Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/952911
maltatoday SUNDAY 11 MARCH 2018 News 7 SAVIOUR BALZAN AT least three former Nationalist MPs declared personae non grata under the Simon Busuttil leader- ship were featured in the party's media this week, a sign of the PN relaxing on its 'blacklist'. Former MP Franco Debono, who was instrumental in securing the downfall of the Gonzi administra- tion in 2012, was recently featured on Net TV to discuss a sensational case that concerned his client. Days later, former minister Ninu Zam- mit – suspended from the part over Swissleaks revelations showing he had not declared his earnings in parliament – was given front-page coverage for winning three libels suits against former Labour leader Alfred Sant. And earlier this week, former minister Michel Falzon, who suffered the same fate as Zammit in the Swissleaks aftermath, was also invited as a panellist on Net TV. But Media.Link chairman Pierre Portelli, a close ally of new leader Adrian Delia, played down the change in policy. "Since I have become chairman we have decided to open up the station and our media to other per- sonalities who are not associated with the PN today," Portelli said. Former ministers Michael Falzon and Ninu Zammit were suspended by the PN's administrative council in February 2015 after the two were shown to have had Swiss private bank accounts during their time as MPs. They never declared the existence of the monies. In the last two years they were blacklisted by the party media and were frequent- ly attacked on social media. Earlier in February, party spokes- person Jesmar Baldacchino told MaltaToday that the party had not reviewed any of its past decisions following the Swissleaks suspen- sions. "But former minister Ninu Zam- mit won three libel suits against Alfred Sant, Labour leader aspir- ant Miriam Dalli as well as the current One TV and V18 chair- man Jason Micallef. They all al- lowed the spreading of lies against a former minister. That was and remains condemnable," he said of the front-page prominence In- Nazzjon gave to the libel decision. This week Portelli said when asked specifically about Falzon's participation in a discussion pro- gramme on NET: "He may have been suspended from the party but not from being present or discuss- ing on our media." The same media blackout ap- plied to Franco Debono, a former PN parliamentarian and a harsh critic of the Nationalist party un- der Lawrence Gonzi and Simon Busuttil. After the last election result, Debono claimed that mem- bers of the public had suggested to him that he should contest the PN leadership even though before the May election, he had been toying with a Labour candidature. On Debono, Portelli said that he had been invited to comment on a judicial matter not a political matter. MATTHEW VELLA THE former Malta international footballer Darren Debono will face a preliminary court hearing in Catania on 17 March, on charges of fuel smuggling that have landed him on an American trade blacklist. Debono, arrested in October last year on the island of Lampedusa, is being held under domiciliary ar- rest in Catania. He will face a preliminary court hearing before a 'GUP' judge, in a court hearing that is akin to a com- pilation of evidence sitting. The GUP is to decide whether the evi- dence is sufficient to take the case forward for hearing before another judge. MaltaToday spoke to Debono's lawyer in Catania, who said his client would release no comment after only weeks ago Debono and his businesses were blacklisted in a fresh round of sanctions by the US Treasury Department, aimed at blocking the illegal exportation of oil from Libya. Debono was arrested in October following an investigation by Italian police into a Libyan-Italian racket where Libyan 'smuggling king' Fahmi Bin Khalifa supplied smug- gled Libyan fuel through Debono's ships, to an Italian merchant. Debono is believed to have used his fleet of fishing vessels to transport the smuggled fuel out of Libya so that it could be sold in Italian ports. The crime syndicate included Maltese busi- nessman Gordon Debono, who was arrested in Catania, and a Sicilian mafia associate, Nicola Orazio Romeo. A report by investigative jour- nalist Anne Marlowe had initially shed light on the ring, prompt- ing a United Nations probe into Debono's actions and the move- ments of his ships between Malta and Libya. The recent US sanctions hit Dar- ren Debono, Gordon Debono, Rodrick Grech and Terence Mi- callef in a list of six individuals, 24 companies and seven vessels. They included Debono's vessels, the Maltese companies that acted as clearing houses for the oil tran- shipments, as well as his own Val- letta restaurant, Scoglitti. Operation