Let’s hope Mallia’s background checks on citizenship buyers are better than his background checks on his driver
Manuel Mallia’s background checks on Silvio Scerri, his head of secretariat, show exactly what low standards he has in terms of acceptable behaviour. God knows what sort of people are being approved under his watch for the purchase of Maltese citizenship, given that his ministry is in charge of background checks.
We’ve all forgotten already that it’s the Small Fat Lying Toad who’s in control of the citizenship-buying project. Inspires confidence, doesn’t it?
Those people are supposed to be subjected to thorough background checks. We should hope (but cannot trust) that those background checks are a whole lot more thorough and set to higher standards than the background checks Manuel Mallia applies to his driver.
And that driver is a person of trust, somebody who he even allowed to babysit his very young daughter Carmela – at taxpayers’ expense because the Romanian nanny, as famously reported on this website, ran off back to Bucharest complaining that there was no food or water in the house, that Mrs Mallia screamed at her, and that she was made to fetch water in cans from the public fountain to wash floors and fill baths.
What background checks did Manuel Mallia carry out on Paul Sheehan? He either carried out no background checks at all, as he claimed in his press conference last Thursday (should we be surprised if this was another lie?) or his standards are completely different from those of normal people.
It was public knowledge in his neighbourhood that the man is addicted to Red Bull and drinks an inordinate number of cans every day, generally going round the different shops in Gzira to buy three or four at a time so that nobody notices how many he’s buying in a day (in Gzira?) and drinking them on the spot.
All the neighbours appear to know that he and his brother have serious anger management issues and that they are ‘kocc brodu’. Yesterday afternoon’s very public display, in front of the neighbours, the inquiring magistrate and a host of police officers, did not come out of nowhere.
When the magistrate arrived in the street, accompanied by policemen, Paul and Patrick Sheehan ran indoors, shouting and swearing, with Patrick clearly heard shouting “Nobody is going to take him out of here.” This was followed by the sound of breaking furniture.
People seem to have focused on the violence and aggression, but the real issue of concern here (though the violence and aggression too, in a police officer carrying a Glock while babysitting a little girl in an official government car) is lack of cooperation with the police in a situation which demands it.
When he thought they came to arrest him – they hadn’t; it was part of the inquiry – he raced indoors and refused to cooperate. Had the arrest been illegitimate (I have been in that situation myself, and refused to cooperate in full awareness that I am protected by the Constitution in terms of free speech) then he would have been standing up for his rights.
But an arrest for shooting at somebody is not illegitimate but the precise opposite, and more so, he is a police officer and cooperation with the police has to be framed in that context.
Manuel Mallia pooh-poohed and dismissed the fact that his driver had a criminal conviction around 10 years ago for disobeying his superior’s orders and for using foul language while doing so, while on public duty. “He only got a small fine,” he said, as though that is the point. The point is the nature of the offence and not the fine.
What we saw yesterday was a reprisal of exactly that: faced with what he thought were police orders for him to go quietly with them, Paul Sheehan refused to comply and let off a volley of bad language while resisting what he thought was an arrest.
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Will Mallia judge IIP applicants as desirable talent if they have priors, they have been convicted of obstructing law officials, they carry weapons into private residences while not on duty there, they shoot at unarmed persons they engage in car chases and take the law into their own hands?
Would he also welcome persons who lie to the authorities to get other people arrested and those who insert themselves into investigations they should be the focus of?
Will welcomed talent also habitually resist arrest, use foul language in public and to undermine police?
Since we know that family members will get a discount with the IIP scheme it would be good to know that there would presumably be a lower rate for family members who, even before they fully understand what is going on, use agression to stop their relative’s imagined arrest.
[Daphne – Stop repeating the government propaganda and calling it “the IIP”, for crying out loud. They’re selling passports, not seeking investment. It’s a passport sales plan, not an investor programme.]
Is Mallia’s former law firm playing any significant part in the due diligence process that is being carried out on IIP applicants?
[Daphne – There we go again: ‘IIP applicants’. Just because the government said so. They are not IIP applicants. They are applicants for the purchase of Maltese citizenship.]
The passport selling scheme as you have referred to it goes by a name, that abbreviates to ‘IIP’. There is indeed a reason why I prefer to refer it by its abbreviation than its full name.
[Daphne – You miss the point. There is a reason why the government called it that, and you are obliging them in their deceit by using the name they told you to use, which disguises the true nature of what that scheme is.]
However, and irrespective of semantics, the point I am making is one that deserves much closer scrutiny. The IIP is a scheme that is designed to sell passports cheaply, rather than generate real investment, as much as it is designed to line the pockets of select individuals.
If anyone fails to suspect that various interested parties (other than Henley and Partners) are not lining their pockets directly , or indirectly through offshore bank accounts or other connected entities, would have to be rather obtuse.
May I also remind readers that the proceeds from this programme are going into a government slush fund of sorts, which gives ample room for further abuse. A Nationalist government will do well to investigate the administration of the scheme as well as that of the NDSF itself and on the force of the evidence obtained together with some political will, they will be sure to secure some convictions.
Of course it is still very early days, particularly with our very fickle electorate.
Manuel Mallia, as Minister in charge of passport sales, is vested with the power to override a recommendation to reject an applicant.
Clarity is key.
Oh yes as in Prof. Scicluna’s words: “People of calibre”.
Except that the word ‘calibre’ under the PL government has taken on a completely different meaning.
Calibre
http://www.lignod.com/ammo.htm
No 71 in the chart is especially appropriate for this case – short and fat.
What background checks? The ministers know their drivers inside out.
It is one of the most sought-after jobs for hangers-on and competition for the post is intense.
One thing you can say about Manuel is that he is loyal to his people – just like Joseph.
The person who is responsible for potentially ending his short but eventful political career is being defended by the minister’s law firm, presumably free of charge.