March: Death of an Archbishop

Panamagate was the main story this month, where Minister Konrad Mizzi became the centre of attention for the wrong reasons. In addition, the European Parliamentary Committee for Budgetary Control rejected Toni Abela’s nomination to the European Court of A

2 March

Energy Minister Konrad Mizzi told The Malta Independent that he paid Nexia BT for its services, which advised him to setup his New Zealand Trust and to acquire a Panama company.

“Obviously there are commercial rates which would be invoiced for such processes,” he said.

6 March

The European Commission dismissed claims that there was anything wrong with the issuing of thousands of Schengen visas for Algerian nationals between 2014 and 2015. The Commission had been investigating whether the issuing of almost 7,000 such visas had violated European Union law.

In a separate article, Opposition Leader Simon Busuttil called for an investigation into any contract signed by Konrad Mizzi, due to his Panama company, during the national protest against corruption that occurred in Valletta. Dr Busuttil had mentioned three contracts in particular, the Vitals Global Healthcare deal, the sale of Enemalta and the contract with Azerbaijan company Socar.

7 March

A former Government Property Division employee who had resigned during the wake of the Gaffarena Scandal said, in an affidavit, that a former member of Michael Falzon’s secretariat had pressured him into rushing Gaffarena’s file and also gave the controversial businessman a ‘free pass’ into the Lands Department Building. Marco Gaffarena had been given 1.65 million in cash and land in exchange for the expropriation of his share of an Old Mint Street property

11 March

Prime Minister Joseph Muscat admitted that the number of scandals that plagued the government over the past three years drew attention away from government’s positive work. He said this when addressing a press conference on the day marking three years from the Labour Party’s 2013 victory.

13 March

Both the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition were interviewed by The Malta Independent on Sunday. The Prime Minister told this newsroom that if he loses the next general election, he will resign. Opposition Leader Simon Busuttil said that the tide is turning, and that his party’s situation improved and is giving a voice to the Maltese and Gozitan people.

15 March

The European Parliament’s Budgetary Control Committee rejected the nomination of former PL Deputy Leader Toni Abela to serve on the European Court of Auditors.

18 March

The European Union reached an agreement regarding sending refugees back to Turkey. Under the scheme, any migrant arriving in Greece would be given a swift individual interview to determine whether they would be allowed to remain, or be sent back to Turkey. The EU agreed to resettle one Syrian refugee for every irregular migrant sent back.

20 March

Archbishop Emeritus Joseph Mercieca passed away at age 87. The government ordered three days of national mourning as a sign of respect.

22 March

The Islamic State claimed responsibility for an attack in Brussels, where bombs exploded in the airport and one of the city’s Metro stations killing 34 and wounding dozens. This was but one in a long list of terror attacks that occurred in 2016.

24 March

Police said that they had not launched an investigation into government contracts that Minister Konrad Mizzi and the Prime Minister’s Chief of Staff Keith Schembri had been involved in, stating that there was no reason able suspicion that a crime was committed. The Opposition had called for such an investigation to occur.

26 March

PN Executive Committee President Ann Fenech told The

Malta Independent that the Cedoli scheme aims to help the party reduce the party’s overall financial exposure. In addition, she said that the entire objective of the exercise is to pay off existing commitments which attract a greater rate of interest, thus the party would reduce its overall debt.

29 March

This newsroom published an article which read that 10 cases involving drugs were registered at the Corradino Correctional Facility between January and March 29 2016. In 2015, a total of 24 drug cases were found at the prison. “The large majority of substance found was synthetic marijuana,” a Home Affairs Ministry spokesperson said.

30 March

The public transport operator denied repeated claims that it intends to employ an all Spanish workforce, insisting that it gives priority to locals. It has also insisted that it does what it can to give special concessions to employees in genuine cases. This paper had met with Malta Public Transport General Manager Konrad Pulè and Head of Human Resources Roderick Bajada after a driver called this newsroom and claimed that the company was bringing ‘hundreds’ of Spanish drivers to Malta.

In a separate story, the Armed Forces of Malta investigated what was indicated as suspicious luggage at the Malta International Airport. Luggage found in a taxi led to suspicions that it could contain explosives. Members of the AFM’s explosive ordnance unit were on site and sniffer dogs were used in the operation. No explosives were found.

In a separate situation Lourdes Pace passed away when the car she was driving collided with an electricity pole on Mgr Mikiel Azzopardi Street, Siġġiewi. The woman was driving a Toyota Vitz when the vehicle crashed into an electricity pole and careened onto another car parked in the street.