I expect a telephone call of thanks from the prime minister’s personal assistant
The prime minister told Times of Malta yesterday that he did not know Shiv Nair – who had received a letter of appointment (as what was left unspecified) from his government – is debarred permanently by the World Bank.
I now expect a telephone call of thanks from his personal assistant, on his behalf, but I’m not holding my breath because those people have no manners to speak of.
When the flood of information about Nair – on this website – became too much for the prime minister and his men to ignore, or to dismiss as ‘internet claims by that one without a name’, the PM and Cardona, his economy minister, first denied knowing him and that he is a government consultant (“though he did arrange things in Qatar for Konrad Mizzi”) and have now been forced to admit that there is a letter of appointment.
Now that they can’t keep on pretending not to have known him or that he works for the Maltese government, the prime minister is trying something else: “I didn’t know he was blacklisted by the World Bank.” Not WAS, for heaven’s sake, but IS. The debarring is permanent. He’s still debarred as we speak.
This means one of two things.
1. The prime minister is lying yet again. He knew about Shiv Nair’s blacklisting by the World Bank but didn’t care and thought he could get away with it because Nair’s pre-electoral Chinese/former USSR cash, deals and connections were too tempting and were required to get into power and stay there for a while.
2. The prime minister really did not know about the blacklisting because no background checks were carried out on Nair. Here I do not mean due diligence, even. I did not commission a due diligence investigation on Nair. I simply used the internet and it was all right there. All you had to do was join the dots. If this is the case, then imagine the sort of background checks that are (not) going to be carried out on those people who will be queuing up to buy an EU passport from us.
I have to admit that I am as inclined towards ‘2’ as I am towards ‘1’. Like many people from his socio-cultural background, Muscat is impressed by money and by a certain kind of behaviour. And like many people from his socio-cultural background, he is unable to read or pick up on the clues and identifiers which give people away as being not what they seem. They tend to take those who impress them at face value and then look no further.
That’s why people like Nair hook themselves, in a European context, onto backwoods bunnies – because backwoods bunnies are naive about these things and become highly impressed by name-dropping, riches with no clear source, the wrong sort of contacts (except that people like Muscat don’t know they are) and overly smooth manners. The very things, in other words, which raise the antennae of people like me. Nair is fortunate in that he found a total backwoods bunny in the Opposition leadership, all set to win the election, to win it larger with his help and that of his powerful Chinese friends and associates. He saw Muscat for what he is, the people around him for what they are, and he latched onto them.
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http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20131010/local/pm-says.489762#.UlbmwTIaySM
Then what’s that tankard of liquid fat doing, working at the Office of the Prime Minister? Bedingfield is paid to do what, exactly?
Communications.
His job is to stay close and make the chubby, middle-aged prime minister look young and svelte.
When is one of our ‘so called journalists’ going to ask Joseph Muscat how long he has known Shiv Nair, how many times they have met and what his relationship with the MLP has been?
They are either afraid to ask or, automatically assume that Joseph will reply with one of his prerecorded answers -‘I don’t know’, ‘I’ll check on that and tell you later (never)’, ‘Who?’, etc.
They consider their time too precious to waste waiting for a sensible answer from Joey.
They should do it on Xarabank, but Peppi might just disappear a few hours before the recording starts.
Mr. Prime Minister, now that you know about Nair’s permanent blacklisting by the World Bank, what are you going to do? Just carry on?
How is it that neither you or any of your entourage found out the truth about him?
Everything that your government is doing, is anything but what was promised in your electoral programme and propaganda. Shame on you all.
I hear a cock crowing all over this, three times or more. What does Nair have to say? Not that I would want to believe a fraud.
It’s probably a combination of the two points you raised. He met Nair, was impressed and was then taken over by his smoothness and promises to such an extent that when he found out about the blacklisting, decided it didn’t matter.
Very much like a woman who is told that her boyfriend is a rich, notorious cheat who humped and dumped X others during their relationship but goes on to marry him anyway, because she’s desperate for the riches promised. That makes it very predictable as to what will happen next.
He refers to due diligence he cannot even spell it let alone follow the procedures it involves.
Why do I get the impression that this man is a one big LIE. Maybe because of his fake facial expressions?
