So, after @adriandeliapn’s umpteenth press conference with “documents” that he wont let anyone see or wriggling out of questions and generally making journalists like poor @ClaireCaruana doubt their sanity, I decided that we need help. 1/ Naturally I turned to the best source currently available in Malta for reliable advice on all matters... 2/

If a government crony ‘investigating’ the government itself based on information supplied by the government & further limiting his review to exclude VISAs & trading in influence is “robust & serious”, I’m Jessica Rabbit.

https://twitter.com/juliafarrugia/status/1194252791084134400

In fact, we should kick the tires a little bit and analyse the report that "speaks volumes".

Here's the report:
gov.mt/en/Government/…

This is what created the need for the report:

https://twitter.com/bugdavem/status/1182610628105691136?s=20

And here's a thread. Buckle down. 1/

As attention rightly shifts to the composition of the Board for the 2 years too late Inquiry into #DaphneCaruanaGalizia’s assassination it’s worth informing the debate on the members nominated by @JosephMuscat_JM: 1/ After asking others (who appear to have refused including due to the imposition of the other 2 members - see why), the Government settled for Ex Judge Michael Mallia as the Chairman. 2/

What if I told you that this OPM aide’s tweet (location & time stamp) demonstrates that during #tailsend, @michelle_muscat either (a) outswam not only @MichaelPhelps sprinting but a shark at a steady 9 kph for a gruelling 9 km or (b) cut her 14 km swim short (by ~7 km)? #talltale Hope that caught your attention. This thread will sum up the evidence that @Michelle_muscat’s claim that she swam 14 kilometres for #tailsend is absolute rubbish that deserves to be framed alongside Kim Jong Il’s claim he invented the hamburger. 2/

Holy crap, @Michelle_Muscat swimming time is up there with the world greats. We know she swam 14 km because from @TelevisionMalta to @marigoldmalta boasted about it: We also know, thanks to @lukedalli88 & co going live on Facebook, the almost exact start and end times: 11.40am CET to 4pm CET.

4 hours 20 mins for 14 km in open water with a tough force 4-5 NW wind.

What would you call this?

On the left @TelevisionMalta's coverage of @freedomhouse's latest score for Malta: tvm.com.mt/mt/news/malta-…

On the right, reality. Since the (Pigeon) English version is out:

People really need to focus because there is a scheme underway in #Malta to bury two crimes. These crimes go all the way to Castille. Ignore the noise that @MaltaGov & @PL_Malta have become so adept at creating & focus.

Naturally these relate to @keithaschembri 1/ Besides the high profile #17Black & #Egrant, there are 2 magisterial inquiries meant to be underway. They have been underway now for just under 2 years & there is no reason why they should be taking so long other than due to interference & behind the scenes efforts @ burying 2/

A good read. Yet there’s more & this explains @MaltaGov’s hold on the judiciary.

Over the past 5 years the bench has been stuffed with @PL_Malta cronies including ex-electoral candidates.

Yet there’s more. 1/

theshiftnews.com/2019/01/30/und… We also discover that the Commission for the Administration of Justice, the body that can discipline judges, magistrates & lawyers, is effectively captured. Worse the lawyer who often handles these types of cases defending @MaltaGov members, actually sits on that Commission. 2/

Perfectly normal reaction by senior officials within @MaltaGov (particularly OPM) to a minor court decision shuttering a further avenue for investigation into #PanamaPapers on technical grounds.

The #ruleoflaw in #Malta is fine and there is no #disinformation or spin whatsoever. Case in point: @anticorruption’s plummeting ranking is also blamed:

https://twitter.com/maltatoday/status/1090261564458917888?s=21

.@maltatoday seems to be finding some of its stories right off a @PL_Malta propagandist’s Facebook page.

Quite sad really to boast that, after its bludgeoning for lack of #AML enforcement, #Malta wasn’t incl in @EU_Commission’s latest round re: AMLD4 transposition 1/ The source “warnings notice” by @EU_Commission -> europa.eu/rapid/press-re… (scroll down)

It also ignores that #Malta also (besides reasoned opinions & warnings from EC & ECB etc on wider matters) got the same AMLD4 transposition warning in July 18 -> ec.europa.eu/commission/com… 2/

The catch with Judge Giovanni Grixti's ruling is (and this is where you realise that the Maltese courts have (intentionally or otherwise) no understanding of money laundering), that attempted money laundering is in itself a crime punishable by 3+ years imprisonment. 1/ What does that mean or entail? Money laundering laws set a low threshold for evidence given that, in practice, the machinations that might be employed by launderers or attempted launders could frustrate justice. 2/

Roughly 66% of @TheTimesofMalta poll respondents think that we need to see the back of @adriandeliapn.

