Mark Anthony Sammut

 Artiklu li deher fin-Nazzjon tal-Erbgħa 30 ta' Marzu, 2016 Kemm ilu li ħareġ fil-beraħ l-iskandlu tal-kumpaniji sigrieti li l-Ministru Konrad Mizzi u l-id il-leminija tal-Prim Ministru Keith Schembri fetħu flimkien fil-Panama, il-Gvern intilef f’tentattiv wara l-ieħor biex jipprova joqtol il-gravit à ta’ din l-istorja. L-evidenza ċirkostanzjali li qed toħroġ fuq din l-istorja hija gravi ħafna, u tqajjem dubji serji. Iż-żewġ min-nies l-aktar qrib tal-Prim Ministru, li jattendu waħedhom mal-Prim Ministru għal żjara fl-Azerbaijan fejn ma jiġi infurmat ħadd mill-ġurnalisti u ħadd mis-servizz pubbliku u diplomatiku biex jakkumpanjahom, fl-istess żmien li fih jagħmlu ftehim ma’ dan il-pajjiż li minnu pajjiżna jitlef 14-il miljun ewro, jiftħu kumpaniji sigrieti fil-Panama, post li hu blacklisted minn Malta stess bħala membru tal-Unjoni Ewropea. Kumpaniji li jiftħu b’istruzzjonijiet ċari fl-applikazzjoni tagħhom lill-awtoritajet tal-Panama li ma jridux jippermettu li jsir a

Malta's nominee for the European Court of Auditors has been manifestly rejected by the Budgetary Control Committee by 17 votes to 9. Though it does not entirely come as a surprise, it does lead to some reflections which I think that we, as a country, need to make. 1. Europe's measure of competence and meritocracy is not the same as ours. While it is obvious that Joseph Muscat nominated Toni Abela only to get rid of him and make way for his Panamanian conspirator as Deputy Leader (re-changing the Party's statute in the process), MEPs expect the nominees to be competent and experienced enough for the post they are nominated for. It was cringing to hear MEPs ridiculing Abela's CV, which featured his term as Vice-Mayor of Ħamrun (which the MEP described snidely as "more of a small village of 10,000 people than a major regional town as described in the CV"), and highlighting the fact that he has no auditing experience. This perfectly captures the biggest prob

Artiklu li deher fin-Nazzjon tal-Erbgħa 16 ta' Marzu 2016 F'intervista lura fl-2004, qabel ma kien biss kandidat għall-Presidenza Amerikana għall-Partit Demokratiku, Barrack Obama kien qal li għalih "l-ikbar sfida hija li dejjem iżżomm il-boxxla morali." Sfida li b'mod partikolari għal min hu involut fil-politika, huwa importanti li jżomm quddiemu. B'boxxla morali qed nifhmu d-direzzjoni ta' x'inhu tajjeb jew ħażin fl-għażliet li wieħed jagħmel. X'inhu etiku u x'mhuwiex. X'inhu sewwa li jsir, u x'mhuwiex. Huwa ġustifikat li mill-politiċi wieħed jistenna boxxla morali aktar riġida minn ta' ħaddieħor. Għax politiku qiegħed f'pożizzjoni ta' tmexxija, u allura huwa mistenni minnu li jagħti l-eżempju. U politiku għandu wkoll ċertu poter. U l-poter, jekk ma toqgħodlux attent, faċli jikkorrompi. Sfortunatament f'pajjiżna qed jiġri l-oppost. Minflok mal-politiċi fit-tmexxija qed jagħtu l-eżempju, qegħdin jinqabdu fi

Article published in MaltaToday on Sunday 6 March 2016 We are going through a phase in which the Maltese electorate, particularly those who trusted Labour because they believed Joseph Muscat’s pre-election promises, are only finding solace in believing that “yes, what we are seeing is shocking and scandalous, but that’s how politics is, and both political parties are the same in this aspect”. It’s a time of disillusionment with the whole political class. In these three years we have witnessed a government going from scandal to scandal. Millions of our hard-earned taxes have been spent to reward friends, to bail out friends, and to enrich the pockets of the innermost circle. Cafe Premier and Gaffarena are still fresh in people’s minds. Ministers have behaved as if they are above the rule of law. In the meantime, the Prime Minister takes no action. Anyone who dares criticise any of his decisions is labelled “negative”, and some long forlorn scandal from past administrations is shov

Dan l-artiklu deher fil-ħarġa tan-Nazzjon tal-Erbgħa 2 ta' Marzu 2016 L-a ħbar li l-Ministru Konrad Mizzi waqqaf kumpanija sigrieta fil-Panama, f’isem trust li waqqaf f’New Zealand, fiż-żmien li hu kien Ministru, ixxukkjat lil kulħadd. Aktar u aktar għal fatt li Mizzi kien jipprova jagħti l-impressjoni ta’ politiku ġdid u modern. Għalkemm Konrad Mizzi prova jagħti l-impressjoni li qed jiddikjara dan kollu biex ikun trasparenti, il-verit à hi li kien kostrett jitkellem fuqu għax dan ġie żvelat mill-ġurnalista Daphne Caruana Galizia. Li kieku Konrad Mizzi ried jiddikjara din il-kumpanija sigrieta, ma kienx jinkorpora fil-Panama. Inkorpora fil-Panama biss għal fatt li din hi ġurisdizzjoni li ma tiżvela xejn mit-transazzjonijiet li jkunu għaddejjin f’dawn il-kumpaniji sigriet. Tant hu hekk li din hi blacklisted mill-Unjoni Ewropea stess li aħna nagħmlu parti minna! Din waħedha ukoll hi raġuni għala Mizzi għandu jirriżenja. Kif jista’ jkollok fiduċja f’Ministru li jmur kont