Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1453707
MATTHEW VELLA & LUKE VELLA THE former Commissioner of Revenue, Marvin Gaerty, flew to Las Vegas in 2018 together with two of the men who stand charged with the abduction and assault of a man in Rabat. Gaerty, who stepped down from his powerful role at the end of January, flew in Octo- ber 2018 with Christian Borg and Tyson Grech, to watch the historic clash between MMA fighters Khabib Nurmagome- Conor McGregor in Las Vegas. But the holiday came just under two months after Borg, 28, was summoned by the Tax Compliance Unit for an audit of his company Princess Hold- ings. At that time, Borg and Grech, were running their car rental business and dealership, but had not yet submitted a single set of their annual accounts for Princess Holdings and No De- posit Cars. As the accounts filed in Janu- ary 2022 show, Princess Hold- ings amassed €22 million in ac- cumulated losses, despite Borg and Grech, 26, flaunting their wealth on social media with snaps of their holidays and su- percars. Now they stand accused of having abducted a man whom they threatened to have his fin- gers cut. GOZO LAND GRAB Government freezes property registrations in Nadur to dead- leg Abbazia titles PAGE 2 TRUTH IS OF NO COLOUR WWW.MALTATODAY.COM.MT/COVID19 SUNDAY • 13 FEBRUARY 2022 • ISSUE 1163 • PUBLISHED EVERY WEDNESDAY AND SUNDAY maltatoday PAGES 8-9 Tax chief flew to Las Vegas with abduction gang boys Visualised: From PPP to accusations of kickbacks PAGES 14-15 can violence MT2 The Vitals TIMELINE SALT WATER New water brings old problem for farmers in the south PAGE 12 Tinder troubles... Christian Borg was summoned for tax audit two months before Las Vegas trip over company which today has €22 million in accumulated losses, despite f launting wealth and luxury cars EXCLUSIVE Hired Bentley: Grech and Borg (back seat) fly a drone and have their picture taken while in Las Vegas; Marvin Gaerty is in the driver's seat. He claims he never had any 'close friendship' with Borg Millions in pending bills: party stations owe ARMS €4.7m MATTHEW VELLA ELECTIONS are round the cor- ner and the propaganda from the Labour and Nationalist party stations will be exhorting voters by fanning the sins of the opposing party. But both TV stations today owe millions in unpaid elec- tricity bills to ARMS, the water and energy billing company, once again showing politi- cal parties to be less adept at keeping their own house in order. PAGE 3 Do women really ignore the alarm bells? MT2 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 13 FEBRUARY 2022 COMMENT What are we skinning? The feast of St Paul's Shipwreck, celebrated with a necessarily diminished but nonetheless welcome sit- down ceremony in lieu of a full procession in the capital last Thursday. Why are we skinning it? Well, it does mark one of the most important instances of devenomisation in history. Certainly in Mediterranean history. Oh, really? Yeah, really. He drove all poisonous snakes away from the island. How? I dunno, he was a saint. The Gospels aren't endowed with Tolkien-level worldbuilding and magical mechanics, I'm afraid. You know what they're also not endowed with? What? That very episode you've just described. Huh? The Malta-snakes mention in the Acts of the Apostles was about how St Paul was bitten by a venomous snake but was physically unfazed by the experience. Ah, so the 'he drove them all out' – like some Biblical version of the Pied Piper – must have been a post-facto folkloric addition… Yes, in fact it has a populist, fairy tale ring to it. The Maltese indulging in a bit of vintage fake news to prop up an idea of nativist Catholic nation-building. I'm shocked. I'm not. Fast-forward to this year's Valletta ceremony marking the event. What happened of note? Well, former PN candidate and current European Parliament president Roberta Metsola paid a visit to the capital to drum along to said nation-building myth. As is to be expected – nothing terribly exceptional about that. Yes, but protocol dictated that she place herself next to Labour grandee and current President of the Republic George Abela, and Prime Minister Robert Abela. Oh, I see. That leaves the current leader of Metsola's pedigree party – the PN – somewhat snubbed. Yes, Bernard Grech was sidelined in the whole thing. Making for an interesting trifecta as the band played on. Yes. President, Prime Minister and… The next PN leader? The Maltese are certainly skilled at weaving wish-fulfilment fantasies. Yes, so maybe this one will be borne out too. Do say: "It was nice to see a de facto return to (limited) normality for the St Paul's procession in Valletta last Thursday. The political accompaniment of Roberta Metsola's state visit was just the cherry on an off-kilter cake." Don't say: "Do we really need a loud and boisterous annual celebration to remind us of the fact that there are no venomous snakes in Malta? Surely, a series of well-designed placards along nature trails will do the trick just as well…" Women and matters of the heart JOSANNE CASSAR PAGE 6 The Skinny Malta, shrunk down ISABEL STABILE Misinformation on emergency contraception PAGE 6 MICHAEL FALZON The quest for democracy PAGE 7 No 126 – Shipwrecked Saints & Sanctified Snakes SAVIOUR BALZAN What is the tax man doing in Sin City? PAGE 13 EDITORIAL Missing the target on cyberbullying law PAGE 2 As human beings, both men and women are shaped and influenced by our relationship choices, but it seems to me that women tend to be more defined by them maltatoday | SUNDAY • 20 FEBRUARY 2022 Anna Nightingale CLASSIFIEDS & COMMERCIALS ARTS • TV • WHAT'S ON "I believe in the power of prayer. I believe there is a higher force on a different dimension than us, a parallel universe. I do not believe that there is one man with a white beard over there." maltatoday Get the critical perspective on politics, culture and society Be the first to enjoy our print newspaper with a subscription When you need to decode what politicians are saying, when you want to understand why Malta's crazy construction industry is impacting upon your life, when you need to step out of the social media and understand the world from a different perspective, our journalists and columnists will provide you with expert reporting, analysis and commentary. Order now at maltatoday.uberflip.com