That’s also ignoring worse such as being under investigation for money laundering and generally being insolvent (he calls it cash poor). 1/ But what Adrian needs to do, and it will take a real friend to tell him this, is to go back to being a parent. A real one. I will not upload a copy of the relevant videos making the rounds out of respect for the kids but this one (screenshot) is by far the most disturbing. 2/

Hey @ESMAComms can you please tug @MFSAComm’s ear for them to issue a public warning over ads for an unregulated CFD/BinaryOption/Forex company called Blockchain Revolution targeting the Maltese public with ads such as this? m.facebook.com/story.php?stor… 1/ I know people like @SilvioSchembri think it’s flattering since people think the fake news underlying it believe they’re the bees knees 2/

With @ONE_news_Malta’s latest lie about @occupyjusticema and the non-existent “Erika Mizzi”, @PL_Malta & @MaltaGov launch yet another assault against this civil society group. First it was “political links”, then it was “dirtying monuments”, then “violence”, then “hate”... 1/ This latest one now goes for a toxic line of querying funding source / donations.

Very Orbán in Hungary or Law and Justice in Poland.

one.com.mt/news/2019/01/0…

liberties.eu/en/news/poland…

2/

It’s here that you realise how far down the rabbit hole Maltese politics has managed to drift. A Pulitzer winning German journalist who is obviously out of the Maltese toxic scene & knows which way is up states the obvious. What does the leader of the opposition say? 1/

https://twitter.com/b_obermayer/status/1079006262409478145

That these are “allegations” and just a “personal” matter. The part that has been forgotten along the way by the club of Delia fans & abused of by the Musumeci “bring them down from the inside” clan is that at a time when the opposition should be focusing on opposing... 2/

Interesting how things get twisted around irrespective of time, place and reality to always blame a small segment of the Maltese population. 1/ They’ve been given many names: “holier than thou”, “establishment”, “elites”, “the people that place flowers”, etc but it all boils down to populism & fascism.

The aim? Eviscerate and divide any form of reasoned opposition. 2/

You realise there’s something rotten in the state of #Malta when a political party in government starts turning its guns on critical private citizens. Essentially wearing down dissenters. Here’s an example. 1/ First an MP @RosianneCutajar singles out a comment by a private citizen, Godfrey, for a comment on social media criticising her shenanigans in parliament including booing at opposition members or giving speeches rubbishing a murdered journalist 2/

In case anyone is wondering what to get @RosianneCutajar for Christmas, I’d recommend (a) a couple of solid dictionaries, (b) a treatise (preferably in very simple & plain language) on the role of dictionaries & (c) a reality check as a stocking filler. 1/ Here’s @RosianneCutajar. Rosianne is a tool (not a particularly sharp one) in Muscat’s toolkit that he whips out for comic relief / sympathy / distraction.

An insidious circus sideshow. This is her latest advertorial “opinion piece” in the ever obliging MaltaToday 2/

”They say they want the area to stay clean, that the Stalin-era bridge on which amateur German pilot Mathias Rust famously landed a small plane in 1987, is a monument of cultural importance, and that the shrine is illegal”

The similarities are too obvious reuters.com/article/us-rus… ”At a March 7 public hearing, Yuri Ivankov, head of Gormost, Moscow’s bridge maintenance division, showed pictures of rusty bridge parts he said proved it needed urgent attention.”

Shades of Owen’s photos of oil stains & phony maintenance

reuters.com/article/us-rus…

Wikipedia edit histories sometimes throw up some interesting information. For the uninitiated, anyone can edit a Wikipedia page but it will get vetted & corrected at times even by bots. PR gurus or even interested parties themselves often curate pages to avoid negative entries 1/ Let’s take @Keithaschembri’s Wikipedia page as an example.

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keith_Sch… 2/

.@MaltaGov's reaction to the draft Venice Commission report is a piece of work in itself: gov.mt/en/Government/… The "It's not our fault" -

"@MaltaGov notes that the draft opinion comments focus on laws & systems that were passed or implemented years back, & not about laws introduced by this government."

Yes, the constitution dates back to 1964...