MaltaToday previous editions

MT 18 May 2017

Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/825522

Contents of this Issue

Navigation

Page 4 of 15

maltatoday, THURSDAY, 18 MAY 2017 5 CONTINUES FROM PAGE 1 Busut- til said these payments indi- cated "an intention to launder money" and that no expla- nation existed for Hillman to receive these monies. "In- deed, the invoices used to jus- tify these transfers into Pilatus Bank are manifestly suspicious, tampered and swiftly drawn up." Busuttil said Lester Holdings had only received cash from Schembri or his companies, and that Lester's account at Pilatus Bank was closed soon after the Panama Papers broke. Busuttil also said he knew that Commissioner of Police Lawrence Cutajar was aware of this case at least since 2016, but had not carried out any investi- gation. "This is a serious short- coming of anyone involved in this cover-up." Busuttil said he had received the evidence in the last weeks, and that he would take the evi- dence to the magistrate inves- tigating kickback allegations against Schembri. In a reaction, Keith Schembri said that he was "glad" that the matter will be placed before the magistrate, "so that the truth of Busuttil's witch-hunt is uncov- ered". "Simon Busuttil is at it again. He has rehashed an old story that has been out in the media since last year. I have already provided all my answers on the matter concerning private business I carried out prior to my appointment to public of- fice, which business has all be documented, declared and tax paid thereon here in Malta. I will not comment further," Schembri said in a press state- ment. "It is evident that Simon Bu- suttil is in complete panic in view of the total collapse of his politics of division. Pity that Si- mon Busuttil has to project his inadequacy and incapability in this manner, however I am cer- tain the Maltese will see right through this now very evident, yet dangerous partisan strat- egy." Hillman also issued a state- ment, arguing that he never received any monies from Keith Schembri or any of his companies for any work relat- ed to his role at Allied News- paper Ltd and Progress Press Ltd or for that matter any gov- ernment work. "The matter has been the subject of media speculation for over a year and which has always been refuted. This matter was also the subject of an Internal Inquiry ap- pointed by the Allied Newspa- per Board, which Inquiry has been settled since nothing il- legal or of a criminal nature as alleged by Simon Busuttil was uncovered," Hillman said. "Any work I may have as- sumed during my time with the Times where never in con- flict with my role as Director. Most of this work, it should be noted, was carried before 2013. All work that I have car- ried out, outside my role of Di- rector have been duly invoiced and taxes paid thereon." Hillman said that he will al- so be seeking legal advice with a view of protecting his repu- tation from "such malicious and unfounded allegations, including that of filing a com- plaint with the Police against Dr Busuttil for making false and calumnious allegations in my regard". Busuttil's press conference comes two weeks after a mag- isterial inquiry was launched into allegations that Joseph Muscat's wife was the ben- eficial owner of an offshore c o m p a n y , and a week since anoth- er magiste- rial inquiry was launched into al- leged kickbacks paid to Muscat's chief of staff Keith Schembri over the sale of passports. The PN leader said that the police's failure to investigate the bribery claims has exposed them to a serious conflict of interest in their role as inves- tigators in the two magisterial inquiries. "How can it be that the po- lice are helping the magis- trate investigating Muscat and the magistrate investigating Schembri when they them- selves had concealed informa- tion that would have helped the magistrates in their inves- tigations? "The police commissioner and every other person in the police force involved in this cover-up have betrayed their oath of loyalty towards the Constitution," he said. "This further confirms that the country's institutions, authori- ties and rule of law have totally collapsed. Instead of defending citizens, the authorities are de- fending criminals. "Everyone now knows that Malta has been caught up in a web of corruption and crimi- nality involving the people closest to Joseph Muscat. The people at Castille are not only corrupt, but they are criminal too." He pre-empted Schembri's prompt denial, arguing that his facts were solid and that any denial by the Prime Minister's chief of lie would amount to a lie. "Indeed, the only choice Mus- cat and Schembri have left to save their skins is to lie." Busuttil dismissed Muscat's recent claims to have inter- nal information from within the Nationalist Party that the Egrant allegations were noth- ing but a lie orchestrated by the PN. "The Egrant allegations were not made by myself, but by a whistleblower…a foreign whistleblower. I definitely couldn't have told her what to say," he said. "She used to work at Pilatus Bank and she saw with her own eyes the docu- ments locked in a safe." News Alleanza Bidla candidates denied right to stand in more than two districts JEANELLE MIFSUD THE Electoral Commission upheld a complaint by far-right group Ghaqda Patrijotti Mal- tin, holding that candidates cannot contest more than two districts. The self-proclaimed patriots filed the complaint with the commission against Alleanza Bidla after it fielded two can- didates - Ivan Grech Mintoff and Joseph Giardina on 12 and 11 districts respectively. Sav- iour Xuereb was nominated on 10 districts. The Electoral Commission had initially accepted the nominations on Saturday but has now retracted the deci- sion. The commission ruled that Grech Mintoff must contest on the first and the 12th dis- tricts while Gambina may con- test on the seventh and 12th districts and Saviour Xuereb on the sixth and 11th. Busuttil says he had received the evidence in the last weeks Busuttil also said he knew that Commissioner of Police Lawrence Cutajar was aware of this case at least since 2016 Ivan Grech Mintoff

Articles in this issue

Archives of this issue

view archives of MaltaToday previous editions - MT 18 May 2017