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6 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 27 MARCH 2022 OPINION 2 maltatoday EXECUTIVE EDITOR KURT SANSONE ksansone@mediatoday.com.mt 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 • 24 DECEMBER 2023 Looking back with pride Editorial IT is a long-standing tradition of MaltaToday at Christmastime to analyse the happenings of the previous 12 months and to peer into the new year. Today's special edition focuses on 2023, which was the first year after the general election and one in which surveys confirmed a growing de- spondency with politics. It was also a year in which inflation took a bigger bite out of people's pockets and the middle class struggled to keep up with its standard of living. Despite moments of joy in the worlds of sports and culture – the national women's football team gained promotion in the Nations League and the Maltese festa was inscribed as a world heritage by UNESCO – the overall outlook for 2023 has been a negative one. The international climate remains unstable with the Ukraine war grinding to a stalemate and a new conflict opening up between Israel and Hamas that risks destabilising the Middle East. There may be little to toast about as 2023 comes to an end but today's edition gives us the opportunity to revisit some of the salient issues and events in Malta. We look back to understand the past and determine how this could shape the future. But planning and executing an edition that tries to capture the essence of the previous 12 months, inevitably makes us realise the volume of stories we have produced in a bid to keep readers informed. It is impossible to highlight everything but an edition like this is also an occa- sion to reflect on our job as journalists. We often ask ourselves what is the raison d'etre of our job. The plain and simple answer is that we have a duty to report because people have a right to know. And we try to achieve this in the most effective way across our print and digital platforms. In 2023, MaltaToday not only reported on current affairs but lived up to its mission to an- alyse happenings by putting them into context and seeking different opinions to present readers with an array of views. We also collaborated with international partners on two cross-border in- vestigations – the murder in Malta of Josef Rivas, which was linked to Romanian prostitution rings, and the questionable collaboration of the Maltese army and Frontex with a Libyan militia known for breaching human rights. Our journalists have asked the questions that mattered, sought answers, chased politicians, tried to understand the subtext and analysed what was said and what was left unsaid. We also continued with our two-decades-old tradition of conducting regular surveys that captured the public mood and helped shape the national agen- da. We have also earned our share of verbal abuse from those who felt wronged by what we wrote, even if it exposed their wrongdoing or provided a critical view of what they said or did. The courts gave the thumbs up to our re- portage on former prison director Alex Dalli's unorthodox disciplinary measures and on more than one occasion threw out libel cases he filed against our journalists. Journalists across the board often end up re- ceiving flak on social media from people who would rather shoot the messenger than under- stand the message. We have come to accept this as a job hazard although it does take its toll on the mental wellbeing of journalists. Indeed, a few have even called it a day from the profession because of this pressure. But there are limits to the abuse journalists should endure and when red lines are crossed the law and the authorities should be there to protect journalists and their work. In 2023, our journalists performed to the best of their abilities to tell the story behind the story and it is a commitment we will take forward in the years to come. This leader may appear self-congratulatory – it is and unashamedly so. On this one occasion as we reflect back on 2023, we also take pride in our work and what we have achieved. We raise a toast to our journalists and thank our loyal read- ers for their support. From all of us at MaltaToday, we wish you a happy Christmas. Quote of the Week "Those who are labelling it a solution to the migration problem, will have to answer to European and Maltese citizens in the coming months." Home Affairs Minister Byron Camilleri on the European migration pact that leaves burden sharing of migrants on a voluntary basis but which was billed as a historic deal by several, including European Parliament President Roberta Metsola. MaltaToday 10 years ago 22 December 2013 Whistleblower passed on Trafigura oil bribe invoice A crucial piece of evidence that MaltaToday published to expose the bribery in Enemal- ta's procurement of oil, was not among a stash of court documents in a multi-mil- lion euro compensation case filed against oil trader George Farrugia by his brothers. The specific invoice – a $19,042 'consul- tancy fee' that Dutch commodities giant Trafigura had paid in 2004 into a Swiss bank account – was given to MaltaToday by the whistleblower on the Enemalta fuel procure- ment scandal. That company, established in Gibraltar, was Energy & Environment Consultants Ltd, whose beneficiary was Frank Sammut, at the time a consultant to Enemalta chairman Tan- cred Tabone. The invoice's publication led to the arrest of Tabone, Sammut, and more importantly George Farrugia – the Trafigura agent who turned state's evidence in return for a presidential pardon. But Farrugia is now claiming that the system of bribes devised by him and Sammut was known to Manuel Malia, the Home Affairs Minister, when in 2010 he was appointed as a lawyer by family business Powerplan to seek a resolution from Farrugia, then accused by his brothers of siphoning €40 million in oil com- missions from the family business. Mallia has denied any knowledge of the bribes, but Farrugia claims that during meetings with him he was threatened that he would be reported to the police unless he reaches a settlement. MaltaToday managing editor Saviour Balzan, who received the evidence of the bribe, has stated that Farrugia's comments to the PAC are leading the Opposition to surmise a political connection when MaltaToday broke the story. "In 'Saying it as it is', I write that the source of the oil scandal story had no political con- nection. I reiterate that the source is the most unlikely of sources, and in February, during the general elections, I confronted minister Austin Gatt during a press conference and denied that the Labour Party had passed on any documents to MaltaToday."