“The President and the Speaker thought it was OK, so we didn’t bother to do our own research” – Sliema Mayor

This evening, the Sliema Local Council debated the matter of that statue to Sri Chinmoy erected on the Sliema front a few days ago. They hadn’t thought it would be a problem, but since the controversy broke out – FOLLOWING A COUPLE OF POSTS WITH PHOTOGRAPHS ON THIS WEBSITE, MIGHT I ADD FOR THE DELECTATION OF PAWLU LIA AND KONRAD MIZZI – they have realised that maybe a statue in a cult leader’s honour isn’t such a great idea, particularly not when he is tainted by scandalous accusations that he used his female cult followers for sex.

From the report in The Malta Independent:

Speaking with The Malta Independent, Mr Chircop explained that once the government had received the Sri Chinmoy members so whole-heartedly, the council did not think to research the group or the man. He added that the council assumed, as anybody would, that the President of Malta and the Speaker of the highest institution in Malta, being Parliament, would have done all the necessary checks before receiving the group.