A spine-chilling scandal – and yet, instead of reporting it, Malta Today colludes in it
The Police Commissioner had better release a statement first thing tomorrow, telling us that he had nothing to do with a classified police file ending up in Saviour Balzan’s hands. If he doesn’t, we’re going to have to assume that he had a hand in it.
Today I read Malta Today’s extensive report on Inspector Elton Taliana and others, in which the newspaper quoted police documents. To my great horror, I realised immediately that I was reading classified information from an investigation file – the sort of papers so privileged in terms of confidentiality that they cannot even be presented in court.
It took a while for the reality to sink in. Here we had the police deliberately leaking their own classified files, files which they cannot even display in court, to Saviour Balzan, so as to mount the pressure against one of their own police officers who had arraigned the culprit in a robbery when they had already ‘framed’ somebody else.
Let us be clear here. Let us be really clear. This is not whistleblowing. This is not the work of a whistleblower. These are the police themselves leaking classified information on an investigation, to a government-friendly newspaper, to bolster the government’s assault on one police officer who, by arraigning the real culprit, inadvertently exposed the fact that a vulnerable individual had been ‘framed’ for the same crime.
This is a spine-chilling scandal. If the police, under the new Police Commissioner and the new Police Minister, find no ethical, moral or legal restraints in leaking classified information to damage their victims and serve their own purposes, then they will do the same to anyone in any situation. Nobody is safe.
And Saviour Balzan, presented with classified information which he knows has been leaked by the police for the sole purpose of helping the people in authority by damaging a police officer, instead of reporting this scandal as the real news that it is, misses the point completely and focuses instead on the content of what was leaked, because he too has it in for this man Elton Taliana.
And as we know by now, when Balzan develops a passionate hatred for somebody, he loses all sense of news value and perspective, and his personal axe-grinding takes over the newsroom and the newspaper.
Note to Malta Today: the real news is not the content of the classified information which the police leaked to you. The real news is that the police wanted to leak classified information to you to damage one of their own and bolster the Police Minister’s chief of staff. THAT’S the story, and Saviour Balzan’s axes with Elton Taliana be damned.
How do I know for a fact that the file which the police leaked to Saviour Balzan is classified and can’t even be shown in court? I checked, with my sources in the police.
What is most astonishing (and frightening) is that a whole day has gone by without a statement from the Police Commissioner as to how a classified police file ended up in Saviour Balzan’s hands.
Unless he makes a statement to the contrary, we’re going to have to assume from his silence that he had a hand in it.
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Are the Police back to the times of Police Commissioner Lawrence Pullicino?
Alas the answer is a BIG YES.
Not at all back to the times of Police Commissioner Pullicino. They are much worse. Let us not forget that these incompetent lot have been at the helm for less than 6 months.
Of course it is, Ciccio – we knew all along that it was bound to happen with Labour in power, didn’t we?
I must confess that I did not expect it to happen in the first six months. I was very wrong.
So we have two ‘framed’ people here:
Luke Daryl Borg – by the Police Department to cover a mistake by one of its incompetent members.
Inspector Taliana – first by Saviour Balzan, seven years ago and unsuccessfully. Today aided by the Police through the release of classified files with the aim of damaging his reputation.
Spine-chilling indeed.
Peppi Azzopardi is surely investigating this scandal thoroughly and will expose new details in his first Xarabank come October.
Any bets he will not.
Oh yes, hold your breath!
Maybe he’ll be busy with Joseph Chetcuti’s violin.
Why assume that there will be Xarabank ?
Issa naraw id-differenza li ha jaghmel Peppi Azzopardi jekk jerga jibda Xarabank.
This really sucks. Down to the depths we go.
We’re well on the way down the slippery slope. This sort of thing is not only scandalous and shameful, it is downright scary.
Everybody who values their freedom of thought and action should be very, very worried. Is this the change that formerly PN voters voted for?
