You know, it’s tough for this country …
…that because the newspapers don’t do their job properly and information is thin on the ground, people end up only being able to join the dots with hindsight, when it is way too late.
Looking back now, it is really tragic that journalists allowed themselves to be distracted by the embittered antics of a couple of rogue politicians and a pathetic arlogg tal-lira, when there was all this going on.
Muscat went to China three and a half years ago and met the most senior officials (who would ordinarily only meet representatives of the government, not the Opposition), and then the Labour Party announced that it had struck a bilateral deal with China. No newspaper bothered to chase him for details of the deal. Nobody even asked. He got away with it – as though it is normal for states to sign bilateral agreements with Opposition parties rather than with other states.
And now all the chickens have come home to roost, including this man who wrapped himself round Muscat’s neck soon after he became party leader and it became obvious that Labour would definitely win the next election.
Chinese Oil Major signs cooperation agreement with Maltese company
(I-Newswire) July 23, 2009 – Oil Intelligence understands that a Maltese Oil Company, British Borneo Petroleum, has signed an unusual cooperation agreement with Chinese Giant CNOOCI (China Offshore Oil Exploration Corporation Intl.) the largest offshore exploration company in China.
At first sight, the agreement raises more questions than it answers, but sources say that British Borneo Petroleum is the owned by British Borneo Holdings, the holding company of Malta based businessman Shiv Nair. In November last year we had highlighted Nair’s links with Kirsan Illyumzhinov, the President of Kalmykia, to whom he acts as special advisor. Nair was rumored to be the emissary of the Kremlin in the billion dollar deal to sell Oman’s shares in the Transcaspian pipeline to Russia. Neither Oman nor Transneft confirmed nor denied these rumors.
More recently, another company owned by British Borneo Holdings, Borneo Midmed, was involved in putting together a financing package using Chinese credit for building a railway line in the Caucasus from Georgia to Armenia. China railways are reputed to be the main contractors.
British Borneo Petroleum, which has an MOU with GNPC for the block adjacent to the giant Tullow block, is also reputed to be in discussions with CNPC, another Chinese major for the purchase of Kosmos’s block in the Jubilee field. Once again, Nair is reputed to be on close terms with the new government in Accra.
It would appear that CNOOC is getting unprecedented access to key decision makers in several African and South American countries, through British Borneo Petroleum, while the smaller Maltese company is getting all the benefits of Chinese financing and technological know-how. A win-win situation for all concerned
Svetlana Toma, Oil Intelligence
Company Name Itar Tass News
Company Address 26/1, Sofiyskaya Embankment, 1, GSP-8 117997, Moscow, Russia
Contact Details Svetlana Toma oil Intelligence
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We still don’t know what was in this agreement http://www.scribd.com/doc/128130324/Joseph-Muscat-says-he-signed-an-agreement-with-China-on-Malta-s-behalf-it-Torca-18APR2010
Muscat is on Saviour Balzan’s programme today. Shouldn’t he ask Muscat to explain himself?
No surprise there. Malta learned about Alex Sceberras Trigona secret agreement with N Korea years later and only after a change of government. That is Labour transparency for you!
We are now living in modern times when a leader of the opposition not only signs an agreement with the government of China, but he boasts about it in a newspaper article and no one raises hell.
ttp://www.i-newswire.com/chinese-oil-major-signs-cooperation/a310359
The following was published in 2007. It was issued by Ian Smith on behalf of Lonestar Corporation plc, a Nair company. The listed address is marked ‘confidential’ but the post code is given as W11 4UT, the same as several other Nair companies which are registered at 135 Holland Park Avenue in Notting Hill, London, UK.
Ian Smith’s contact number is listed as +35 6999493606, i.e. a Maltese mobile number.
The listed email address ian@lonestarplc.com is valid.
ian@lonestarplc.com
http://www.newswiretoday.com/news/15712/
Nair, who is the CEO of British Borneo Petroleum stated that the company was also in discussions with Brunei National Petroleum Company about jointly bidding for assets in Indonesia, India and Libya. Additionally, MidMed Upstream a contract operator in which British Borneo holds a 50% share has just signed a joint operating agreement with the Hi-Tech group of Sudan.
Now’s the time to start clearing up the mystery regarding where the funds for Labour’s lavish election campaign came from.
What is going to save us from these thieves. Shame on those who are collaborating with these thieves in Government.
