Why is this man spokesman for and representative of the Valletta market hawkers?

Anybody reading newspaper quotes from ‘Joe Zrinzo, representative of the Monti hawkers’ will probably have no idea that it is this very man, and will probably be picturing some market trader who just happens to have the same name as Stefan Zrinzo Azzopardi’s father, the former director of Global Capital and current director of Bank of Valletta.

Given Joe Zrinzo’s long-term history with the Labour Party and his current level of influence within it, nobody should be surprised that the Valletta market hawkers have been told they are free to set up their stalls around Parliament House and the theatre at the entrance to the city.

So to sum up, we now have a director of Bank of Valletta working as a lobbyist for the Valletta market-stall holders, and a director of the Central Bank of Malta (Romina Cuschieri) working as a lobbyist for the hunters and trappers – and not behind the scenes, either, but being quoted in public as their spokesmen.

In Times of Malta’s print edition this morning.