Something stinks and it’s not just Mallia’s fountain bath water…
Well said, Daphne. The leaking of these official documents is a criminal act (art. 144 of the Criminal Code and art. 4(2)(b) of the Official Secrets Act).
Now, who’s going to carry out the investigation once the higher echelons of the Police Corps must have been involved in this deliberate leak of an official file?
Under normal circumstances, a magisterial inquiry would be carried out immediately and the Police Commissioner would also order an internal inquiry to establish how this leak took place. But these are anything but normal circumstances.
The reins of power in Malta are in the hands of ‘pimps, thieves and scoundrels’
This blog is putting the PN to shame.
I agree. PN honeymoon qieghdin. Fejn hu Beppe? Spirtu bhalu kif jibqa kwiet?
I keep hoping against hope that Daphne is wrong here.
I am almost in denial.
I never dreamt we would reach this appalling situation in less than six months.
How naïve I have been.
Once again you are proving that as a journalist you are in a class on your own; others simply read your blog, slightly rephrase contents, and report article in their newspapers and TV.
At first I thought that we’re back to the golden days, but as I see it, it’s going to be much worse.
Apart from Dr. Jason Azzopardi, where is the opposition?.
Back to the dark days; when people whispered in the ears rather than spoke openly; when people looked over their shoulders; when people hid from view particular newspapers they and just purchased; when people felt their freedom threatened. And nothing from the supposedly free English speaking press! And I am not talking about that rag Malta Today, run by the most outrageous, self-righteous and disgusting Saviour Balzan.
What about TVM news? Where is Reno Bugeja, this great journalist who since being appointed head of news at PBS has shown his true colours?
It seems that Dr Peter Gatt, a geologist who speaks his mind out has unearthed another scandal this time from the Alfred Sant administration when Joe Mizzi was responsible for oil exploration (he is presently also responsible for oil exploration).
Joe Mizzi, known for his parsimony with everyone, may want to explain why he squandered a staggering 33 million euro of public funds on his pipe dream, the Madonna taz-Zejt well drilled in Gozo by ENI which he commissioned in 1998 and became the deepest dry oil well in the Mediterranean.
We heard about the TOTAL oil importation scandal now reviewed by the Public Accounts committee. Could this blast from the past become the ENI oil scandal which the PL must explain ?
See interview on today’s Independent newspaper:
http://www.independent.com.mt/articles/2013-08-26/news/madonna-taz-zejt-well-was-a-33m-blunder-2423128067/
I have a feeling that, like all the other scandals in these last months, this too will also be reported without comment and then forgotten.
Unless the PN finally decide to be an active and effective Opposition, nothing more will be said and done about this and all the other issues.
One would need to question how deep down Saipem really went. Did they really go 8km down, or were they simply pretending to be digging while the government passed the money to their account?
On the other hand, this present Labour government continues to dig itself into a hole, so there is a possibility that they will break the Mediterranean record of 8 kilometres. It was reported in the media this morning that an earthquake off the coast of Gozo was 10 km deep, so maybe Joseph Muscat is planning to keep digging until he finds himself in seismic territory to deliver his promised earthquake.
Peter Gatt is one of Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando’s buddies with a grudge against anyone that does not think that he is God’s answer to all geological problems.
This article implies that minister Mizzi should employ him as a consultant or to head the petroleum division (or better still set up a special agency and offer him a 94k salary to be at par to his buddy Pullicino Orlando). Once we have his services, we shall find oil.
Well done Daphne.
This is the style that the police used in the time of Nardu Debono. The sad thing is that it’s just been six months and not 16 years and that the conspiracy includes many faces who in the time of Nardu Debono were on the right side of history.
Is it for this reason that it is cool to be part of this (Bowel) Movement? This is exactly why we cannot bury the past as it will always come back to bite sooner or later.
It is our tragedy that people were not all to judge characters and track record accordingly to make the right choices in the polling-booth. Like unsophisticated shoppers in undeveloped societies, they just believed the advertising.
