John Bundy f'Hollywood? Il-Pixtu got there first, with Saadi Gaddafi's money
Saadi Gaddafi - Joe Sammut does his bidding and looks after his money in Malta
Some truffling through Tony Zarb’s online archives pulls of all sorts of evidence that Joe Sammut was hard at work blowing apart his own self-declared commitment to professional secrecy while beavering away as a columnist for L-Orizzont.
Typically of somebody of his generation and locked-in mentality, he forgets that anything printed in a newspaper now goes online and is accessible to anyone who looks from the comfort of a sofa or desk, and not just the sort of credulous village idiots who read L-orizzont.
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Yesterday, I posted this:
Tghid Il-Pixtu ta’ Kurci jaf xi haga dwar in-Natural Selection ta’ Saadi Gaddafi?
GADDAFI MONEY CASTS SHADOW IN HOLLYWOOD
Published: Wednesday, 9 Mar 2011 | 2:39 AM
The New York Times
Michael Cieply
Things have gotten chilly here for Natural Selection, the film production company backed by Col. Muammar el-Gaddafi’s son Saadi.
On its office line, a recorded message has been the only answer for much of the last week. Outside the company’s suite on Sunset Boulevard — across the street from the Hustler store and under a billboard promoting the Jerry Weintraub documentary “His Way” — a parking spot identified as Natural Selection’s is blocked by a battered white van with four flat tires. (An attendant’s notice taped to the back is dated Feb. 2.)
And Mathew Beckerman, the producer who made a splash in Variety last year with word that he had rounded up $100 million in financing for the company from Mr. Gaddafi and others, is suddenly getting a very cold shoulder.
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A bit of rummaging in L-orizzont’s closet and there it was: Joe Sammut’s boasting about his trips to Sunset Boulevard for a demanding client.
L-Orizzont – It-Tnejn 20 ta’ April 2009
Joe Sammut
Ma kellix il-ħsieb li fi tmiem il-ġimgħa nillarga minn hawn. Xtaqt li nqatta’ s-Sibt u l-Ħadd id-dar mal-familja. Ftit trankwillità ma tagħmilx ħsara. Aktar u aktar wara l-uragan li ħloqt. Imma ma kellux ikun. Donnu li dan l-aħħar l-affarijiet, miegħi, saru imprevedibbli. Telefonata, żewġ ġekalatorji u qrara bir-‘reverse’ u ftit sigħat wara, dritt għal fuq l-ajruplan. Destinazzjoni Los Angeles (LA).
Jien ma jdejjaqni assolutament xejn. Imma li tivvjaġġa ġurnata sħiħa ’l hemm u oħra sħiħa ’l hawn ma nirrakomandaha lil ħadd. Erba’ xhur ilu kont Los Angeles ukoll. U fi tliet snin inkun mort tliet darbiet. B’xi mod jew ieħor u wkoll għax ninteressa ruħi, din il-belt sabiħa u kerha f’salt, sirt nafha sewwa. It-toroq sirt nafhom. L-ismijiet tal-postijiet l-istess. Għadd ta’ Maltin u Għawdxin ikkupjawhom bħal “Arcadia”, “Alhambra” u oħrajn.
Wara xi 11-il siegħa minn Munich u xi 17-il siegħa minn Malta, m’hemmx għalfejn ngħidu, kelli seba’ mitt sena sakemm nasal il-lukanda. Min talabni mmur LA ħasibli għal post tajjeb. Anzi tajjeb iżżejjed. Il-Beverly Hills fuq Sunset Boulevard. Faċċata ta’ Rodeo Drive. Kollox sabiħ. Twapet u ċerimonji li jimpressjonaw lil ħafna. Mhux lili imma. Għandi età u esperjenza biżżejjed biex nagħraf li mhux kull ma jleqq hu deheb.
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Here’s the translation:
I had no intention of going abroad this weekend. I wanted to spend Saturday and Sunday at home with my family. A bit of tranquillity doesn’t do any harm, more so after the hurricane I created. But it wasn’t to be. It seems that matters have become unpredictable with me of late. A telephone call, two (gekalatorji – does anyone know what these are?) and a confession in reverse, and a few hours later, I’m straight onto a plane. Destination Los Angeles (LA).
That doesn’t bother me at all. BUt travelling for an entire day on the outward leg and another day on the return journey isn’t something I would recommend. Four months ago I was in Los Angeles too. In the last three years I have been there three times. In one way or another, and also because I take an interest, I have come to know this city, which is at once beautiful and ugly, very well. I have come to know the streets and the names of places. A lot of Maltese and Gozitans have copied those names, like Arcadia, Alhambra and others.
After a journey of 11 hours from Munich and about 17 hours from Malta, it goes without saying that I longed to get to my hotel. The person who asked me to go to LA had done me proud. Too proud. It was the Beverley Hills hotel on Sunset Boulevard, right in front of Rodeo Drive. Everything was beautiful there – carpets and formalities which were very impressive. Not to me, though. I am old enough and experienced enough to know that not all that glitters is gold.