Shiv Nair, real oligarchy, secret deals, push-backs, shameless political appointees, professional trolls/idiots trooping into the comment boards..we’re clearly heading away from Europe and into the arms of undemocratic states, using the same methods.
Don’t blame the government; blame those who elected them.
It’s gonna get a lot worse before it gets better.
They get rid of Chris Evans and bring in Shiv Nair. Great judgement.
Ghal min hu zghir, hemm zewg modi biss kif tghix: jew bl-onesta’, akkost li tbati imma zzomm rasek ‘il fuq, jew bid-dizonesta’ li hi iktar komda imma riskjuza ghax kulhadd jistmerrek u ma jafdakx.
Il-partit laburista dejjem ftahar li jrid l-ahjar ghal Malta. Dejjem webbel lin-nies li nistghu nghixu ahjar jekk inhallu f-idejh. Kulmeta l-poplu afdhom hlief tgerfix (tbazwir) u konsegwenzi koroh ma rajniex.
Fi zmien Mintoff, l-itwal perjodu ta’ gvern laburista, il-poplu seta’ gawda mill-‘welfare state’, imma l-libertajiet u d-drittijiet fundamentali tac-cittadini gew ikkalpestati b’mod wiesgha u aggressiv. Il-kostituzzjoni taghna giet deskrita bhala karta tat-tgezwir. Sa wasalna biex b’mod legali giet frustrata r-rieda tal-poplu f’elezzjoni bis-sistema tal-vot proporzjonali.
Il-PN fil-gvern, bid-difetti kollha tieghu, jista’ jimxi bil-mod, gebla fuq gebla, bit-tbatija, imma fis-sod, minghajr ma jhammar wiccu quddiem il-barrani. Gab l-Indipendenza politika u l-gid materjali ma naqasx taht il-PN.
Malta kienet rispettata ghax minkejja c-cokon taghha, kien kapaci jigbed l-ammirazzjoni tal-komunita’ nternazzjonali bl-inizjattivi li ha fil-Gnus Maghquda bil-kuncett tal-Wirt Komuni tal-ispazji nternazzjonali (e.g. qiegh il-bahar, l-arja u l-ambjent, ecc) kif ukoll bil-pozizzjonijiet li ha (dwar il-Lvant Nofsani u l-krizi Libjana).
Sfortunatament ghal pajjizna dawn l-affarijiet mhumiex apprezzati mill-poplu u allura Joseph Muscat jista’ jkompli fit-tradizzjoni Laburista-Mintoffjana billi jwieghed il-genna fl-art imqar jekk din tkun gejja mix-xitan jew l-agenti teighu.
Gaddafi spicca, l-Iran u l-Iraq waqfu jiggieldu, il-Korea ta’ Fuq imsallba, ir-Russja m’ghadhiex superpotenza u allura n-newtalita’ nistghu nilghabu biha, u c-Cina libset il-gild ta’ ljun bl-ambizzjonijiet taghha jersqu iktar biex isiru realta’.
Minn dak li qed naraw u nisimghu dwar ir-relazzjonijiet taghna ma certi pajjizi u n-negozjati li qed isiru minn karattri dubjuzi u b’passat mahmug, huwa car li Malta qed terga’ taqbad it-triq tal-prostituzzjoni biex minghaliha sserrah rasha li tghix ahjar bla ma tqis il-konsegwenzi tad-Dizonesta’.
Kliem preciz, percezzjoni cara! M’hemmx aktar x’wiehed izid!
Naqbel mieghek 100%.
This is business intelligence from November 2008. To put this into perspective, this was a few months after Joseph Muscat was appointed leader of the MLP.
http://img.docstoccdn.com/thumb/orig/48577726.png
The deal is the one mentioned in the release quoted above.
Transneft is a Russian state-controlled business responsible for national oil pipelines.
Joseph Muscat has just announced that his government will be seeking more cooperation with Russia.
And there we were, during the election campaign accusing the Labour Party of having businessmen who were practically residing on the 4th Floor, and/or residual Gaddafi funds financing its campaign, when in reality it was much more sinister characters who were behind the hijacking of democracy in Malta.
It was actually a silent coup d’etat engineered by Far East interests.
Still no meaningful press coverage, let alone questioning of what Shiv Nair’s part is/was in Joseph’s ‘can’t go wrong’ deal with China.
One wonders why?
Totally agree.