Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1057934
3 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 2 DECEMBER 2018 NEWS CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 MaltaToday has learnt that Fearne has held dinners with es- tablished businessmen in the con- struction industry, in which they are "offered" to support his ambi- tions under a promise of "doing things differently". One dinner guest who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Fearne was "open about his in- tentions, and blatant about his requests for support." Fearne has even made inroads with important service provid- ers of Malta's healthcare: on 18 December he will grace Vassallo Group's annual chairman's lunch at the Phoenicia Hotel as a "guest of honour". Vassallo Group, which is run by construction magnate and PN donor Nazzareno Vas- sallo, was recently awarded a €3 million direct order to receive el- derly patients inside its Caremalta homes after being transferred out of Mount Carmel hospital. The lunch is an annual event for Vas- sallo, a former Nationalist mayor, and his company's top clients and partners from the construction and hospitality sector. On the ground, Fearne has gal- vanised support with sumptuous receptions for delegates. On Sat- urday he organised a Christmas party for Gozitan delegates, and on Monday he will host delegates and MPs at Villa Arrigo in Naxx- ar. "The 'unpublished' ministers' ratings survey from It-Torca that was leaked to [Sunday newspa- per] Illum ruffled feathers," the government source told Malta- Today, referring to the ratings polls that put transport minister Ian Borg ahead of other so called 'leadership contenders'. "Minis- ters were typically annoyed be- cause they knew the survey was not published by It-Torca in the first place. Fearne's campaign seems to have gone into over- drive since then." Ian Borg is also being seen as a potential contender for the lead- ership race, together with MEP Miriam Dalli and Labour back- bencher Robert Abela, son of for- mer President George Abela. Fearne in campaign mode MATTHEW VELLA THE Federation of Maltese Acquaculture Pro- ducers have appointed a Spanish lawyer to reg- ister their interest in a criminal case dealing with illegally-caught bluefin tuna. 79 people were arrested in a Spanish police raid on the sale of 80,000 kilos of illegally-caught bluefin tuna, acquired from Malta and Italy. FMAP chief executive Charlon Gouder told MaltaToday that ac- cording to previous statements issued by Europol, no reference was made to fish fattened in any of the Bluefin tuna farms in Mal- ta but to fish allegedly caught in Italian and Maltese waters. "It is in our interest to make sure that this investigation has got nothing to do with our tuna fattening industry," Gouder said, explaining the appointment of a lawyer to represent the lobby's interests in Spain. "The focus of the investigation appears to be fishing of Bluefin tuna and not to fish harvested from any of the Maltese aquaculture producers." Arrests were made in various provinces by the Spanish Civil Guard and Europol in what was code-named Operation Tarantelo. The Spanish companies implicated in the po- lice operation are said to have acquired the tuna fished over and above quotas allocated to Mal- tese and Italian fishing companies, and falsified documentation on the tuna. The Spanish civil guard estimated that the criminal gang could have moved an annual vol- ume of over 1.25 million kilos legally imported from Malta, but then also trafficked over 2.5 mil- lion kilos of overfished tuna, estimated at a value of €12 million. The operation dates back to 2016, with the tap- ping of small businesses which then spread to major European tuna ranchers, namely Ricardo Fuentes e Hijos – which owns the Maltese tu- na rancher Mare Blu. Investigators then stumbled on a truckload of 50,000kgs of allegedly illegal tuna from Italy. The investigations were centred in the region of Valencia, while se- curity forces from Italy and France took part in the operation. "Investigations revealed that the fish was being traded illegally in Spain, but imported into the country through French harbours, after being caught in Italian and Maltese waters," Europol said. Fish caught in Maltese waters, it said, were ille- gally imported using documents from legal fish- ing and authorised farms. On the other hand, fish caught in Italian waters arrived in Spain without documents or inspections. "Although most of the fish was caught in Mal- ta and Italy, in Spanish waters there were also unauthorised catches, in this case, the illegally fished Bluefin tuna was transported in false bot- toms under the deck of a vessel," Europol added. It said this illegal Bluefin tuna market was up to 2.5 million kg every year, double the annual volume of the legal trade. Tuna lobby appoints lawyer to follow Spanish investigation Charlon Gouder