Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1521306
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 • 26 MAY 2024 Why we decided to publish the Vitals inquiry Editorial MALTATODAY has taken the decision to pub- lish the Vitals inquiry in its entirety. It is not a decision we took lightly but at the end of the day we believe this is no ordinary case and the public has every right to know what the mag- istrate's findings are. On 5 May, this newspaper had joined the grow- ing chorus of people calling for the inquiry to be made public. We've had the Prime Minister, the Opposition leader, the NGO Repubblika (which instigated the magisterial inquiry), former prime minister Joseph Muscat, who stands accused of corruption among other serious crimes, all call for the inquiry to be published. The decision whether to publish the findings of a magisterial inquiry rests with the Attorney Gen- eral. So far, Victoria Buttigieg has resisted these calls. Additionally, with the European Parliament and local council elections approaching, people are being asked to make a political judgement on the findings of the inquiry through their vote. The on- ly publicly available information so far is the fact that former senior government figures, including Joseph Muscat, and a number of individuals are being charged with various crimes after the AG and the police took on board the magistrate's rec- ommendations lock stock and barrel. Muscat, his former chief of staff Keith Schembri, and former minister Konrad Mizzi face some of the most serious charges, including corruption, bribery, fraud, money laundering and forming part of a criminal organisation. It is already serious enough as it is that these criminal charges have been filed but other than the various stories that have emerged in the me- dia over the past days and years, the public is being asked to pass political judgement without having the full picture. In our leader on 5 May we stated that the best way to cut through the fog of political machina- tions was for the inquiry conclusions to be pub- lished so that "everyone can draw their own con- clusions on the findings". We stated that "transparency can help inform the public debate better". The Vitals case involves a flagship project of the previous administration that not only failed to get off the ground but is mired in corruption allega- tions. It involves a project that the civil courts al- ready struck down last year, while describing it a fraudulent deal. The case involves a former prime minister, for- mer Cabinet members, several high-ranking pub- lic officials, legal and accountancy professionals and several foreign nationals. The inquiry paints a grim picture of how mil- lions of euros in public funds intended for the hospitals concession were diverted towards illicit ends that allowed several individuals to profit at the expense of Maltese taxpayers. MaltaToday got hold of the 1,200-page inquiry and although our journalists have been working on several stories to synthesise what we believe are the more damning findings, a decision was made to release the full document without redac- tions for everyone to read. We did make the consideration as to whether publication could disrupt ongoing investigations since that is something we did not want to hap- pen. Nonetheless, the mere fact that the AG and the police decided to charge by summons all individ- uals and companies indicated as suspects by the inquiring magistrate suggests the prosecution was not interested in carrying out further investiga- tions. Indeed, none of those charged were called in for questioning much less interrogated under caution. Furthermore, a court decision that granted ac- cess to the inquiry to people who were charged, means that anybody who will appear in the dock next week and in subsequent sittings will know what the prosecution has on them. These two facts alone allay our concerns that full disclosure of the magistrate's findings could in some way disrupt investigations or alert poten- tial suspects. A second consideration was whether we should redact names or personal information that may seem irrelevant to the criminal acts flagged by investigators. We decided not to make that call since it could open up a can of worms. The mach- inations in this case are so complex, we did not want to put ourselves in a position of having to decide what is relevant and what is not. The mag- istrate's findings are thus presented in full. We believe taxpayers have a right to receive the full picture so as to make an informed decision. We believe taxpayers have a right to know how their money was used and how the promise of a new beginning in the health sector turned out to be one big ploy to enrich the few. Taxpayers have a right to know who the poli- ticians and public officials who enabled this to happen are and to what extent they were in- volved. Taxpayers have a right to know how public funds ended up being funnelled to companies that obscured their true owners. Taxpayers have a right to know who the law- yers, accountants and other professionals who aided and abetted money laundering were. Taxpayers have a right to know the truth. Quote of the Week "Today, we state clearly our unambiguous support for the equal right to security, dignity, and self-determination for the Palestinian and Israeli peoples." – Irish Foreign Minister Micheál Martin announcing his country's decision to recognise the Palestinian state, while emphasising that the two-state solution is the only solution that can bring lasting peace in the Middle East. Ireland, Norway and Spain are expected to formally recognise Palestine on 28 May. MaltaToday 10 years ago 25 May 2014 Turnout 4% down, PL could retain absolute majority THE voter turnout yesterday stood at 75%, nearly four percentage points down from 78.79% turnout in 2009. There was no clear indication how this would influ- ence the final result but it appeared that voter abstention was possibly higher in Labour strongholds, though the trend also appeared in traditional PN majori- ties. The only district which had the same turnout was Gozo. Predications based on extrapolations based on consecutive Malt- aToday polls indicate that the Labour Par- ty would reduce its support but possibly still retain an absolute majority of votes. The extrapolation was made as a result of polls conducted between 4 May and 22 May, after removing those respondents who did not know and re- spondents who said they would not be voting. The extrapolation put the mean at 52.4 for PL and 43 for PN. A total of 344,374 Maltese voters in- cluding 7,880 EU citizens living in Mal- ta were eligible to vote yesterday. 21,856 votes were not collected equivalent to 6.3% of all eligible voters. Turnout has constantly fallen in every EU election since 1979 and in Malta the trend has been similar. Voter turnout five years ago dropped down 79%, 4% less than 2004. When the first European Parliament elections were held in Malta in 2004, turnout was 82.4%. A total of 254,084 cast their vote in 2009– 3,393 more than the 2004 elections. In 2009 the lowest turnouts were in tradi- tional Nationalist-held electoral districts, namely the twelfth district and the highest turnouts were in the Labour strongholds.