@DCG,
Regarding Sorkozy’s birthplace – I reread your post and you are right. As regards the rest, I stick to what I wrote.

My twenty years in Libya were ‘beautiful’ because I bothered to live among the people and NOT in a secure compound and along with my wife I used to go to public beaches. And no, I never partook of sundowners like the Kenyan settlers – these I left until later in the privacy of my house which was situated in a Libyan street in a Libyan city.

I retired and returned to Malta years ago but still remember the kindnesses and courtesy of the Libyan in the street. I was fully aware that the country was/is governed by a dictator, but since I was a guest in that country, I kept my opinions to myself.

[Daphne – You did not keep your opinions to yourself because you were a guest, George. You kept them to yourself for the same reason that your Libyan friends did: the serious consequences of speaking them out, even in private. And also because it is a criminal offence, punishable with a prison sentence, for a Libyan person to discuss ‘national policy’ with foreigners.]

The whole world had more than a clue of what really was going on and that includes governments – including ours. I was not, in any way trying to laud the Gadhafi regime, but simply to compliment the Libyan people and try to get across how dirty international politics is.

[Daphne – Libyan people are no different from Maltese people, Italian people, German people, Russian people, whatever; they are people. All human beings are the same; it is only customs and mores which are different. I cannot bear references to how nice and kind Libyan people are. That attitude is so very patronising – like the British tourists who write in to The Times to announce that Maltese people are really very friendly. You know, they don’t bite, like other sorts of animals.]

Oh and by the way, some of the expats you mention refer to Libyans as ragheads amongst other illustrious adjectives. They just go to work in Libya and call Libyans names while laughing all the way to the bank.

[Daphne – They did and do the same in Malta.]

@ Antoine Vella

My ‘ear to the ground’ told me a lot, but what can individuals do where governments and the whole world turn a blind eye? My situation was a lot like yours when the university you work for had ‘skambji ta’ ricerka u taghlim mal-Gvern Libjan.’

@ HP Baxxter

I do not have, nor ever had any ‘business’ contract/s, so please keep your comments to yourself. Actually they use the metric system, and I was paid in US dollars. I spent some of the years in Libya ‘representing’ our government in one of its ‘nefarious’ business deals with the Libyan regime.

They’re faced with claims to that effect from members of the electorate here in Malta. Their silence is deafining.

I am not morally convinced that the Partit Laburista would have issued any receipts, though.

I thought it was a cinema on ‘the Ferries’.

I wonder whether the Malta Labour Party can be as categorical as Sarkozy was in his denial, if faced with a similar claim from Seif.

gaul / gaulle… it’s all french to me …

George Mifsud, does your Libyan business contract stipulate payment per ounce of bullshit or do they use the metric system?

George Mifsud, did your “ear to the ground” tell you anything about the atrocities being commited while you were enjoying your beautiful years in Libya?

Of course, we will never know whether he made similar payments, if any, to the other candidates for the French elections, or to any other party in Europe, Partit Laburista included.

In all cases, I think Sarkozy can brush this off by saying that the standard European warranty period is of 2 years and therefore Saif can get stuffed with his receipts.