Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1085429
SUNDAY • 24 FEBRUARY 2019 • ISSUE 1007 • PUBLISHED EVERY WEDNESDAY AND SUNDAY YOUR FIRST READ AND CLICK OF THE DAY WWW.MALTATODAY.COM.MT SUNDAY • 24 FEBRUARY 2019 • ISSUE 1007 • PUBLISHED EVERY WEDNESDAY AND SUNDAY maltatoday €1.95 Arnold's hara-kiri Cassola bows out of the Green Party... so what is next for the per- sistent Alternat- tiva Demokratika PAGES 10-11 2 INSIDE Q&A Actor Joe Azzopardi, who stars in Maltese feature fi lm The Boat takes the Q&A ONE of Malta's most prolific of business groups, Hili Ventures, is in the process of concluding its purchase of the Comino Hotel. A senior director of the group, headed by magnate Melo Hili, confirmed the deal, the amount of which has not yet been re- vealed. Plans for the hotel, the only one on the island of Comino, would include altering the footprint but also carrying out an upgrade of the complex and making it a more attractive destination for holidaymakers. The local plan for Comino ac- cords the island the status of Special Area of Conservation and nature reserve, and only al- lows developers to "upgrade" the existing tourist complex and ho- tel if it is "compatible with the sensitivity of the surrounding context". The hotel is currently owned by Kemmuna Ltd, a company owned by Alf Mizzi & Sons, Ropes Lim- ited – which is owned by the Tu- mas and Gasan business groups, having acquired their shares in 2007 – Consolidated Holdings, Festa Ltd, and Chrisanton PTY. The company's directors are Ray Fenech, Joe Gasan, Brian Mizzi and Alec Mizzi. In the 1960s, the island was granted to John Gaul's Comino Development Ltd, for just a £100 annual lease: Gaul built the ho- tel and bungalows. The hotel was then acquired by Cecil Pace, before going into controllership with the BICAL bank suspension. Hili bid for Comino hotel MATTHEW VELLA A whistleblower working in the tuna farming industry has spo- ken to MaltaToday about the abuse inside the business, de- scribing how it benefitted from lax enforcement and got away with flagrant abuses while gov- ernment officials are duped or even look the other way. The insider recounted in- stances where enforcement of- ficers were being "misled to the advantage of tuna ranchers", al- lowing them to make millions in euros on undeclared tuna catches and illegal harvesting of tuna. He described in detail the monitoring of tuna that is caged, before being fattened and finally harvested. "Each cage holds hundreds of tuna pieces, and a label is at- tached to each cage – yet none get sealed. The reference num- ber will tell the history of each cage, the origin of the tuna, and the quantity. But the reality is… the labels can be easily ex- changed onto other tuna cages," he said. The sad state of monitoring, recently exemplified by reveal- ing instances in a National Audit Office inquiry, was also a key reason why companies could get away with certain abuses. "Without stringent regula- tion and constant monitoring, the field is pretty much open for these abuses to take place. When a tuna ranch owner is asked to release caged tuna back into the open sea – this be- ing necessary to respect the na- tional quotas of how much fish can be caught and killed – the operation has to be observed by a representative of the Fisheries Department, as well as one rep- resentative of the International Commission for the Conserva- tion of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT). "But once again… the truth is that from the surface, it is just impossible to ascertain the number of tuna being released. Remember that the diver used in this operation to calculate the number of tuna being re- leased, is also employed by the tuna rancher." The insider said he knew of several instances when releases from tuna cages were carried out… but no tuna was, in fact, released from the cages. "I know that on particular oc- casions, it was archived films from past releases that were presented to show the alleged release of tuna." The insider also said that the fisheries department was fac- ing problems of its own, when enforcement officials recently appointed to fill in urgently needed vacancies, had a glar- ing conflict of interest because of their family relationships to people employed with fishing companies. PAGE 3 "Without stringent regulation and constant monitoring, the field is pretty much open for these abuses to take place" TUNA INDUSTRY TUNA INDUSTRY Insider: widespread cover-up of illegalities SUNDAY • Roselyn Borg Knight The PN's newest candidate for Europe INTERVIEW 16-17