Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/814533
maltatoday, SUNDAY, 23 APRIL 2017 17 MATTHEW VELLA THE ministry for foreign affairs has said it carried out an investigation into allega- tions by a Chinese national of kickbacks being paid out on the issuance of visas to Malta for Chinese travellers. The ministry has not published the re- sults of its inquiry, but a spokesperson said that the allegations were received through an anonymous letter. "There was no evidence that the allegations took place. The Chinese person referred to in the letter no longer works at the em- bassy." The allegations were made via email – seen by MaltaToday – to Beijing ambas- sador John J. Aquilina on 22 December 2016, in which the accuser, a Chinese na- tional, alleged that a consulate employee, also a Chinese national, had sold "7,000 tourist visas at 13,000-20,000 RMB each" since 2014. The allegation was that passports for- warded by "agents" working with her would be used for the processing of the tourist visas, backed up by false business licences or bank statements. Although the accuser said that the con- sul employee had raked in millions of Chinese renminbi, the details provided related to alleged examples of fraudulent documents being used with little proof to back up the accusation. In his reply, ambassador Aquilina said that he was viewing the allegations "con- cerning a long-term member of the em- bassy's staff" very seriously. "I became the Ambassador here twelve months ago, and over the past three months, with the arrival of a new Deputy Head of Mission in mid-August, I have severely revised the way in which visas are processed in our Embassy," Aquilina told the whistleblower. "The local staff no longer make any decision concerning approval of visa ap- plications. These matters are all reviewed by a Maltese diplomat. "We noted some time ago that a num- ber of persons submitting applications with fresh passports had received prior refusals. A Maltese diplomat now checks the system for all applications. Any found to have had a previous refusal are auto- matically refused. The only exception is in relation to a very small handful who had received previous Maltese refusals." Aquilina also requested the names of persons, dates and other details of the al- leged 'agencies' working with the consu- late's employee. On 8 January 2017, the person making the accusations once again reiterated the name of the embassy employee, stating that the forged visa documents hailed from Liaoning, Hebei, Shandong and Ji- lin provinces. "If you check the materials form the embassy database, you will find employ- ment certificates provided [are] fake, the phone number on the employment cer- tificate couldn't get through even, not a real company's phone number. The business license is also false, too. Or you could contact these enterprises… you will find there is no such employee on the employment certificate." The accuser also said that fake bank watermarks were used, and that copies of household registers were fake because "all these people are farmers in China who just want to [be] smuggled to work in Europe." The next day, Aquilina replied saying he would investigate the allegations. mvella@mediatoday.com.mt News TIM DIACONO THE youth section of the Labour Party (Forum Zaghzagh Laburisti) has come out in favour of legalising euthanasia and will be urging the party to include it in its electoral manifesto. The FZL's decision comes in the wake of a public debate on euthanasia it organised that was addressed by ALS sufferers Joe Magro and Challie Agius – both of whom have spoken publicly in favour of eutha- nasia. Questions sent to the FZL on their mor- al rationale behind its new stance were left unanswered at the time of writing. However, during last week's confer- ence, FZL president Alex Saliba warned that terminally ill people who are denied access to euthanasia could be driven to commit suicide. "It pains me to hear about people who plan to commit suicide if they are not allowed the option of eu- thanasia," he said in an emotional speech. "Suicide is often a taboo word in Malta, but the reality is that it is the only choice some people have left. It hurts me to see a person resorting to this option, instead of being allowed to die with dignity sur- rounded by his loved ones." He appealed for the debate on euthana- sia to be a mature one, free from "simplis- tic" arguments such as that its legalisation will allow people to end their lives on a whim, or that it will represent another step towards the introduction of abortion. FZL's intervention is notable in that it is the first time the branch of a major politi- cal party in Malta has publicly come out in favour of euthanasia. Opposition leader Simon Busuttil in January ruled out the possibility of an in- ternal debate on euthanasia, arguing that he "is of the firm opinion that there is a fundamental right to life but no right to die". In February 2016, Alternattiva Demokratika chairman Arnold Cassola told MaltaToday that while the Green Party has no position on euthanasia, it has no intention to discuss it. There have been conflicting declara- tions regarding the Labour Party's stance towards the issue. MEP and former Prime Minister Alfred Sant has come out in fa- vour of euthanasia, but during a recent parliamentary committee sitting, govern- ment Whip Godfrey Farrugia insisted that Labour was fully opposed to euthanasia. Prime Minister Joseph Muscat has said he is personally against the introduction of euthanasia but has called for an hon- est and non-partisan debate after meeting Magro. "He told me that if he is not al- lowed euthanasia by law, then when the time comes he will kill myself," he said. "Those words shocked me as a politician and as a person, and I was left at a loss as to how to respond." tdiacono@mediatoday.com.mt China visa fraud allegations investigated, ministry says Amas Co Ltd, 1 Lourdes Crt., Massabielle Str., San Gwann T: 2138 1667 M: 9949 8566 E: amasco@maltanet.net Labour youths in push for euthanasia ALS sufferer Joe Magro kick-started a debate on euthanasia, and has petitioned politicians to support the right to die Beijing ambassador told anonymous whistleblower he will investigate • Ministry says accused person no longer working at consulate