That the prime minister did not know of Shiv Nair being blacklisted is NO EXCUSE. He as prime minister should have demanded a DUE DILIGENCE as is normal with serious organisations let alone a government.
If he insists that he did not know and expects us to swallow that, then he is not fit to be prime minister.
And dear journalists, do your job and do not accept a ‘case closed’ imposition. There is too much at stake, and in any case, it’s your job.
I would definitely go for Option 1. There’s no way that JM did not know that Nair is blacklisted. He just thought that everyone is as dumb as the 180,000 (I forget the exact number) who voted for him, and that he would never be found out.
I think that JM may be from the sticks but he’s not naive. His downfall was that he prides himself too much about his ‘makakkerija’.
This reminds me of two of Bill Clinton’s famous statements:
“I experimented with marijuana a time or two … I didn’t inhale” and, on Monica Lewinski, “I did not have sexual relations with that woman.”
spot on
The PM is still in denial. Unbelievable.
The public is entitled to be told how Joseph Muscat came to know about Shiv Nair, the services that he could offer, and how this justified his recruitment.
Was there an intermediary? Was any check made on the credentials of Nair and any intermediary?
As things stand, Joseph Muscat is projecting a very poor image of his suitability to be the nation’s prime minister.
I am sure that Muscat has simply shown terrible judgement and sheer incompetence by not knowing who he was dealing with. Figuratively speaking, in times of need he bedded everyone and anyone who could rocket him and PL into majority, later finding himself unable to renege on existing arrangements once he he realised who his sleeping partners were.
What is so sad is that ever since their marginal victory in 2008 the PN was doomed, perhaps saved only by the promise of a reduction in tax rates, that never came during the next legislature. They then went on to make a bad situation worse with sundry project belly flops, the proliferation of systematic corruption (even if only alleged) and in-fighting.
All Muscat had to do was sit pretty, smile and wait without selling his soul (and us). Victory was assured without the need for the PL hype and marketing overkill. Now we all left with nothing else to do but grin and bear the consequences of Muscat’s pre-electoral deals.
Keep smiling, Daphne…
The secrecy about this Nair affair from Castille makes me believe BOTH 1 AND 2.
Tilhaq tixjieh sakemm jirringrazzjawk, and that’s only if they are men enough to acknowledge your findings.
Don’t hold your breath!
Did you get the call, Daphne?
If Joseph Muscat can, he will give you two blows for every time he thinks you are striking him, and with all his strength where it hurts. Expect what he threatened Norman Vella with.
Take care, Daphne.
It is disgusting that the Prime Minister thinks he can get away with simply saying “I didn’t know”. He’s the prime minister. He CANNOT not know because he is governing the country.
It is almost better if he is lying since at least that would mean that he had a particular plan (even though a sinister one) rather than being plain negligent.
Don’t bother. He will lie about it.
Correction: His Excellency Mr. Konrad Mizzi visited Qatar in July 2013, not in May 2013. Any inconvenience is regretted.
I correct this again. His Excellency Mr. Konrad Mizzi actually visited Qatar in May 2013 and in July 2013. However, my reference above is to the July 2013 visit. That’s better.
Minister Mizzi is set to rack up the air miles. He’s now got another reason to do so.
Nair is on the same World Bank debarment list as the Chinese Company that is doing Muscat a favour – his assessment, not mine – by running a feasibility study for a bridge between Malta and Gozo.
Muscat had said that investigating China Communications Construction Company wasn’t necessary, and that the blacklisting doesn’t matter, because the company’s ultimate owner is China. The claim is incorrect, and not only because it is illogical.
What are the odds that Nair was the one who had introduced the company to Muscat? At least one of his friends at two of his companies are on the same list. Pradeep Menon is permanently debarred. So are two of Nair’s companies – Amani B. P. Limited, later renamed Lonestar Supplies and Logistics (PVT) Limited, and Consultants for International Development.
If Muscat had ever bothered to look at that World Bank list, or had someone do it for him, they might have noticed that Nair was there too.
Maybe he did, and thought he’d get away with it.
