Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/630594
Newspaper post YOUR FIRST READ AND FIRST CLICK OF THE DAY WWW.MALTATODAY.COM.MT Pork panini, tea party style maltatoday SUNDAY • 24 JANUARY 2016 • ISSUE 846 • PUBLISHED EVERY WEDNESDAY AND SUNDAY How leaders of Malta's self-styled 'pariots movement' think about foreigners Compromised lands €1.40 Who's making us proud in Sweden? Back page 'Why is it my head on the chopping block?' TIM DIACONO FORMER Lands parliamentary secretary Michael Falzon is mounting his own public rela- tions 'campaign of war' against the Auditor General, claim- ing people at the NAO were manipulating the audit of the gov- ernment property depart- ment's (GPD) expropria- tion of Marco Gaffarena's share of a Valletta palazzo "for political purposes". After resign- ing in the face of a damning NAO audit report that suspects there was collusion in the €1.65 million compensation paid to Gaffarena for his share of half the ownership of 36, Old Mint Street, Valletta, Falzon is now claiming that a NAO staff member was "manipu- lating the investi- gation". PAGE 6 Even in the face of the NAO's suspicions of collusion, and possible criminal consequences for civil servants and contracted archiects, Michael Falzon is defiant in his bid at accusing the NAO of "political manipulation" MP Jason Azzopardi says stalled reform under Labour facilitated abuse 14 15 MaltaToday Survey 16 17 Traffic, corruption concerns register marked increase 10 11 Inflated fish landings spark smuggling front fears JURGEN BALZAN FISH landings statistics published by the environment ministry have raised eyebrows in the fishing in- dustry, especially in light of recent events which saw a number of men arrested and kidnapped in Libya while two men were killed in car bomb explosions. Figures in a report published in September show that in 2014 alone Maltese lampara fishermen hauled nearly a staggering 1,000 tonnes of fish, worth over €4.1 million (one tonne is 1,000 kgs). The inexplicably large night- time catches by fishermen, the lax controls and a lack of monitoring of the movement of vessels by the customs and fisheries departments have sparked fears that the fishing industry is being used as a front for criminal organisations involved in the smuggling of fuel, drugs and weapons. Irrespective of their tonnage, all lampara vessels are fitted with a tracking system and are requested to complete a catch book in order to monitor their fishing activity. MaltaToday is informed that ves- sels are never inspected upon their return, making it very easy for fish- ermen to tamper with the figures provided to authorities and the vessels are unloaded without being checked. Sources say that this is probably being exploited for smuggling and money laundering purposes. Recent reports in the foreign press have linked Maltese fishermen with Libyan smuggling lords and in re- cent years a number of fishermen or people connected to the indus- try were arrested and kidnapped in Libya. Over the years, Libyan and Mal- tese authorities have been in talks aimed to curb the smuggling of fuel between the two countries. Earlier this month, on 16 January, Martin Cachia was killed in a car bomb explosion. The blast occurred in his car while he was driving it. Cachia, a registered fisherman, was previously investigated over drug trafficking, human smuggling and contraband cigarettes, and was part of a probe into the smuggling of fuel from Libya. PAGE 4 Brooke Borg Ira Losco Jasmine Franklin