I scent a story: Adrian Hillman, Saviour Balzan and Keith Schembri

Saviour Balzan of Malta Today has not only defended Adrian Hillman assiduously since I broke the story last year of his secret company in the British Virgin Islands, set up in 2011 and later restructured for greater secrecy by Brian Tonna along with Keith Schembri’s sister company in the same secretive jurisdictioin.

He has also failed to write anything about Keith Schembri and his scandalous set-up in Panama, New Zealand, the British Virgin Islands (and Gibraltar and Cyprus too).

The way he rushed to Hillman’s defence was not the usual Pavlovian response of siding with anyone I criticise or write about (as with Cardona in the current scenario). It was more than that. He was obviously on the phone to Hillman or meeting him. They had a pre-existing relationship, after all, because Malta Today is printed at Progress Press and Hillman ran it.

There seems to be quite a bit of triangulation going on there: Balzan, Hillman, Schembri. But as I chart the network and examine the story, I’ve got to factor in Balzan’s closeness to corrupt accountant Brian Tonna. When seen in public, at receptions and so forth, they are very chummy. And consider this: Malta Today hasn’t chased any Nexia BT stories, either.

There’s definitely something going on there, but we’ve got to work out what. My first thought when Allied Newspapers broke the news that it had reached an out of court settlement with Hillman was that the two are somehow linked. Allied Newspapers didn’t need to drop its case against Hillman in exchange for him dropping his case against them.

His case was one before the Industrial Tribunal, on the grounds that he hadn’t resigned of his own accord but had been forced to do so (John Dalli tried the same thing in Luxembourg and lost). He could never have hoped to win that, and even if he had, the most they would have had to pay him would have been a few tens of thousands of euros. Compare that to the damage he caused the company in rampant spending to accommodate his business partner Keith Schembri.

No, it doesn’t make sense. Instinct – personal and journalistic, as stray bits of information and insight process through my mind – tells me that Hillman threatened to go to Malta Today with stories that Allied Newspapers or one or two individuals who may have been embroiled with him didn’t want published. Let’s face it: he’s been there practically his entire career, is now 51, and knows everything there is to know.

I thought it would happen right at the outset. When Saviour Balzan began reporting on this story just a couple of weeks after Hillman was forced out, I clearly remember putting down my newspaper, turning to my companion, and saying: “Adrian has gone to Saviour with stories about Mario. I think he’s going to blackmail them. He must know enough to be able to do so. He probably has stuff on other people in there and he’s going to do his worst. It’s so obvious he’s already set up an alliance with Saviour, and there can only be one reason why he’s done that, unless Saviour’s also part of their ring, which would be the less obvious explanation.”

Then the Hillman-inspired stories in Malta Today died off after that initial warning salvo, and I thought, “OK, they must be negotiating.” That is, Hillman must have been negotiating with Allied Newspapers and had told Balzan to hold off pending the outcome.

Now that Hillman has reached an agreement with Allied Newspapers, he’s brought his relationship with Malta Today out into the open. Yesterday’s edition of the newspaper carried a massive article over a double-page spread, written by his wife, Velislava Hillman, which is of no interest to Malta Today’s readership whatsoever, but which promotes her personal career.

Hillman himself is back up and tweeting again. And in the circle-wank from hell (sorry about that, but it’s Chris Cardona Week), Saviour Balzan publishes Velislava Hillman’s piece of junk, Adrian Hillman tweets the link to Malta Today, and Phyllis Muscat, who appointed Adrian Hillman – when he was Allied Newspapers’ MD – chair of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting 2015 Business Forum, retweets Hillman’s tweet about Malta Today.

There’s a story there, chaps. Keep your eyes peeled and keep watching those players.

Postscript: Now you know why Saviour Balzan can’t stand my guts. Or one of the reasons, anyway. He’s in league with those crooks. Whether he’s sharing with them, I have no idea so far. But that he’s part of their circle-wank is transparently obvious.