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€0.90 WEDNESDAY EDITION WWW.MALTATODAY.COM.MT Editorial - PAGE 11 WEDNESDAY • 22 January 2014 • issue 348 • published every wednesday and sunday Arriva – debts, losses, and disaster JURGEN BALZAN THE national public transport company that took over the Arriva Malta operations, Malta Public Transport Services Ltd, absorbed €7.9 million in total debts when it took over Arriva Malta for a nominal €1. The 245-page share transfer agreement between Arriva and Malta Public Transport Services was laid on the table in Parliament yesterday evening by Transport Minister Joe Mizzi. The file shows that apart from racking up €7.9 million in debts, Arriva's liabilities totalled over €70 million. The €7.9 million in credit was extended by various Arriva Group subsidiaries. But the losses incurred by the company saw Arri- va Malta borrowing lines of credit totalling €10 million from parent company Deutsche Bahn in 2011, then €12 million in 2012, and finally €29.7 million in February 2013 – a total of €52 million. Last week, MaltaToday revealed that the Finance Ministry allocated €1 million in the form of a government shareholding for the setup of the Malta Public Transport Services Ltd. The budgetary vote was allocated at the end of 2013, but beyond the initial €1 million, the government has made no further allocations. The public transport service was nationalised in the beginning of 2014 after Arriva transferred its assets to government. The original subsidy agreed between the previous government and Arriva in 2011 was set at around €6 million per year for the duration of the 10-year contract, however subsidies topped €10 million in 2012. Moreover, the accounts show that Arriva was forecasting an operating loss of €4.3 million for 2013 but the company actually registered a loss of €18.7 million as of November 2013. CONTINUES ON PAGE 3 Minister's discretion on IIP applicants 'being misinterpreted' – Muscat THE power granted to the Home Affairs Minister to allow applicants for the Individual Investor Programme who are subject of a criminal investigation to be still considered eligible for Maltese citizenship, was being "misinterpreted", according to the Prime Minister. Nationalist MEP candidate Stefano Mallia expressed his concern at the inclusion of this proviso in the legal notice putting into question the power granted to the minister. Stefano Mallia (right) called into question a power granted to the minister, but according to the Prime Minister (left), Mallia was "misinterpreting the law" But according to Prime Minister Joseph Muscat, Mallia was "misinterpreting the situation". He argued that an applicant must first undergo the due diligence process. If the individual interested in purchasing a Maltese passport fails the due diligence process, "his application doesn't even reach the minister". "The minister also has the power not to approve a person's application even if that person would have passed the due diligence process," he said, adding that the government had discretionary power from time to time. Pressed on the fact that the law did not stop a person undergoing criminal investigations from applying, Muscat said no criminals would be awarded Maltese citizenship. "Nelson Mandela was sent to prison. Was he a criminal?" he said, referring to the South African anti-apartheid icon who died in December 2013. Mandela had been imprisoned under terrorist charges by the South African government and was targeted by foreign governments such as the UK. CONTINUES ON PAGE 2 Newspaper post MIRIAM DALLI