Muscat also missed this World Bank press release:
http://go.worldbank.org/FRJKZ5VAC0
World Bank Announces Debarment of Individual and Three Corporations
Press Release No:99/2138/S
Contact: Merrell Tuck (202) 473-9516
WASHINGTON, April 8, 1999 The World Bank today debarred Pradeep S. Nair and three corporations registered in Great Britain. Under the terms of the Bank’s decision, Mr. Nair and the corporations, Crown Sakura, Ltd., Chase Berkeley Cavendish, Ltd., and Amani B.P., Ltd., are permanently ineligible to be awarded Bank-financed contracts.
In ordering debarment, World Bank Group President James D. Wolfensohn acted on the recommendation of the Bank’s Sanctions Committee, which reviewed the record of investigation into allegations that fraudulent activities occurred in 1995 in connection with two procurements relating to the supply of computer equipment to agencies of the Government of Turkmenistan. Although the charges were disputed, the Sanctions Committee found violations of Paragraph 1.15 of the World Bank’s procurement guidelines (see box below), which prohibits corrupt or fraudulent practices in the procurement and execution of Bank-financed contracts.
The World Bank is committed to eliminating fraud and corruption in the administration and execution of its financing activities. Under the direction of Mr. Wolfensohn and as part of the Bank’s overall anti-corruption initiative, substantial resources are being devoted to the detection and investigation of fraud and corruption. These initiatives are on-going, and the Bank will continue to publicize the imposition of sanctions.
Joseph Muscat denied that Shiv Nair is “his” advisor, emphasising the fact that Nair was Konrad Mizzi’s advisor at least for the Qatar visit.
So yes, Muscat still has to answer the questions put by QahbuMalti, and that would make an interesting story.
Has Shiv Nair got a Maltese passport? I have been told he got one during the PN government.
[Daphne – Who told you that? Nair is a resident of Malta, not a Maltese citizen. The fact that his identity card ends with A, not M, should tell you that he is not a citizen but a resident (A)lien. Maltese citizens have M or G ID numbers.]
ID nr 40711A is in the name of Shiv Preyan Shanker.
I think I saw ID card numbers ending with an L.
[Daphne – L is the new letter, with the Ms all used up. So they’re all children so far.]
There should be a special letter for those who buy their citizenship.
People born post-1999 have got ID card numbers ending in ‘L’.
On a different note, This is how people are treated in China.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2454131/Chinese-man-amputates-leg-save-hospital-bills.html
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20131011/local/eu-needs-to-change-approach-pm.489913#.UlgFXNKBnug
“The EU needs to change its approach and open up its economy to become a global leader” said the expert in opening up economies and world leadership…
Wasn’t PM Muscat one of those who didn’t even want Malta to open up its economy to the EU because of fear of invasion by Sicilian hairdressers?
There you go. The voice of China in the EU… The puppet of China in the EU.
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20131011/local/eu-needs-to-change-approach-pm.489913
It was incredible yesterday as he first stated there’s no contract, just a letter of appointment (whatever that is), then confirming Nair was in it for 6,000 euros, which he’s not getting.
I mean, how does Muscat manage to keep up with his fibs?
And what’s with needing this Nair to get in touch with Qatari ‘high ranking officials’? Lawrence Gonzi had talks with the Emir himself last year.
Seems Muscat’s in a hurry, and every Nair gets to play contact.
A letter of appointment is, effectively, a contract. It states that X has been engaged on Y terms for Z months. It is not a precursor to a contract, as Muscat has tried to make out to wipe the egg off his face.
What is interesting is that Nair chose Grindlays as the name for one of his companies, not without purpose.
Grindlays Bank was in fact the biggest and most respected British overseas bank in the Indian sub-continent.
I joined ‘Grindlays’ in the 1970s after it had changed its name from the National Bank of India Limited to National and Grindlays Bank Limited.
That bank later dropped the ‘National’ part and became Grindlays Bank again. Grindlays Bank was originally founded in the mid 1800s (like British-North Borneo in 1881, another name Nair took) and as with the British North Borneo Company, the Grindlays name fell into disuse in 1974 and guess what, Shiv Nair took it up.