Dirty Oil Italian police investigators had been intercepting phone-calls from Darren Debono for two years in a bid to dismantle the €30-mil- lion fuel smuggling ring. The restaurateur is suspected of having been the crucial link that made possible the transportation of smuggled Libyan oil to Italian markets, with the help of Gordon Debono to issue false invoices. But after the smuggling ring was exposed in newspaper reports and the United Nations investigation, Debono found a brick wall to get his shipments validated by the Chamber of Commerce in Malta. "We have to go to the United Na- tions," Debono was heard telling an associate in one of the intercepted phone-calls. "They are just copying what some asshole journalist from the Wall Street Journal is writing." The investigators said Darren Debono and Gordon Debono would participate in "summits" in Italy with broker Marco Porta, and then meet Bin Khalifa in Libya. In a bid to hide the illicit origin of the fuel being bunkered out at sea, Gordon Debono would use the company Petroplus Ltd to issue false in- voices; while Darren Debono and Ro- meo would use the company Oceano Blu Trading Ltd, as well as other off- shore companies in the British Virgin Is- lands, to hide the flow of money used to pay Bin Khalifa. Once the fuel was bun- kered at sea, and then ac- quired by Marco Porta's Maxcom Bunker SpA in Italy, Porta would use false documentation issued by Petroplus, to hide the origin of the fuel – documents which were, pos- sibly unknowingly, validated by the Libyan Maltese Chamber of Com- merce. Debono was also intercepted co- ordinating the movements of the ships involved in the bunkering of the Libyan oil, showing how he had a handle on the shipping move- ments carrying the smuggled fuel. Another interception, this time of Marco Porta and a Maxcom employee, makes reference to Nicola Orazio Romeo's connec- tions to the Sicilian underworld. Romeo, linked to the Mafia clan of Santapaola-Ercolano, was revealed by the Panama Papers of having had offshore companies at the same San Gwann address as ADJ Trading, the firm in which both Debono and Bin Khalifa were once shareholders. "Nicola is part of the real under- world, the one nobody touches," Porta tells a colleague. "He's al- ways being tapped when he is in Sicily." Darren Debono PN's door creaks open for blacklisted former MPs Debono hearing in Catania on fuel smuggling starts this week Former ministers Michael Falzon and Ninu Zammit and former MP Franco Debono have all featured in PN media in the past weeks JAMES DEBONO A piecemeal addition of a commu- nications tower atop the 22-storey East 14 tower in Gzira has hit a snag. The Planning Authority's design advisory committee says it is "somewhat excessive". The committee advises the PA on the visual impact of new buildings, and is chaired by architect David Mallia. Its two members are archi- tect Kevin Fsadni, who replaced Ray Demicoli, and art historian Charlene Zammit. The Superintendence for Cultural Heritage has also raised the alarm. "The proposed antenna will effec- tively increase the height of an al- ready exceptionally high building." The cultural watchdog called on the PA to ensure this further increase in height does not have a negative impact on views of the Grand Harbour area. The East 14 was originally ap- proved in 2015 as a 65-metre high tower, but its height was increased to 84m in a successive application approved last year. With the third request, the communication tower would bring it up to 93.2 metres. The original 16-storey tower was the first to be approved from the 2015 high-rise applications. The second application added five sto- reys last August, making room for five new residential apartments. When the conservationist NGO Din l-Art Helwa expressed con- cern that at 16 storeys the build- ing was already creating a nega- tive visual impact on the area, the design committee noted that "the additional height will contribute to improve the proportion of the building." Now the committee has acknowl- edged that "the scale of the building has certainly made a presence in the skyline and long-range views". But it also deemed the architec- tural treatment as commendable and praised the "structural expres- sion of cross-bracing on the facade, which gives an interesting dynamic look". The Superintendence for Cul- tural Heritage also gave its blessing to the project, concluding that the project will not impact negatively on Valletta views. The East 14 project is owned by various shareholders, among them Sonnet Investments, JPK Invest- ments, Marius Cordina and Paul Darmanin. The directors of the company are Ian Decesare and Marius Cordina. Gzira tower's 9m mast 'excessive', PA design committee concedes