Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1476751
maltatoday | SUNDAY • 21 AUGUST 2022 OPINION 11 Julia Farrugia-Portelli The gift (of hearing) we need to protect one item, on Fr Seguna's charge sheet, that warrants taking a closer look at his spending habits. Money laundering… a crime which (if you'll permit the massive generalisation) involves 'legitimising' the pro- ceeds of any criminal activi- ty, by obfuscating their true source. But this only brings us to an- other problem regarding this case. Actually, two. The first is that 'paying for online porn' – by means of a credit card, no less – does nothing to 'legitimise' the proceeds of any crime. (If an- ything, the money only comes out 'dirtier' than before). And it certainly doesn't 'obfuscate the source' of that money, ei- ther. Quite the contrary: hav- ing gone through a credit card billing system, those payments remain eminently traceable to the person who made them. (In fact, it may even have been one of the reasons Fr Luke Seguna got himself arrested in the first place.) So exactly how these online payments can be submitted as 'evidence of money launder- ing', is something of a mystery to me. But there's an even bigger problem, staring us all in the face. For while we don't know, with any certainty, which spe- cific porn sites Fr Seguna spent those €150,000 on… it remains a fact that some of the online billing companies processing porn-payments, happen to be located here in Malta. As Daphne Caruana Galizia herself had reminded us, back in 2017: "If a porn company anywhere in the world wants to make money online, it has to go through Ron Cadwell, who CNBC named one of the most powerful men in porn. […] When people pay for porn online, their card transaction goes through [Cadwell's com- pany] CCBill, which process- es more than US$1 billion in transactions every year. And where are the payments pro- cessed? They're processed through Malta…" Now: we cannot safely assert that any of Fr Seguna's pre- sumed payments WERE, in fact, processed through this same, Malta-based company – in which case, the Maltese government would have 'taken a cut', as it were, by taxing the billing company's profits. But we certainly can deduce that – while Fr Seguna has been hauled over the coals, for availing of a service that is both 'legal', and highly lucrative for the Maltese government – the country itself continues to 'profiteer' from the same al- leged 'crime' that Fr Seguna is supposed to have committed. At which point, we do have to ask ourselves: who's the big- gest 'money-launderer' in all this, anyway? Fr Luke Seguna… or the country of Malta, as a whole? FOR most of us, the gift of hearing is often tak- en for granted. We all love to listen to words of love and wisdom, the noise of some public manifestation in the distance and, of course, our favourite music. It connects us to a world in motion and a no less agitated society that seeks new experiences and better opportunities of personal enjoyment, the sharing of good and bad tidings, and all that is associated with sound and a human existence. However, it is also a gift we seriously need to protect. The natural decline of hearing, more pronounced in men than in women, is a wor- rying factor as we seek to retain the quality of life we have been fortunate to enjoy since childhood. It has been scientifical- ly proved that hearing is worth protecting for more than its own sake: a number of studies as- sociate hearing loss and cognitive decline, and link it to an increased risk of falls. But it is not a source of concern strict- ly to persons of a certain age. Too many young men and women are exposed to sounds loud enough that one must raise his or her voice to be heard, including the use of personal listen- ing devices. Monitoring one's hearing is impera- tive. This is the basis of the "Hearing Care for All" initiative that the Min- istry for Inclusion, Vol- untary Organisations and Consumer Rights has taken alongside Alex Agius Saliba MEP, with the second project hav- ing been launched in the past few days. This will include, for the second consecutive year, free tests for the public. Three centres will be geared up for this exercise: Żurrieq, Ħaż-Żebbug and Birgu. All tests will be pro- fessionally carried out by the Audiologists Association using audiometers that provide readings of hearing levels. With the first such free tests attracting 500 persons, we believe that this second round should help develop an unfolding picture of the situation in Malta as regards hearing. It is an issue we have committed ourselves to keeping abreast of, so much so that Pat- rick D'Haese, international cordinator of the Hearing Health Forum, has referred to "Hear- ing Care for all" as a global model of how a pro-active public role can help people to fight the ever-present threat of loss of hearing. The whole initative stems from the Government's determination to fight social exclusion in all its forms and at all levels of society. The free hearing tests and our hands-on approach to such issues as hearing and the societal impli- cations associated with cases of complete or partial loss of this natural gift, are all part of this nationwide commitment. But there is no resting on our laurels. Be- sides this new round of free hearing tests, the coming months will see the launching of a nationwide campaign to help create more public awareness. Being pro-active does not stop at providing the service of free hearing tests. It also entails the need for people to real- ise how precious hear- ing is and how best to avoid loss or partial loss of hearing, and so auto- matically combatting so- cial exclusion. I certainly share the sentiments expressed by my colleague, Alex Agi- us Saliba, Chair of the Health Forum within the European Parliament, whose support and en- thusiasm for the cause are reflected in the gar- nering of a much-need- ed European perspective to the issue. The success of the first round of free hearing tests augurs well for the second one by further gaining ground on the importance of this issue within the all-important institutions of the European Union. Huge interest in our pilot project has in fact been shown among all EU organisations, many of which are not only aware of its im- portance, but also looking forward to its out- comes by way of seeing other member states adopting it. The next schedule of free hearing tests, set for the 24 September and the 1st and 22 October, will go a long way towards giving a clear and precise picture – based on severity, sex, age and locality – that we need to pro- ceed further in our continued efforts to erad- icate social exclusion. Julia Farrugia-Portelli is minister for inclusion, voluntary organisations and consumer rights Being pro-active does not stop at providing the service of free hearing tests. It also entails the need for people to realise how precious hearing is and how best to avoid loss or partial loss of hearing, and so automatically combatting social exclusion Marsaxlokk parish priest Fr Luke Seguna being escorted to court (Photo: James Bianchi/MaltaToday)