Here’s an important detail about the attempted cover-up
The eyewitness accounts of last night’s events which were reported immediately on Malta Right Now and this website clearly give the car number-plate as GM14.
The people who heard the commotion and leaned out to see what was happening did not know that the car was Manuel Mallia’s or that the man standing with a gun next to it was his driver.
All they knew was what they saw: number-plates that said GM14. That’s what I was given – the car number-plates and not the minister’s name – and that was probably the case with Malta Right Now too.
And of course I know whose car GM14 is even if the eyewitnesses did not.
This is an important point because by the time the car was filmed and photographed in the tunnel by news reporters, it was no longer wearing its GM plates but its routine-issue plates beneath them: AQZ 853.
This means that at some point in between shooting and chasing, or when he had already stopped in the tunnel and before the press arrived, Manuel Mallia’s driver, on his own initiative or acting on advice from his boss or Silvio Scerri, removed the GM plates and stowed them away in the car.
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Can all this be considered a failed frame up?
It is definitely more evidence of a cover-up.
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U l-iskrataċċ tal-bullets li ġew sparati fejn instabu jekk instabu?
Viċin id-dar ta’ omm x-xufier tal-ministru, jew viċin it-tunnel?
Żgur li b’hekk jista’ jiġi stabbilit il-ħin fejn ġew sparati t-tiri?
Jekk hux qabel jew wara l-ġirja bil-karozza wara l-Ingliż. Imma għandi d-dubji tiegħi hux se jinstabu jew li se jgħidu fejn instabu.
Mhux problema. Kif inbidlu l-pjanci setghu ittiehdu l-iskratac minn fuq il-post u ntefghu band’ohra. F’dal-kaz ikollna cover up u frame up fuq il-linji ta’ zmien Raymond Caruana.
No shots were fired in the tunnel. When Mr Smith got to the tunnel, he was stopped by a police roadblock that was obviously called by Manuel Mallia’s driver. They can respond very quickly when they want.
It is the neighbours who can fill in these hazy bits and for me the jury is still out regarding where the car was parked when this whole thing started. I just cannot ignore the stench.
Of course, in a democratic country, the police would investigate and make a statement but, well, everyone knows how that story goes in Malta.
Wait, wait, do minister’s cars have trekking GPS and has the defence counsel requested that it be examined? Is there a defence counsel?
Changing licence plates on the spot on a vehicle is a criminal offence in most civilized nations.
Criminals do this just after a heist, kidnapping or a hit job (aka murder).
[Daphne – Bit of a different situation here: ministers’ cars actually do have two sets of plates, the standard issue and their GM plates for official business. He would have taken off the GM plates not to hide the identity of the car from the police who would have the link between the two, so it’s impossible, but to hide the identity of the car from the press and the public.]
I see.
The two different licence plates per car is a very bad idea, even for governmental cars.
It opens up the opportunity for abuse and intentional confusion and obfuscation to the general public who share the road, which is what happened here.
I agree with Ken. There is no need for two sets of plates. If it is the Minister’s official car then it should always be used on official duties.
A minister who removes the ministerial plates must have something to hide.
[Daphne – Wrong. They are actually obliged to remove the official plates when not on official business. This problem arises from one simple fact only: that they are allowed to keep and use their official car round the clock, in lieu of their personal car. Under more formal systems, the car is for official business only and when not on official business, the minister uses his own personal transport. However in Malta the official car is seen as a personal perk.]
If the driver wasn’t such a show off (arawni ) he would have removed the GM plates before he visited his mother in Gzira.
@ ken il malti
Just see what happened to Jeremy Clarkson and his team over a number plate, while filming in Argentina earlier this year.
Simply because somebody took offence over a number plate, which was interpreted as a direct reference to the Falklands war “H 982 FKL”, they were chased by a large crowd of locals and had to cross into neighbouring Chile for safety, having felt that their lives were being threatened.
Back home in UK, the police took legal action against Clarkson, because it is illegal to replace the standard issued plates, even though it was for filming purposes. But then we’re talking about UK not Malta.
Couldn’t he also have changed them because he should not have been abusing them himself while the minister was not actually using the car?
I doubt that the connection between the civilian plates and the Minister could have gone unnoticed but the driver’s transgression, if he was abusing the use of the plates, would have been swept under the carpet.
This is dodgy. Shouldn’t the numberplates be screwed on? Criminals would attach their numberplates in such a way.
[Daphne – No, it’s not dodgy, but the rules. The GM plates can only be attached when the car is on official business.]
This is very strange. For what purpose other than ‘official business’ would a ministerial car be used?
[Daphne – In Malta they get to use them even in their free time, driver and all.]
