Issa nispera li jibqax jimla l-imhuh tan-nies bit-tafal, jimmatura ftit u ma jigdibx aktar.
This person, who is clearly not a “man” of his own and has no clue what a politician does, lives in a continuous contradiction. We are told that he will investigate infringements of Maltese law whilst on other issues he declares that he will not respect rulings on same law. The question begs – which Maltese law is he talking about?
Not to mention that his declaration that he will investigate when in government can mean one or more of at least three things
1. Confirms he wants to assume to role of investigator
2. Confirms that he does not trust the Auditor General
3. Confirms he does not trust the Police Commissioner
This man is not only incompetent but politically dangerous.
Confirms that Labour has not changed.
I see you are plugging the government line that this decision has somehow cleared it of any wrondgong in the BWSC Scandal Which s total rubbish.
The EU only investigated whether certain regulations were followedf or not.
It did not investigate the disgusting stench of corruption which permeates the whole matter.
This story still has a long, long way to go.
PACm anyone?
[Daphne – BWSC Scandal: it’s become a proper noun now. My goodness.]
Incidentally ……
http://www.independent.com.mt/news.asp?newsitemid=116199
New name, new logo for the LP,
How about a new motto, ‘Ignorance is bliss’?
From timesofmalta.com
‘Former Prime Minister Karmenu Mifsud Bonnici was in Tripoli today to present the Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan with the Gaddafi International Prize for Human Rights.
The award was in the past given to Cuba’s Fidel Castro, Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez and in 2008 to Dom Mintoff.’
Joseph Micallef. Spot on my friend. He already declared that he will refund the VAT to those people who obeyed him and put their claim before the court, whatever the decision of the court would be.
Yes, this is highly dangerous. These things used to happen before 1987. We don’t want a repetition of those black days. Moreover, the EUR 50,000000 will be paid back to these people who bought a new car from our own taxes. This person is politacally unreliable.
Skandlu taf x’inhu? Meta bniedem responsabbli jghid li tkun xi tkun id-decizjoni tal-Qorti jien naghmel li rrid jien. Dak skandlu zgur. Jew inkella trid tkun korrott.
It is only Dr. Joseph Muscat and the PL who are alleging corruption about the BWSC and he failed to go to the Police Commissioner.
I assume if there was an indication of corruption the other bidders would have put forward a claim or else they would have reported the case to the police themselves.
This type of politics creates polorisation. Labour always alleges corruption and was never able to prove it. That is not healthy for a political party because you lose credibility.
That type of leadership is old-fashioned. We need mature politicians who tell us the truth and not create smoke on every development which is required for the islands.
“I assume if there was an indication of corruption the other bidders would have put forward a claim or else they would have reported the case to the police themselves.”
The Auditor’s Report clearly said that the losing bidders were NOT informed (in breach of regulations) about the result in time for them to lodge an appeal.
Try WIKILEAKS, Joseph – you might find something about the power station contract.
Oh, dear!
http://www.maltatoday.com.mt/news/national/government-%E2%80%98jumped-the-gun%E2%80%99-on-delimara-infringement-notice-%E2%80%93-ec-official
http://www.maltatoday.com.mt/news/national/evarist-bartolo-to-run-one-news-in-drastic-effort-to-reinforce-labour-media
Issa se nibdew nisimghu kif wiehed Hal Ghaxaq halla nofs tuzzana qaghaq ta’ l-ghasel fuq il-bonet tal-karozza u sa kemm dahal id-dar u hareg serquhomlu.
U m’ghandniex xi nghidu se nibqghu nisimghu fuq l-iskandlu tal-BWSC.
Xi hadd kien qal li iktar ma’ dan il-partit jiggeded iktar kollox jibqa’ l-istess!