Where is Simon Busuttil when he’s needed?
Who?
Meanwhile, if it was not right to have Marlene Farrugia as a voluntary co-Minister of Health, I cannot see why a former EU Commissioner in charge of EU tobacco policy and who travels regularly to the Bahamas to meet persons like Lady Bird on philantropic projects in Africa should be the effective voluntary Health Minister. And this with the consent (actually, at the request) of the effective Parliamentary Secretary of Health, Dr. Godfrey Farrugia, who also happens to be a partner of Marlene Farrugia.
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20130826/local/john-dalli-daughter-working-at-mater-dei-on-voluntary-basis.483583
The clowns keep trying to amuse us, without success.
Saviour Balzan had published an article about the arson attacks. The article included a picture of burning tyres and hinted that Norman Lowell and/or the people around him were responsible although he had very fixed ideas as to who he suspected.
This is serious enough to warrant a press conference by Simon Busuttil.
Yes, after the next church festa!
” Something is rotten in the State of Denmark”. – Hamlet
I am lost for words. And this is only after 6 months in power. What is it going to be like in two years time? Are we going to be systematically silenced into submission? Are we going to be held at ransom from another and “improved” version of Mintoff?
This is insane.
From my point of view, perhaps Simon Busutill should resign in favour of Jason Azzopardi. It’s time to get tough.
seconded
True, nothing much is being heard from Simone Busuttil. However, it is not just him. What about Mario De Marco and Beppe Fenech Adami? They seem to have withdrawn from public discussions. Why?
I sincerely hope the young ones who voted Joseph taste the unease. Do we know it.
The shape of things to come, if this one was a blunder, the rehearsal put the method to cover up in place.
If there’s any standards left, Mallia has to go.
There were never any standards to start off with.
Cannot see why so many people are surprised at what is happening. I, for one, am not and expect much worse.
I too expected much worse.
Only not so soon.
The Opposition must show to the faithful supporters who voted for it to represent them in parliament that it is up to the job entrusted to it. This does not apply to Jason Azzopardi.
Malta today article; name withheld, of a well known criminal from St Paul’s Bay, but then oops, by mistake they give the surname, Rapa, Malta is small, very easy to get to know who they are referring to and to which current labour MP this well known criminal is related to.
Dan kollu l-poplu Malti gabu b’idejh – ma jisthoqqilnix ahjar
Sorry mate I am part of a minority and that clearly means that I did not vote for these crass chavs that are sending all to the pits .
That seems to be Saviour Balzan’s and the MLP police entrenched way of doing things. Make wild unproven allegations, assume that since they were investigated they must have been true because that is what suits the Labour movement, assume preposterously that what had been glibly alleged must be the truth without any need to prove it and destroy the innocent victim as if the case against him had been proved when it wasn’t.
If these files are that much of classified material and were leaked by the Police themselves, than we are really in great danger of having practically no administration of justice or worse no protection.
The Government is fully responsible for Justice, which is and will always be the firmest pillar of the Administration. We hope who is responsible for this will be accountable and action is taken, otherwise “missejna l-qiegh”.
As usual Daphne, spot on. Yes, spine chilling albeit as expected. There go freedom and security down the drain
What a shame for Malta.
It appears from an outsider’s view that Malta is rapidly going down the same path as Mugabe’s government and in-house thugs.
These are the sort of events we might not be surprised to hear about from the depths of Africa.
In Malta I know of good people doing good jobs who have recently been pushed out and replaced by morons who then have the cheek to phone up and ask their predecessors how to do their work.
The Maltese as a nation have to stand up and be counted or face a return to the dark old days.
Ladies and gentlemen, now it is up to you.
Unless the present Commissioner of Police intends to follow in the footsteps of his MLP predecessor Lawrence Pullicino, he would be very wise to emulate the Bencinis, Tonna etc to retire and continue to enjoy his pension a.s.a.p. before he collects more rotten egg on his face and before he too comes to a sticky end.