So these are rules tailor-made for abuse. I wonder if the car, driver etc. are factored in as fringe benefits for tax purposes or is there a bespoke rule to avoid this as well?
Not expecting a reply here but thinking that this is the very opposite of the ‘hmar il-makus’ and all that.
Maybe for the driver to visit his mother officially…
Manuel the arrogant toad dug a hole and then fell into it. He thought he could bury a case of attempted murder.
Wow – that must be a big hole! It should be filled with water and used as the national swimming pool.
The bullfrog talked bullshit about bullets.
Now the bullfrog should bite the bullet and go.
They must be nostalgic about the ‘golden’ years, when none of this pesky technology was around to foil their cunning plans.
Bloody internet. It uncovers frameups, publishes frame up attempts and gets me stuck to reading this portal all the time.
Perhaps this explains why the boot of the Mercedes was opened, as seen in previous pictures in the tunnel!
JC.
Premeditated
Why did Stephen Smith ask for Manwel Mallia?
I found this detail very odd.
The fact that Sheenan hasn’t been held in custody is also extremely off.
There’s second flavour permeating this affair.
He hadn’t realised that the bullfrog had a conflict. The bullfrog was already acting in defence of the “security driver.”
I’m finding that detail very odd too. Manuel Mallia is a criminal lawyer. Mr. Smith must have engaged his services in the past for some reason.
He’s also not very up to date with current affairs in Malta since he didn’t know that Mallia was now a minister.
I’m starting to think that this was more than an argument about a car accident. It’s a bit strange that this should have escalated to a car chase and shooting on the streets, even when taking into account the “il-karozza il-mimmi t’ghajnejja” factor.
I’m suspecting a deal or a frame-up gone wrong.
Could there be more to the story than a scratched mirror? What else did the victim see?
This crossed my mind when I heard Nathaniel from Radio 101 saying that the lady who phoned him clearly stated a minister’s car GM14.
Yesterday on NET I heard Nathaniel Attard give his account of how the neighbors called in to report the commotion and he clearly said that they reported a government car with the number GM 14.
OK, its a ministerial car with GM plates which are placed over the actual registration number. Fine.
But since the crime was committed whilst the GM plates were attached, isn’t removing these plates on the scene considered tampering with evidence ?
I haven’t really followed this story closely, and I don’t know the motivations of any of the “players”. But what does Mallia have to gain by covering up for this Shee(n/h)an person? If anything he has just been presented with a golden opportunity to get rid of a leech to whom he promised the world for a vote.
I am getting the impression that we are discounting the possibility that this man lied to Mallia about what really happened. I’m sure the first thing Mallia would have asked him (if he was going to front what he knew was be a lie) would be the evergreen “Were there any witnesses?”
I doubt that Mallia would be thick enough to lie when he knows that he can be caught out so easily – especially in the age of smartphones and internet.
[Daphne – Mallia colluded in the lie because he thought there were no witnesses. At that time they were working to the plan of controlling information to the media, totally unaware that they had lost control of it already because witnesses had phoned journalists. There is no way that his driver knew there were witnesses because they didn’t exactly shout to make their presence felt.]
Maybe two things that the public wishes to know are: whether Morrison Smith has been assisted by a lawyer and if not, whether has anyone outside the Police HQ seen him since the incident.
If neither of these two happened, could it be that this person has been beaten up on his arrival at the Police HQ?
This sends a worrying message… that we can expect all ministerial drivers to be armed (and dangerous) so people will start keeping their distance and get out of the way whenever they’ll spot a GM plate.
Or maybe this was a cunning mise-en-scène for the ministers to be able to fly through the rush hour traffic in the future?
On a serious note if, and honestly, God forbid, someone wants to take out a minister for whatever reason, past connection, reneged pacts/promises etc., they will now come armed to the teeth as they expect return fire and therefore the ensuing collateral damage will possibly be much greater.
Unbelievable.
Why hasn’t the shooter been arrested yet? Why is it that only the victim was arrested?
What has become of the British gentleman who was arrested? Is he still under arrest?
Manuel Mallia should stick to the standard issue number plates.
Arani Qisni Zobbuga 853 millimetres.
Well and truly said, my friend!
The British driver was forced to take a breathalyser test.
But the minister’s driver was not.
I think he should have been forced to undergo a drugs test too.
Somebody who took out a wing-mirror was suspected of being under the influence of drink.
Somebody who drew a gun and began shooting at a retreating car because of a broken wing mirror should be suspected of being under the influence of cocaine.
This would be a reasonable suspicion in these circumstances.
If the minister’s driver was tested for neither drugs nor drink that night, then the public is right to suspect collusion by the police for whom his boss is responsible.
He should go. Punto e basta.
In fact at some time in the tunnel, from photos published, the car boot of the minister’s official car was open, concealing the number plate.