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18 maltatoday EXECUTIVE EDITOR Matthew Vella MANAGING EDITOR Saviour Balzan Letters to the Editor, MaltaToday, Vjal ir-Rihan, San Gwann SGN 9016 E-mail: dailynews@mediatoday.com.mt Letters must be concise, no pen names accepted, include full name and address maltatoday | SUNDAY • 29 JULY 2018 3 August, 2008 Mater Dei's million-euro haemorrhage PRIME Minister Lawrence Gonzi issued a direct tender for a year of under €2 million to Group 4 Securitas (G4S) for internal security arrange- ments inside Mater Dei Hospital, just two and a half months before the 8 March general election. The contract period has now been reduced to seven months, supposedly terminating in July, by social policy minister John Dalli, who has told MaltaToday the payment was reduced to €1.08 million for seven months. In a reply to MaltaToday, the government has said that the contract was negotiated "as a con- tinuation of the service" that G4S had previously provided Skanska, the Swedish firm entrusted with the construction of Mater Dei. G4S was, in fact, allowed to extend the previ- ous security contract it held with Skanska, until after the 1 January 2008 handover to govern- ment, but without a public tender being issued. One contradiction to emerge is that govern- ment is claiming the contract was signed in Janu- ary 2008, while G4S managing director Kenneth DeMartino said he signed the contract after he became managing director, that is after 24 Febru- ary. The government said the arrangement was until a new tender is issued after the hospital settled down following migration from St Luke's Hospital, by request of the Foundation for Medi- cal Services. "This was authorised by the director of con- tracts in the best interest of the patients and staff to minimise disruption and risk by providing continuity through the people who knew the building and its security risks best at that point in time." But strangely, the contract with G4S which commenced on 1 January was only allowed to run for seven months. The contract is supposed to have terminated on 31 July 2008, because social policy minister Dalli will now be issuing a new public tender for the internal security ser- vices. The company is, however, still operating at Mater Dei and no public call for tendering has been issued yet. MaltaToday can reveal that the internal secu- rity contract cost government €154,407 a month – a total of €1.08 million. According to a reply by John Dalli in parliament, the contract is for 73 security guards in the morning, and 20 for the night-shift. G4S, however, says it only provides 38 security guards in the morning. In the same parliamentary question, it was also revealed that the government is paying just €790,000 for the salaries of 46 government workers who are employed as security guards at St Luke's Hospital, with other duties inside the homes for the elderly, clinics, and Mount Carmel Hospital. MaltaToday 10 years ago Quote of the Week Dark times for democracy, indeed THE situation currently unfolding within the PN is a case of history repeating itself far too soon. During last summer's PN leadership battle, an administrative council that was allied to Si- mon Busuttil attempted to disrupt the demo- cratic process by requesting that Adrian Delia withdraw his candidature. Delia withstood the pressure, and as expected won the party lead- ership contest. Now, with an administrative council clearly allied to him, it is Delia's turn to give Simon Busuttil a taste of his own medi- cine, by getting the council to ask him to leave the PN parliamentary group. All this is unhelpful, given the current polit- ical situation. Both Delia and Busuttil should by now have realised that this crisis does not revolve merely around themselves. It is the short-term survival of the Nationalist Party itself that is now at stake. And this has severe consequences for the proper functioning of democracy in our country. Even from the perspective of personal politi- cal survival – as opposed to survival of the PN – this strategy has its limits, and Delia knows it. Busuttil commands the loyalty of practical- ly half the parliamentary group, which is now in an open state of civil war. Delia should have ensured he had enough support of his own, before capitalising on the situation to remove a political rival. A good political leader only starts wars he knows he can win. Delia's position is tenuous for another rea- son. He is refusing to sack Pierre Portelli, the former Independent editor who is said to have given Magistrate Aaron Bugeja copies of a falsified declaration of trust. Lest we forget, the Prime Minister had refused to sack Keith Schembri because he is not a politician or an elected official: much the same reason Delia has given for not sacking Portelli. This weak- ens Delia's criticism of the Panama Papers – which was never very strong to begin with. Nonetheless, Delia's quandary pales when compared with Simon Busuttil's legacy prob- lem. Busuttil endorsed the Egrant lie against the better advice of people inside the party: who knew they could not stand by the claims of Russian national Maria Efimova, or the unverified work of Daphne Caruana Galizia. Busuttil now refuses to take responsibility for advancing this lie, by making it a central plank of the Nationalist Party's narrative; and with it, the narrative of civil society activists who joined Busuttil's 'good governance' drive. Instead, the Egrant lie has strengthened Labour, and weakened civil society activists' pursuit of justice on the Panama Papers. Si- mon Busuttil should resign for being repre- sentative of the party that hitched its wagon to a partisan blog, instead of proposing real political alternatives. Another mistake was not to report the Pan- ama Papers to a magistrate back in April 2016. Busuttil wanted to milk the situation because he knew the police were not investigating the findings of the ICIJ. Over the next two years, the ongoing inquiry into the Panama Papers would have kept the Nationalist Party buoy- ant. So he delayed action, and instead leapt onto the Egrant canard; and when that failed, after being trounced at the elections, he re- ported the Panama findings to the magistrate in the summer of 2017. Nonetheless, this also means that Konrad Mizzi and Keith Schembri cannot claim any form of victory in the Egrant inquiry. They are clearly responsible for having opened offshore Panama companies; and clearly the police should be investigating these findings. Hav- ing said that, it is also unacceptable that the Attorney General has appealed the Constitu- tional Court's verdict on the Antonio Mizzi recusal. It is an unnecessary stumbling block that strengthens the perception that the State is trying to slow down this investigation. The earthquake has also weakened Maltese media. Little contrition has been seen from media houses and journalists who embraced and endorsed the Egrant lie, advancing the no- tion that the allegation was strong enough to warrant the Prime Minister's resignation. The schizophrenia of this media circus was evident in the Times' print editorials this week: start- ing with a call for Simon Busuttil to resign, ending on Friday with a suggestion that Egrant was orchestrated by 'the black hand of Labour', so as to capitalise on the evident lie that it was. This refusal to accept the findings of Magis- trate Aaron Bugeja is also being played out in the social media: yet another bubble seemingly dominated by partisan activists au courant with media theatrics, but totally disconnected from everyday life. Above all, however, it has weakened democ- racy: because Labour's positivistic approach to economic growth still has its victims, and people are still being left behind. Labour's profit-driven mantra is costing Malta its envi- ronment, weakening social bonds, and under- mining institutions. We remain without the defence of a strong police force, and a well- equipped unit to fight money laundering and organised crime using our financial services. This places an added responsibility on the PN. Delia should be preparing for European elections, not struggling to keep the PN afloat. Opposition MPs should be meeting people, learning about their problems, and formulat- ing policies to solve them. In a nutshell, the Opposition needs to re- turn to real politics: to forget the anti-politics of the past, and offer a serious alternative to Labour. Editorial "A hundred suspicions out together do not make one bit of proof" Magistrate Aaron Bugeja's conclud- ing remark to the investigation of the Egrant affair