Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1007543
maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 25 JULY 2018 2 NEWS CALL For TENDER GRTU would like to announce that following approval of its project entitled 'SMEs Tuning the Art of Representation (STAR) – ESF 04.093, GRTU is launching the following tender: TRAINING - HR CAPACITY BUILDING IN PUBLIC RELATIONS Ref. no. [STAR01] The tender will particularly address the following: • Addressing general shortcomings in PR of the organisation • Upgrading group and individual skills in the area of public relations • Hands-on, practical and strategic induction complemented by mentorship For further details kindly visit the direct link: https://goo.gl/y4CVR3 MATTHEW VELLA THE wife of Maltese Prime Minister Joseph Mus- cat has issued a statement on the aftermath of the Egrant affair, which she described as a "deceitful conspiracy" that has scarred her family for life. "The result of the inquiry is no cause for cele- bration, since we would have preferred not to go through all this in the first place. But it is cause for relief, since what we knew from the very first mo- ment, is now certified, and there for everyone to see," Ms Muscat said. Michelle Muscat was targeted by the late journal- ist Daphne Caruana Galizia as being the owner of a secret Panamanian company that had received over $1 million from the daughter of Azerbaijani ruler Ilham Aliyev. A 15-month magisterial inves- tigation said the allegations were unproven and documents claiming the ownership of the com- pany had been falsified. "The pain will not just go away. Our family has suffered, and we were deeply affected on a person- al and human level. Just imagine sitting down, as parents, with your 10-year-old daughters, explain- ing that what they were reading, watching, and hearing was simply not true. Fielding questions on what happens if we are taken to prison. Asking what exactly is an 'istitut' [a euphemism for or- phanage] since they read that someone suggested that they, our children, should be taken from us. "We had to discuss how to deal with television crews and photographers who were hounding us everywhere, and how to react in a dignified man- ner at school and elsewhere, when necessary." Muscat has suggested she will take legal action and that she expects the institutions to identify who had forged documents to try to implicate her family. "As private citizens, we will sit down with our lawyers to decide a course of action. I do hope no- body will object to us doing so according to the rule of law. This will give us nothing back, but there is not one parent I know who would not do so if their family had gone through what we did." Muscat was often derided by Caruana Galizia over her public persona as a philanthropist. "Some might also believe that I am some sort of heartless, vain woman, as the decade-long charac- ter assassination campaign targeting me person- ally goes at length to depict. But the scar that this deceitful conspiracy left on me personally, and on us as a family, has marked us for life. It is the basis for many decisions we have taken over the past 15 months, and those in the months to come." Muscat thanked those who had supported her and said she appreciated the sentiment of those who had now believed they were "conned into be- lieving the biggest lie in Maltese political history." She said she would now devote her energy to the charity Marigold Foundation which she runs, which includes a rare diseases charity. "Equally, my heart goes out to friends, like Mi- chelle Buttigieg, whose reputation was tarnished simply because they are my friends, from way be- fore we entered public life," she said referring to her former business partner who was also falsely accused by Caruana Galizia of having received cash from a Pilatus Bank transaction. "We have gone through this ordeal in the most serene manner possible not because we are perfect, but because we work hard to have a strong family. We found no help whatsoever from institutions who should know better. Those who stand for the protection of children shied away from pronounc- ing themselves on the way our daughters were be- ing smeared. Those who usually have a lot to say about everything, never had a word to say to us, nei- ther in private let alone in public, neither before nor after. Not that we expected any better." CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 Reacting to the document's publication on Monday evening, the FIAU reiterated that the re- port was only a draft, and that the investigation into Mizzi had not been concluded at the time it was leaked. Moreover, the FIAU noted that the report had been re-typed, and that "several discrepancies, omis- sions and inaccurate reproduc- tions of text" were noted. "The report I published is a transcript," Casa told Malta- Today. "Publishing the original could expose the source. The FIAU confirmed the report's au- thenticity when they threatened my arrest." The PN MEP added that the report's authenticity was con- firmed by the FIAU "when they remained silent following the rev- elations of the Daphne Project". He said that any attempt to dis- credit the report was testament to the "political capture of our institutions". Asked specifically to comment on the fact that FIAU had said that the document contained dis- crepancies and omissions, Casa reiterated that the unit was "po- litically captured" but would not elaborate. "It is precisely this comment from the FIAU that exposes the extent of the political capture of our institutions," he said. "It is a disgrace that a once respected institution has been reduced to a government mouthpiece." Casa stressed that the report contained evidence showing that Mizzi had lied on a number of occasions, and "omitted to dis- close secret trips paid for by the taxpayer", as well as details on the planned transfer of funds to and from people Mizzi was negotiat- ing with. "And it contains evi- dence that Nexia BT misled the FIAU, fabricated evidence and withheld information". "The FIAU's real concern is how they will explain their dereliction of duty with regard to the service providers of Mizzi and Schembri to MONEYVAL in November," Mizzi added. Reacting to the report's publica- tions Mizzi described it as a "col- lection of conjectures, in large part based on speculative reports published on Daphne Caruana Galizia's blog". He added that the reports structure "lends credence to the view that the document was drafted to be leaked". While it remains unclear at what stage of its compila- tion the report was leaked, and whether it was indeed complet- ed, it points to a number of fac- tors it says are worthy of further investigation. Among the report's findings is that some $1.4million were wired to the Dubai-based company 17 Black from a company in the Sey- chelles called Mayor Trans and which is owned by Azeribaijani national Rufat Baratzada. It also notes that 17 Black and the company Macbridge Lim- ited were named as target clients for Mizzi and OPM chief of staff Keith Schembri's companies, by Nexia BT. The report also questions why Mizzi would have required an offshore structure, with the sig- nificant cost of setting up, when it appeared that it had remained dormant for a considerable pe- riod of time. The fact that Mizzi and Schem- bri's companies were opened in tandem and not according to their individual circumstances is also described as being suspi- cious. The report's author also ques- tions why Nexia BT started to make attempts to set up a bank account for the company in 2015, the year it says many deals were signed by the government, among other observations. Casa explains discrepancies in leaked FIAU report LOCAL authorities have confirmed the presence of Salmonella in eggs sam- pled from a local farm, the Superintendence of Public Health (SPH). In a statement issued yes- terday evening, the SPH said that the health author- ities had been alerted by the veterinary authorities that Salmonella was confirmed in eggs sampled from St Jo- seph Farm-M PLM 005. It said the sampling had been carried out as part of the Veterinary National Control programme for Salmonella. It said that a recall from the local market of the eggs packed by this farm had been ordered. "The public is being ad- vised not to consume any eggs with the St Joseph Farm packaging," the SPH said. Salmonella found in eggs from local farm Michelle Muscat: Egrant affair has scarred us for life