Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/742473
PAUL COCKS CONCERNS on the condition of the aircraft which crashed outside Malta International Airport on Monday and the quality of the maintenance car- ried out on it, had been raised earlier this year in France by the ministry of defence's Direc- torate for General Armament (DGA), which was concerned for the safety of the secret ser- vice personnel on board the plane, MaltaToday has learned. The ties between the French secret services and the compa- ny that owned and operated the Fairchild Swearingen Merlin III aircraft which crashed on Mon- day morning, killing all five personnel on board, are well- known in international defence and intelligence circles. CAE Aviation, based in Lux- embourg, acknowledged on Monday that the plane which crashed in Malta – registration N577MX – was one of its air- craft but said that the doomed f light was part of a mission on behalf of the French Ministry of Defence. This contrasted with a state- ment issued earlier by the gov- ernment of Malta, which stated that the f light was part of a mission by the French Customs department which was trying to trace human and drug traf- ficking routes in the Mediter- ranean. The five personnel were con- firmed to be French citizens, but many theories and con- trasting reports were circulated as to their professions or alle- giances. The French customs depart- ment officially denied any links with the f light, categorically stating that it had no affiliation with the five victims. So much for the government's official statement. Soon after CAE claimed that the five victims were its employ- ees, involved in a mission on behalf of the French ministry of defence, French newspaper Le Monde claimed that the three task-specialists on board the aircraft were in fact members of the Directorate General for External Security (DGSE), the French Secret Service, similar to Britain's MI6 or the Ameri- can CIA. WWW.MALTATODAY.COM.MT WEDNESDAY EDITION €1.00 Newspaper post PG 9 • Editorial PAGE 4 PAGE 7 WEDNESDAY • 26 OCTOBER 2016 • ISSUE 493 • PUBLISHED EVERY WEDNESDAY AND SUNDAY for the government's official Luqa plane crash French were concerned about condition of aircraft used by secret agents French defence ministry's Directorate of General Armament (DGA) had complained about the quality of aircraft maintenance provided by CAE on the planes leased to the secret service, raising the possibility of risk to the personnel on the flights The doomed aircraft pictured at Luxembourg Airport (Photo by Peter Bakerna) Joseph Muscat: 'Elections will be held in 2018' YANNICK PACE IN the first categorical declaration ever since the Nationalist Party said it has switched on its electoral machine, Prime Minister Joseph Muscat declared that the general election will be held in 2018, bring- ing to an end rumours that the election will be held soon after Malta holds its Presidency of the European Council next year. Addressing parliament in reply to the Opposition leader's reply to the budget speech, Muscat said that he was "eager" to start campaigning "but will leave this until 2018". The jibe was directed at Simon Busuttil, whose party recently announced that it had "switched on" its electoral machine. During his Independence Day speech, Busuttil said he wanted the Nationalist Party to "be ready for whenever the election is announced". The next general election must be held not later than 20 June, 2018. Muscat also announced that the government has signed agreements with Bank of China and China International Travel Services which will see the ar- rival of 10,000 Chinese tourists by 2018 and 50,000 by 2020. The Prime Minister's two-hour speech was a cul- mination of the presentation of Budget 2017 last week, in which Muscat pushed the message that the Labour government's heart "beat" for social justice. "This Budget is an expression of wealth redistribu- tion – it's a reflection of a government that is moving forward in the right direction," he said, estimating that the cost of the 20 measures relating to pensions will be some €21 million. Joseph Muscat said elections are 18 months away