Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/361046
maltatoday, SUNDAY, 10 AUGUST 2014 News 11 number warning letters from the Veterinary Directorate because of the poor conditions animals were kept in, Montekristo Estates Animal Park remained open. In July, the Animal Rights Parlia- mentary Secretariat confirmed the site owned by Polidano Brothers was in breach of the Animal Welfare Act, however no action was taken. In reaction to the NGOs' state- ment, the company said that "all animals housed at Montekristo were purchased from zoos and breeders within the EU, and were all certified according to CITES and other inter- national standards." The company said that all animals had the required documentation at law when they were imported and all documentation was being handed over for examination and approval by the competent authorities since 2009. In their call for action, the NGOs said "live animals are suffering while the authorities are dragging their feet," adding that "the Montekristo cases of illegalities have been ongo- ing for far too long and the NGOs feel that, despite electoral manifesto commitments and promises by the relevant authorities to act, nothing tangible is being done while one gov- ernment after another allows such il- legalities to continue and increase." Tony Blair lends face to Azeri pipeline JAMES DEBONO AZERBAIJAN'S pompous klep- tocrat Ilham Aliyev, whose 11-year- old son Heydar owns nine luxury mansions set on the Palm Jumeirah worth $44 million, has appointed British former Prime Minister Tony Blair as an advisor to a consortium which is lobbying for a pipeline to transport Azerbaijani gas to Eu- rope. The consortium includes British Petroleum (BP), which is develop- ing Shah Deniz 2, a huge natural gas field in the Caspian Sea. It also includes SOCAR – the State Oil company of Azerbaijan, which owns a 20% stake in ElectroGas Ltd, the consortium chosen by the Maltese government to provide Malta with gas for the next 18 years. The consortium wants to export Azeri gas through a "southern en- ergy corridor" made up of two pipelines - one called Tanap that will run the length of Turkey, and another known as TAP stretching from Turkey's border with Greece across Albania to Italy. From Putin to Aliyev? Like Vladimir Putin, Ilham Aliyev's father Heydar ascended to power thanks to his role in the KGB – the USSR's notorious secret service. But diverging geo-political interests are straining the relationship between Russia and Azerbaijan. In June the European Commis- sion released an EU energy security strategy which considers the new pipeline connection as vital in pro- viding a connection to the Middle East. Speaking in Brussels in March, Prime Minister Joseph Muscat hinted that recent political develop- ments in Russia had strengthened Europe's resolve to diversify energy sources and go for new intercon- nections. He said the EU's position in favour of Azerbaijan would benefit Mal- ta's own position, given that state- owned company SOCAR forms part of the ElectroGas consortium sup- plying LNG to a new 215MW plant and the Delimara phase II turbines. And in recent months the EU has increasingly looked at a pipeline with Azerbaijan as an alternative gas source to Russia. From Israel with blood? Azerbaijan is known for its dis- creet but positive relations with Israel, which it regards as an ally against Iran. In September 2013, a proposal was also made by Turcas, a company partly owned by SOCAR to link the proposed Azeri pipeline to gas from the Leviathan field in Israel, which is the largest natural gas discovery in the past decade. But on Monday, while meeting Malta's Energy Minister Konrad Mizzi, Turkish Energy Minister Taner Yildiz excluded any further energy collaboration with Israel adding that "if a pipeline is built from Israel, it will flow not with gas but with the blood of innocent chil- dren and mothers." Mizzi was reported to have ex- pressed his "sympathy" with Gaza at the same meeting. Blair's romance with dictators Tony Blair's romance with the Aliyevs dates back to 2009 when he received £90,000 for making a speech in Azerbaijan. He has also been paid in an advisor's role for dictators like Kazakhstan president Nursultan Nazarbayev. According to The Telegraph his visit was a coup for the country's rul- ers "as his well-known grin beamed out on state television from a press conference to homes throughout the small, oil-rich nation". Blair's latest decision to support the TAP pipeline has been criticised by human rights groups, who claim the pipeline will simply entrench the position of the Aliyev family, who treat Azerbaijan as their per- sonal fiefdom. Blair's appointment coincided with the arrest of democracy activ- ist Rasul Jafarov in Baku after he was charged with tax evasion, il- legal entrepreneurship and power abuse – the same charges that saw independent Azeri election moni- tor Anar Mammadli jailed for five years in 2013. Rasul's arrest comes shortly after the prominent human rights campaigner Leyla Yunus and her husband Arif were charged with high treason and also jailed. Rumbles in the Caucasus Optimism on Azerbaijan's role in feeding Europe's energy needs was dampened by noises of war coming from Nagorno-Karabakh, a region disputed by both Azerbaijan and Armenia. Border skirmishes over the past week in Nagorno-Karabakh are the deadliest since the two former Sovi- et states signed a ceasefire in 1994, leaving dozens of soldiers dead. The two sides began fighting over Nagorno-Karabakh in the final years of the Soviet Union. Arme- nian forces wrested de facto control of the territory – though it remains part of Azerbaijan under law. Both sides signed a Russia-bro- kered ceasefire after six years of fierce fighting that left 30,000 peo- ple dead and around one million displaced. A renewed war between Azerbai- jan, an ally of the US and Turkey, and Russian-backed Armenia has the potential to put NATO directly at odds with Moscow. A meeting brokered by Russia is expected to be held between the presidents of the two countries. jdebono@mediatoday.com.mt Tony Blair (above), Nursultan Nazarbayev (above, right) and Ilham Aliyev Conditional discharge for using falsified VRT certificate MATTHEW AGIUS A magistrate's court found 58-year- old William Stride from Gzira guilty of knowingly making use of a falsified VRT certificate, in one of a series of cases related to the 2009 discovery of over 1,400 discrepancies in the VRT certification system. One of the vehicles affected by the discrepancies was registered under Stride's name and he voluntarily submitted to police questioning. De- clining the opportunity to consult a lawyer, Stride explained to the police that he had taken his vehicle to the Car Wise garage in Gzira for a serv- ice and the mechanic had assured him that, after inspecting the vehicle in question, he had found no issues. He had taken up the mechanic's sug- gestion that he take his vehicle to Car Clinic for certification as it was nearby. Jonathan Spiteri, a Car Clinic em- ployee who, in separate proceedings, was found guilty of issuing VRT cer- tificates for cars that had not been tested, had signed the certificate. The false certificate was subsequent- ly entered into the ADT system and the accused had used it to renew the vehicle's road licence. Stride's testimony had indicated that he was aware that no test had actually been carried out. The court was satisfied that the ac- cused could not have fabricated the certificate himself and that it was therefore, not a case of forgery, but one of making use of a falsified docu- ment. In delivering judgment, Magistrate Consuelo Scerri Herrera quoted Chief Justice emeritus Sir Anthony Mamo, in saying that "an intention merely to deceive… is sufficient" and that the intention to defraud did not require to be proved, "because such intention is presumed by the law from the very fact of the forgery." The court declared Stride guilty, but in sentencing also took into ac- count several mitigating factors, in particular the fact that Stride did not make any financial gain from the crime. Stride was placed under a proba- tion order for two years. Caption housing at Montekristo