The top 10 posts of 2016
These are the 10 most-read posts of 2016. They are a mix of the obvious (like the breaking news that Keith Schembri and Konrad Mizzi have the exact same Panama/New Zealand outfits) and the surprising (Mrs Muscat by the pool in Dubai).
No. 1 – the post that broke the news about how Adrian Hillman, managing director of the company that owns the Times of Malta and The Sunday Times, had been taking graft from Keith Schembri, the Prime Minister’s chief of staff, for years.
No. 2 – the post that reported how John Dalli, consultant to the Prime Minister on health and hospital matters, had approached Dubai-based operators, on behalf of the Malta government, ahead of the fraudulent hospital privatisation tender, and how Keith Schembri promised business up front to those who were willing to work with Ram Tumuluri.
No. 3 – the post which broke the news that Keith Schembri, the Prime Minister’s chief of staff, and Konrad Mizzi, the health and energy minister, have exactly the same asset-concealing companies in Panama.
No. 4 – it’s hard to believe, but the fourth most read post was one in which Mrs Muscat was uncovered as being on a secret family holiday at a luxury hotel in Dubai, complete with a photograph showing her walking down to the pool in a kaftan.
No. 5 – this post reports that the directors of Allied Newspapers Ltd had gone into meetings with their lawyers immediately this website revealed that their managing director was in secret and illegal league with the Prime Minister’s chief of staff.
No. 6 – the post which broke the story of how businessman Ronnie Demajo bribed Alfred Mifsud, who was then chairman of MidMed Bank (later sold to HSBC) and is now deputy chairman of the Central Bank of Malta, to acquire a banking software system represented by his company. Large envelopes packed with cash were personally delivered to Mifsud’s home in the late 1990s.
No. 7 – the post which broke the news that corrupt accountant Brian Tonna of Nexia BT, who set up money-laundering structures for the Prime Minister’s chief of staff Keith Schembri and Energy/Health Minister Konrad Mizzi, and who has a desk at the Office of the Prime Minister, has a secret nominee company in the British Virgin Islands which he uses to sell Maltese citizenship with his identity concealed and his fees paid into an offshore account.
No. 8 – this post reports that Adrian Hillman, managing director of the company which owns the Times of Malta and The Sunday Times, was forced by the board of directors to take leave of absence immediately news broke on this website of his illicit activities with the Prime Minister’s chief of staff. I have since discovered that the directors were not even given a chance to request his absence or even to fire him, because Hillman resigned immediately they confronted him with the story.
No. 9 – this post reports on the involvement of a Labour Party local politician in a child-porn ring which filmed the rape of children.
No. 10 – this is the post which broke the news, some weeks ago, that US banks are severing their correspondent relationships with Maltese banks, and that the real purpose of the Prime Minister’s delegation to New York, which included the Finance Minister, a deputy governor of the Central Bank, and the Malta Financial Services Authority chief, was to try to rescue the desperate situation.
