Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/598356
maltatoday, SUNDAY, 8 NOVEMBER 2015 News 19 TIM DIACONO THE Nationalist Party had known that former minister Joe Cassar had not declared over €8,000 in house works from Joe Gaffarena before it was revealed by MaltaToday last week, Labour deputy leader Toni Abela claimed. "In Malta, politicians only resign after the newspapers get wind of their wrongdoing," Abela said in a debate with PN deputy leader Beppe Fenech Adami on Ghandi Xi Nghid. The debate largely focused around Cassar's resignation from Parlia- ment, and the PN's recently renewed calls for the resignation of Michael Falzon as parliamentary secretary. "The people can now tell the dif- ference between [Opposition lead- er] Simon Busuttil who walks the talk from Opposition, and [Prime Minister] Joseph Muscat who doesn't apply the high standards he expects from the Opposition to his own ministers, many of whom are embroiled in a series of scandals," Fenech Adami said. "By instantly dismissing Cassar from the shadow cabinet, Busut- til did what we have long expected Muscat to do with Falzon," he said, referring to the controversial expro- priation of half a building in Valletta from Gaffarena's son Marco. "Cassar then nobly resigned from politics, as he didn't want to be used as a tool to damage the party and because he didn't want his family to feel in any way threatened." Abela refused to be drawn into de- bate about Cassar as "criticising him would seem as though I am defend- ing Gaffarena", but dismissed the 'resignation for resignation' talk as "children's games". "The PN had stopped calling for Falzon's resignation for a while now, but the topic has once again surfaced now that Cassar has re- signed," he said, while insisting that Muscat will take a political decision over Falzon's future once two par- allel investigations by the National Audit Office and IAID have been published. He recounted how former health minister John Dalli had been "forced to resign" in the wake of a report by private investigator Joe Zahra on al- leged kickbacks for a medical equip- ment tender that turned out to be fabricated. "Different politicians have their own attitude on whether ministers should offer their impromptu resig- nations pending inquiries, and pub- lic opinion will judge them for it," he said. "If the PN don't have faith in the Prime Minister, then they can at least have faith in the Auditor Gen- eral." He recounted how a previous Na- tionalist administration had brushed off a damning AG report that had criticised the controversial increase in ministerial honoraria. "What happened back then? No- body resigned." 'State must finance political par- ties in the future' Fenech Adami hailed a recent law that regulates the financing of po- litical parties, but insisted that the government must develop a system through which it will itself finance parties. "It requires millions of euro to fi- nance a party, and the lack of state financing leaves parties completely reliant on donations to remain afloat," he said. "While I am in fa- vour of rigorous regulation of party donations, this must be accompa- nied by state financing. We cannot risk the disbanding of political par- ties, as this will see the country de- scend into utter chaos, with the law of the jungle applying." Abela admitted that the state must finance parties, "once the economy can support it" but lambasted the Nationalist Party for failing to in- troduce such a law while in govern- ment. "It had ignored the Galdes Com- mission and [former PN back- bencher] Franco Debono's calls for state financing of political parties, and had harshly criticised Labour over false claims that we were pro- posing excessive party financing," he recounted. TIM DIACONO A rare Eastern Imperial eagle is sus- pected to have been shot dead while roosting in Malta earlier this week. BirdLife Malta's newly-appointed chief executive officer, Mark Sul- tana, told MaltaToday that the eagle hasn't been spotted since it landed in Malta to roost on Wednesday, and that chances are high that it has probably died while on the island. Photographs reproduced today in MaltaToday leave no doubt that the eagle did in fact arrive in Malta, contrary to doubts raised by hunting lobby FKNK. Experienced birdwatchers had spotted the huge bird flying low over Buskett on Wednesday afternoon, making it the first ever recorded presence of the Aquila heliacal spe- cies on the Maltese Islands. Photo analysis revealed that the bird was sporting a satellite-tracking device on its lower body, and after contacting its European partner organisations, BirdLife Malta con- firmed that the eagle had originated from a BirdLife