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The link to his article:
http://www.l-orizzont.com/news2.asp?artid=52776
And something else you might want to read in this context:
http://mafiatoday.com/general-breaking-news/qaddafis-son-bankrolls-mafia-killer-movie-while-father-clings-to-power/
In the original article on l-orizzont, Smokin’ Joe describes how the taxi driver gave him a lesson about political freedom and democracy.
“Jien ma niftakarx bl-eżatt x’qal imma li ried ifisser kien li dawn huma l-aktar affarijiet bażiċi, fundamentali, f’demokrazija vera. Speċi, “hawn ġbin… inti minn liema dittatura ġej biex qed tistaqsi mistoqsijiet sempliċi din il-kwalità”.”
Did the taxi driver have a hunch about the Pixtu’s connections, or is this another professional secrecy slip-up?
Gakulatorja is a prayer (http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giaculatoria). But he is probably using it as a euphemism of sorts for “swearing”.
…or imprecation….
“I have come to know the streets and the names of places. A lot of Maltese and Gozitans have copied those names, like Arcadia, Alhambra and others.”
Please, please don’t tell me that a man of his age and experience, who knows that all that glistens is not gold, thinks that Arcadia and Alhambra are Los Angelene names and that’s where the Maltese got them when naming their houses and supermarkets.
I despair. No wonder he votes Labour.
Joe Sammut, if you’re out there reading, here’s some information you will find useful:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alhambra
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arcadia
Nice to meet you, Cicca.
gakulatorja = exclamation (with a religious connotation eg. Lord have mercy on us)
I couldn’t believe what I was reading. Are there really people who write like this? And for what reason? I am still incredulous. Could it be maybe to brag to his readers? What a hollow jar.
I would like to know what confession in reverse is like. Did he forgive God (for creating him perhaps)? Or was he absolved first and repented later? What on earth?
[Daphne – I think what he meant is that he was on the receiving end of his client’s confession.]
I think it might be another euphemism for swearing, i.e. instead of confessing sins you commit them.
Wonka, dik kif qal Antoine: quddiesa b’seba ministri.
Did none of you get his oh-so-clever “reverse” pun? It’s because the confession was written in Arabic – of course!
Perhaps what he meant by ‘qrara bir-reverse’ is swearing.
Not good news for the rebels in Libya –
WASHINGTON, March 10 (Reuters) – U.S. Director of National Intelligence James Clapper said on Thursday that the better-equipped forces of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi will over the long term prevail.
Clapper told the Senate Armed Services Committee that Libyan forces loyal to Gaddafi were better equipped and had more logistical resources, and “over longer term, that the regime will prevail.”
http://af.reuters.com/article/energyOilNews/idAFWEN934520110310
Madonna santa, how naff this man is. He’s not impressed, because he’s seen it all before, jahasra, Pitxu ta’ Kurci!
Hmm Joe Sammut, not that I give a damn but just got a financial services company and many clients. Who cares if he rendered financial services to one of Gaddafi’s sons some years ago? Could he have refused the job back then? Using which excuse? “Sorry Sir I can’t work for you because you’re Gaddafi’s son”? That’s stupid.
In all probability Joe Sammut had no choice. He was treasurer of the MLP which, it seemed at the time, was financed by Gaddafi.
The point is that he hasn’t denied rendering services even now.
Could he have refused the job back then? A more appropriate question is: why didn’t he avoid being asked?
Your nick suits you down to a tee, Azzop. Il-vera kaz.
So, by the date of his article and his mention of various trips to LA, Mr. Sammut had been to LA in late 2008 and in April 2009.
I find it just a major coincidence that Natural Selection, the company sponsored by Gaddafi, was set up and financed in 2008.
http://www.thewrap.com/movies/ind-column/how-matty-met-saadi-and-got-him-invest-movies-17615
“A lot of Maltese and Gozitans have copied those names, like Arcadia, Alhambra and others.”
He probably thinks the Americans came up with the name Alhambra.
And Venice is the name of a hotel in Las Vegas.
…. and Rome is the name of a town in Atlanta.
And that Venice was named after Little Venice … or maybe that Queen Victoria was named after the capital city of Gozo..
Some time ago I watched on Italian TV Bin Ladin’s son. He was caught in the centre of Rome accompanied by an Asian lady wearing the most stretchable trousers ever and a tight-fitting leather jacket. We all know what the ladies in Afghanistan should wear.
Gaddaf’s daughter looks like a model. I saw various pictures of her on internet. There are no restrictions in Libya regarding clothing but most of the people are poor and lived all their lives in ignorance and definitely they cannot afford any extra luxuries.
This picture of Saadi makes me sick.
It is amusing that to think that a man who is “old enough and experienced enough” and who works for a Libyan actually believes that the name Alhambra originates in L.A.
He obviously knows little about Arabic culture and of the magnificence of Moorish architecture.
It is doubly amusing when you think that the literal English translation of the Arabic word Alhambra…’THE RED ONE’…………actually describes somebody else he works for.
A man with money with zero culture is indeed miserable