These were blue chip names familiar to everyone in business and which I am sure have proved useful in their second life with Nair. Without doing due diligence on the companies one could easily be led into assuming that Nair’s companies go back a long time in history, which they do not.
You don’t need due diligence. A google search will turn up the evidence that Nair has a personal name and a non-trading company for every day of the week. He scored a hat trick of triple debarment by the World Bank – him personally, and two of his companies- and followed that up with another debarment under a different alias.
Never have we been governed by such a bunch of BIG liars.
Why is Bog Gledinfield always up close?
He is not, he just looks that way, larger than life.
The prime minister should know that if in negotiating deals your consultant is being paid peanuts or nothing at all, then it is probable that he is being paid by others with whom you may be negotiating.
So instead of looking for your interests he would be looking for the other party’s interests with whom you are negotiating. What shortsightedness.
Nair doesn’t work for Malta. His commitment is to his China paymaster.
http://investing.businessweek.com/research/stocks/private/person.asp?personId=145562659&privcapId=145526058&previousCapId=145526058&previousTitle=British%20Borneo%20Holdings%20Ltd
Mr. Nair specializes in developing major infrastructure projects utilizing Chinese EXIM credit.
http://english.eximbank.gov.cn/
Founded in 1994, the Export-Import Bank of China is a state bank solely owned by the Chinese government and under the direct leadership of the State Council.
Look what’s coming out of poor Hugh’s tap. He’ll ask for Konrad’s scalp very soon I believe.
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10200838057218146&set=a.3380765482336.2132486.1365398544&type=1
“Now that they can’t keep on pretending not to have known him or that he works for the Maltese government, ”
I wouldn’t be so sure that he is (or was) ever working for the Maltese government. Being paid by it (that is us) most probably yes.
You will soon get the blame for Konrad’s failure to reduce the electricity bills.
Just wait and see.
Someone put up a post on Facebook on how to tell through the person’s eye movements when he/she is making something up. In other words not telling the truth.
When a right-handed person looks very often to the right, that means that he/she is making things up. When a person blinks his/her eyes very often, that means that he/she is telling an untruth.
Take a look at the video and judge for yourselves.
Il-vera ghandna gurnalisti nofs kedda.
This is the worst claim – jekk miniex sejjer zball, xi 6000 euro fis-sena.
I agree totally with what you wrote, Daphne, but I am of the opinion that the prime minister (kindly note I omitted ‘our’) is a cheap liar.
[Daphne – Whether you like it or not, the fact remains that he is our prime minister, not ‘theirs’.]
One must ask, where is the Government’s MLRO in all this?
The FIRST thing you do before transacting business with anyone is a KYC – and this applies to both clients and consultants.
Also, for all the back water bunnies, a letter of appointment and a contract are one and the same thing when dealing with consultants. A letter of appointment is a contract as it defines the terms and conditions of the service.
I am baffled by the fact that this Shiv guy got paid not a cent more than EUR 6000 to attract such big business to Malta. Where’s the catch?
Nair’s earnings are brokerage commissions on intra- and trans national deals, and profits on cutting those deals himself. The 6,000 payment from Malta enterprise is what you could call a beard, i.e. an attempt at disguise.
If Nair was serious, his reputation solid, everything above-board and the ethics and objectives clean, it’s the daily rate or part thereof that should be a €6,000 minimum with a high-level British consultant.
I think Joseph Muscat is going to surprise us come November http://di-ve.com:8080/news/mepa-photographing-all-houses
Dak Glenn Bedingfield hemm? Apparti li kompla jitqawwa, jidher imhasseb sew. U bir-ragun ghax tant beda joqghod attent kif iwiegeb u jipprova jistahba wara subajgh li sthajjiltu San Bastjan jipprova jizgicca mill-vlegeg li qed jara gejjin lejh.
Am I correct to assume that Shiv Nair owns property at Portomaso? Portomaso, like similar other projects, with the sky high property prices, is considered to be a specially designated area, and thus, any foreigner wanting to buy property there, does not require the so called AIP permit. This means that, Nair, as a prospective buyer, did not go through the usual checks and balances from the Police in Malta, like other foreign buyers do. Is it time to revise this SDA policy, since it could be abused of?
Nair has an address at Portomaso.