conservation pro- gramme in Austria. "Imperial eagles tend to avoid fly- ing over long stretches of open wa- ter, and usually migrate eastwards to the Caucasus and Asia to breed," Sultana said. "For some reason, this young bird – only around a year old – got lost and flew southwards to Greece." Indeed, BirdLife Austria had lost track of the bird as it had flown over Crete on 2 November and they had feared that it had perished before it unexpectedly popped up in Malta. BirdLife Malta conservation man- ager Nicholas Barbara told MaltaToday that the tagged eagle possibly ar- rived in Malta by hitch- ing a ride on a ship, and that it had vanished from the grid due to the lack of mobile network coverage across the Mediterranean Sea. The eagle's arrival in Malta wasn't originally picked up by BirdLife Austria's satellite receivers either, a failure that Barbara attributed to possible radio transmission interfer- ence with the bird's satellite tracking device. Birdwatchers first spotted the eagle in Malta at around 3pm on Wednes- day, with the last-known sighting at around 4:20pm – around the time of day that raptors start searching for a place to roost. Indeed, Barbara is convinced that the bird did roost on the island. However, the eagle hasn't been sighted since – neither by BirdLife members who were stra- tegically deployed at various high- points the following morning before the bird was due to leave the nest, nor through its satellite tracking de- vice. Barbara explained that the eagle was highly unlikely to have departed the nest earlier than 8am, as raptors use thermal lifting to gain height and soar, hence requiring the sun to heat up the earth, which would in turn heat up the surrounding air. This has left Barbara with a nasty suspicion that the bird could have been shot dead during the night; in- deed, he claims to have been alerted to videos of the eagle taken by hunt- ers. "The autumn hunting season is at its peak, with several hunters going out in the fields in the late afternoon to hunt for skylark and song thrush, and this wouldn't be the first time that hunters would have shot pro- tected birds late in the day," he said, harking back to the infamous eagle massacre of October 2013, when at least 12 eagles were killed while try- ing to find shelter at Buskett. On a positive aspect, the BirdLife conservation manager said that the eagle's arrival – along with other re- cent arrivals of white storks and an Egyptian vulture – prove that Malta is indeed an important stopover for rare migratory birds, "despite what some hunters may say". "Like the eagle, some of the birds that arrive in Malta are tagged with satellite-tracking devices. People are investing money into investigating their migratory routes and unfortu- nately the entire country stands to look bad if they get killed while in Malta." tdiacono@mediatoday.com.mt WIN a copy of the newly launched book To win a copy of this unique book tick the right answers: Tick all the Maltese products: ❒ Lacto ❒ Ilma żahar ❒ Red Leaf ❒ Għażżiel ❒ Hopleaf Send your answers by 10 November to: MediaToday, WIN A BOOK FROM BDL, Vjal ir-Rihan, San Gwann The winners of the last competition, and who won the book, 'Wild flowers of the Maltese Islands' are Ms R Brincat from Rabat and Mr Emanuel Muscat from Mosta. The correct answers were: Maltese Fleabane, Sulla and the Giant Fennel By Charles B. Spiteri, published by BDL Drawwiet u Tifkiriet the Caucasus and Asia to breed," Sultana said. "For some reason, this young bird – only around a year old – got lost and flew southwards to Greece." Indeed, BirdLife Austria had lost track of the bird as it had flown over Crete on 2 November and they had feared that it had perished before it unexpectedly popped up in Malta. BirdLife Malta conservation man- ager Nicholas Barbara told MaltaToday that the tagged eagle possibly ar- rived in Malta by hitch- ing a ride on a ship, and that it had vanished from the grid due to the lack of mobile network coverage across the Mediterranean Sea. The eagle's arrival in Malta wasn't of day that raptors start searching for a place to roost. Indeed, Barbara is convinced that the bird did roost on the island. However, the eagle hasn't been sighted since – neither by BirdLife members who were stra- up the earth, which would in turn heat up the surrounding air. suspicion that the bird could have been shot dead during the night; in- deed, he claims to have been alerted to videos of the eagle taken by hunt- ers. Eastern Imperial eagle feared killed in Malta Saviour Balzan will be back next week Cassar resignation: Abela says PN knew of Gaffarena links The Eastern Imperial eagle soaring over Buskett, with the airport in the background