The prime minister, Joe Sammut and SMC University

The prime minister with corrupt accountant Joe Sammut at a Malta graduation ceremony of online outfit SMC University, at which Sammut is a ‘professor’ in the Department of Accounting and Finance. The prime minister spoke at the graduation ceremony. SMC University is not accredited in Switzerland or anywhere in the European Union, but given the circumstances, is almost certainly lobbying for accreditation from Malta ("EU accreditation").

Joe Sammut (centre) with his wife Anna Casha (first from left) at the SMC University graduation ceremony

Prime Minister Joseph Muscat with graduates of the online ‘university’, SMC, which is not accredited anywhere in the European Union.

Here is a lovely photograph, taken just 10 months ago, of Prime Minister Joseph Muscat with corrupt accountant and former Labour Party treasurer Joe Sammut at the October 2014 ‘graduation’ ceremony of a questionable outfit called SMC University, which claims to be Swiss but is not accredited in Switzerland. The ceremony was held in Malta, even though the teaching is done entirely online and there are no residency programmes.

Joe Sammut, currently undergoing trial for fraud, corruption and money-laundering in the incorporation of Maltese companies for Libyan citizens and the acquisition of residence visas, is a ‘professor’ at this online university’s Department of Accounting and Finance.

No doubt it is one of the pseudo-colleges now seeking ‘EU accreditation’ via Malta’s accreditation body, which Martin ‘Time for a Change to Labour’ Scicluna heads, and “Professor” Joe Sammut, a former Labour Party treasurer, is bringing pressure to bear on what looks like a most amenable prime minister.

On the online outfit’s Facebook page, where these photographs were serendipitously discovered – Joseph Muscat handed out the certificates and diplomas at the ‘graduation’ – rigorous is spelled ‘rigerous’.

SMC stands for Swiss Management Centre, a fact discovered when I rang the Swiss number given on the SMC University website and the person answering the phone did so with the words “Swiss Management Centre”.

I asked about programmes in Malta and was told that there are no resident programmes and the whole thing is done online “so you can take the courses wherever you are in the world”. There are some courses of a few days which take place in different countries, I was told, and sometimes in Malta.

“I saw photographs on your Facebook page of a graduation ceremony in Malta, with the Maltese prime minister,” I said, “So what was that about?” The response was that graduation ceremonies take place in different countries and the last one was in Malta.

When I discovered that Joe Sammut is actually a ‘professor’ at SMC University’s Department of Accounting and Finance, I rang back to see what the situation is in view of his arraignment this week on serious criminal charges including money-laundering.

The man who spoke to me politely explained that SMC had no idea about what had happened. “I am very surprised by this and will have to speak to our academic director immediately about it. We haven’t heard anything so far,” he said. I offered to send him links to newspaper reports and he said that it would be very helpful, so I have just done so, along with a request for a statement from SMC University on what it plans to do about the situation.