Muscat and his sidekicks are unaware they’re being exploited and manipulated like the politicians of banana republics
Handled just like the leaders of a banana republic, and they lack the self-awareness to see it.
People like Shiv Nair – a man who exploits to his financial and commercial advantage the corruption and lack of democracy in sub-Saharan, Middle Eastern and Asian dictatorships, and Henley & Partners – a consultancy that brings in the majority of its revenue by exploiting weak democratic systems and vulnerable economies in the Caribbean, are treating Joseph Muscat and his sidekicks in exactly that manner.
It is astonishing, really, how Muscat and the Labour Party’s other key individuals were identified for their lack of sophistication, absence of knowledge of people, and susceptibility to hard instant cash – even if that cash wasn’t going into their personal pockets, and then homed in upon by these commercial manipulators who are accustomed to dealing with crooks and corrupt officials in systems where there is little or no scrutiny.
The sound of the cash numbers is enough for Labour: you can see the dollar signs go up in their eyes as in those cartoons. That’s why Muscat spoke of “getting Eur30 million” from the scheme, when a more sophisticated prime minister would have spoken of the investment benefits to Malta, the jobs created. But then a more sophisticated prime minister would not be doing this at all.
The tragedy is that Muscat really believes he’s a major player on the world stage and that he’s different from the Big Boys like Cameron and Obama only because MALTA is small, and not because he’s a completely different kind of man and politician.
Crooks and manipulators can always spot the ones who’ve got dollar signs in their eyes. The irony is that Joseph Muscat campaigned by doing this to people whose dollar-signs-in-the-eyes he spotted. And now people who are more sophisticated than he is are doing it to him. Not only Shiv Nair and those who own and run Henley & Partners, but rather a few Maltese, too, including the Micallef cousins and a some business persons who had best go unnamed.
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The Lorry Sant syndrome is still alive and kicking in the Labour Party.
Money at all costs, no holds barred , use proxies to keep your cash.
Make sure your accountant keeps his mouth shut.
Better still , do not have an accountant.
Keep the cash in large denominations and purchase high value transportable goods.
It is already happening from the unanswered questions being asked.
The television series, Grimm – at 17 min.55 sec we hear about ‘a terrorist born in Malta’.
Why not Algeria, Iran or Russia?
http://www.zzstream.li/2013/04/grimm-s2-e17-one-angry-fuchsbau.html
Under Labour, Malta is a banana republic.
Is it too early for Joseph Muscat to repeat Mintoff’s public declaration after his agreement with Britain to extend their stay in Malta up to 1979?
He then expressed his disappointment that he did not have the same ability to create jobs as he had for extracting money.
Joseph Muscat is truly following his master’s footsteps and philosophy, and the results will be exactly the same: making Malta the pariah of western democratic countries.
Well said.
The model’s the same, the defective logic ditto.
The premise as insolent.
You are right, Daphne. They do not have a clue what they are getting into.
If they cannot even get a background check on a person like Shiv Nair, blacklisted by the World Bank, imagine what will happen when they get requests from fraudsters/criminals/traffickers/members of the Russian mafia/hitmen applying for Maltese citizenship (the ones who do not show up in open lists).
They will not even see it until the point that Maltese passport holders require visa to enter any serious country.
“even if that cash wasn’t going into their personal pockets,” I am not too sure about this statement.
Exactly, I mean €650,000 doesn’t look like a nice round figure, does it? Maybe someone would be rounding it off ‘unofficially’.
Oh yes we will name the “business persons” amongst whom George Fenech and Joe Gasan, who were indirectly named and shamed by Bocca in his column yesterday. Fancy purchasing the gas storage ship BEFORE the tender was awarded. How convenient.
I lost repect for the Gasans who were ready to send Malta to the pits as long as they benefit personally. I am more careful of what products / services I use in the future, not that it matters.
Regarding the Fenechs, it was sort of expected. Their father was close to Mintoff.
In its literature about the projects which it claims it is doing in Benin, Gasol says that gas storage ships will be provided by SOCAR – an Azeri state-company – with which Gasol signed a strategic alliance in December 2012 and with which it is part of the Electrogas Consortium.
I believe that SOCAR will be supplying the floating gas storage in Malta as well.
A week ago, the Azeri authorities announced the results of the general elections BEFORE the election date – so why are you surprised that the Electrogas Consortium would have purchased the gas storage ship BEFORE the tender was awarded?
I wonder where Joe Sammut from Mosta ,ex CBM. ex Gaddafi carpetbagger, financialwheeler-dealer fits into this scheme of things. This scheme is just up his street after being left on a limb since Gaddafi’s downfall.,
Before the election, when the Brazil company issue emerged, I had written a guest post which you had thankfully published, indicating how the PL had no or little knowledge of the financial services sector, and they were therefore unfit to manage our economy. Many in the sector had commented that this was not the case. It seems that so many were blinded by Muscat’s Chinese sponsored image that they were unable to see the signs that were glaring them in the face.
The Sale of Passport issue is also a bigger issue than it looks. Our financial services sector were built on 3 pillars, and these are are being eroded by the government itself.
1. Our Reputation – Malta has maintained an extremely good reputation at world and European stage. We managed to remain on the white list, and get our system accepted by the EU because of the way the system was run. We are now in a situation where we are putting this under scrutiny.
2. The Quality of our Clients – as an industry we have always been very careful on the type of clients to accept. Led by the IFSP, ensuring the right clients were accepted, even if under fiduciary, was always very important. This has been thrown out of the window by the government itself. Surprisingly, this comes shortly after the Cyprus issue. The whole system was dismantled only because of the perception of the type of clients they had, mainly the Russians and ex USSR, and the government decided to go down that same path – crazy!
3. The “Gentlemen Agreement” within the Industry – for years the industry has adopted unwritten rules between the players. We have been vary fair in promoting the work, and very careful not to poach work from each other. Everyone understood that the world was big enough for all of us to be able to attract a good number of clients. In situations when one law firm was involved in writing the law, say for trusts or the aviation law, they shared their knowledge, allowing everyone to compete. Now the Government itself has brought this to a halt, giving one company a monopoly, not only as regards to buying a passport, but through their consultancy branch offering other services. This will change the way all firms will have to operate, it is now tough competition, and this will lead to problems.
The future does not look bright!