A few wild guesses:

the down payment was electoral campaign finance, directly or indirectly;

the installments are paid in votes that got Muscat into power – not bought votes, mind you, just those of the wilfully blind and the genuinely ignorant.

Mintoff had sold Malta to Gaddafi who then controlled Malta’s foreign policy directly for a decade and a half, and indirectly after that.

Muscat would have continued the tradition if Gaddafi hadn’t inconveniently been deposed. He’d already signed an agreement with Gaddafi a week after becoming Leader of the Opposition, flew back in a private jet courtesy of Gaddafi, and boasted about it on his return.

Gaddafi was deposed. China wasn’t.

If the Prime Minister, himself, is also working for China where and how much was his down-payment and where and how are the installments paid?

How many people are running charitable projects in Africa?

Honestly, there are always other options but doing away with transparency was a convenient way of getting the plane to land upside down.

Just as “Pradeep Nair, known as Shiv” represents China but picks up a tiny consultancy fee from Malta Enterprise just the same, how can one ever be sure who else – or which other groupings – has/have “invested” a fee for success with the Chinese on whatever project, and what the personal return is expected to be?

If the investors with a local Malta connection have a Board position where this would be considered unethical, do we consider the rest of that Board, whether international or local, to be a willing player?

What is Borg Marks meant to be an expert on?

And finally it drops.

The DOI, as fed by Kurt Farrugia.

http://www.maltatoday.com.mt/en/newsdetails/news/national/Meet-the-Michelles-20130927

Who is feeding this sh*t to the media?

[Daphne – Maltatoday’s report is marginally more honest: she “attended a luncheon hosted by”]