He is probably taken up with preparations at Girgenti Palace for Soleil-and-Etoile’s birthday party.
It is imperative that pressure on this subject be kept up. Malta’s journalists (if there are any) should do their job properly; not just get pain to say “yes sir, yes sir”
Methinks the man doth protest too much.
The PM is adamant that Shiv Nair was not paid by the government. Nair does not strike me as being a person who does anything for nothing.
So the question to the PM should have been – so who has paid for Nair’s services?
Introductions, expertise, travelling, lobbying and wheeling and dealing all cost a great deal, especially when undertaken by a man who allegedly has a global reputation of being a Mr. Fixit.
Unless Nair suddenly became a philanthropist, and that seems highly unlikely, we have to presume that someone else is footing his bill.
I suspect that because of the inability of this government to be honest and transparent we shall probably never know, but we can speculate.
Anybody got a smoking gun?
When caught in the act, the snake-oil artist will always first deny any knowledge.
Then he will cast the blame on someone else.
This one scam was brought to light early.
This is so sad.
Joseph Muscat, the Prime Minister of Malta has managed to turn a huge human tragedy involving loss of lives in Maltese waters into yet another media opportunity to criticise the European Union and to present Malta as the victim. Isn’t this disgraceful?
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20131011/local/migrants.489932
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-24502467
A Prime Minister who is this insensitive in delicate moments like this is truly sickening.
And what for is Alternattiva Demokratika praising the Prime Minister? Has Alternattiva been drinking the famous Kool Aid as well?
http://www.maltatoday.com.mt/en/newsdetails/news/national/Muscat-finally-talking-politics-AD-20131012
Can’t the PM realise that the key issue here is not the EU, but the situation in Syria, or in the other countries of origin or transit, of the immigration?
Rather than ranting about the EU, he should have turned on George Vella, who was standing next to him in the doorway of the Auberge de Castille where he delivered a press conference while the human tragedy was still unfolding, and should have told him to work relentlessly to solve the Syrian crisis.
Thank God the PN have not opened their mouth as yet. They should stay clear from congratulating the government for its reaction, although they should show satisfaction with the ability of the armed forces to save the lives of many persons while showing sadness for the loss of many other lives. This is what the Prime Minister should have been talking about last night.
http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/immigrants-buy-visas-in-latvia-as-europe-locks-out-the-poor-a-926543.html
“With programs like these, Europe is losing its credibility,” says Birgit Sippel, security and migration policy spokeswoman for the parliamentary group of Germany’s center-left Social Democratic Party (SPD).
Interesting to note that the PL’s German socialist partners in the Party of European Socialists (PES) are not too keen on the idea of selling citizenship. How long is it going to take the PES to kick the PL out? What place does a National Socialist party have in the PES ask?
You have got to hand it to him though. Managing to get all these top shots working for him for free or for next to nothing is no mean feat.
John Dalli is the hospital consultant pro bono. His daughter assisting him for free. There are others which I’m not bothering to list. And then there’s Mr. Nair, a consultant with connections to governments offering his services for, ‘Jekk miniex sejjer zball’ Eur6000.
Now compare that to evil GonziPN. They used to pay more than one and a half times that amount to ‘In-Nemusa’ for his services as a public convenience attendant in Spinola. Pure genius Joseph, pure genius.
Never in the history of the world have so many lies been fed to so many people using so few words. Sorry, dear Winston. Iraq’s own ‘Comical Ali’ did not manage to tell so many lies in one press conference. This boy from Burmarrad is truly amazing.
Finance Minister in Washington for World Bank, IMF meeting:
Maybe the Minster should ask about the status of his government’s energy consultant.
Have you ever needed talcum and asked the chemist for an ice cube ? Who was it that was grammatically wrong and thought that block meant a block of ice ? Who was it that mistook white powder for dust ? Is it then a wonder that someone does not know if a man is black listed or not ? Is it a wonder that in a day`s time we will be told case closed ? The litany of questions goes on and on. Someone must be colour blind not recognising WHITE powder and BLACK list. Surprise surprise.
Useful also to notice how some of Joseph Muscat Tweets are worded. I recognise the style, and the vocabulary.