2015: What a year!

See our coverage of the year’s juiciest scandals, most shocking incidents and our most read online stories of the year inside

All told, 2015 was undeniably a year marred by scandals – from the alleged Schengen visa and residency permit scams to resigning MPs, to the threatened obliteration of what little green areas still exist in Malta.

We’ve whittled down the scandals that dominated 2015’s headlines to 12, one per month – allegations and accusations that have tarnished politicians’ reputations and lowered trust ratings, which could set a dangerous precedent for the future. After all, the country’s deteriorating deficit of trust in public institutions undermines the very running of the country. President Marie Louise Coleiro Preca recently hit out at politicians for this very reason, and urged them to stop bickering and to start regaining the population’s trust.

Without further ado, we present you with 2015’s top 12 scandalous stories.

The ‘American’ ‘University’ of Malta

This particular scandal takes the cake – the heavily-criticised display of a lack of transparency and openness.

When the government first announced the project, dubbing it the ‘American University of Malta’, many were deluded into believing that the educational facility would be American, and that it would be a university. According to the first reports on AUM last April, the national broadcaster had stated that De Paul University of Chicago would be running the Malta campus.

The story began with small leaks to news outlets mentioning the setting up of a new American university. This led to the signing of a Heads of Agreement in May. By that time, everyone knew that the project had a Jordanian investor, the Sadeen Group, but everyone thought that the investor had teamed up with Chicago’s De Paul University. This, however, turned out to be far from the truth of the matter.

Further poking down the rabbit hole on the part of journalists revealed that De Paul University would only be providing the curricula, and would not form part of AUM’s operations. Thus it transpired that the so-called university would be American in name only and would not be run by an American university.

The second bombshell struck when the contract with the Sadeen Group was revealed and, as it turned out, the socalled university was not applying for university accreditation, but had rather applied for a “Higher Education Institution” licence. Education Minister Evarist Mr Bartolo did say, however, in a Parliamentary session, that higher education institutions were entitled to offer university programmes.

It is worth noting that AUM advertisements have been seen on multiple sites, especially during the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting last November, even though the contract had not even been approved and the accreditation had not (and still has not) been granted.

The Zonqor Point sell-off

The second leg of the controversy surrounding AUM dealt with the Outside development Zone land-grab at Zonqor Point, which had been originally planned to accommodate the entire campus.

A new NGO, Front Harsien ODZ, was established to combat the use of ODZ land, and was supported by the Nationalist Party, as well as then Labour MP Marlene Farrugia. One could say that this was the last straw for the MP, who later left the Labour Party and now sits in Parliament as an independent.

After a hefty amount of public pressure, the government partially backed down, issuing a call for the public to identify other sites, although, technically speaking, this was not the public’s job. The end result was a university divided into two sections, with one part being built on ODZ land in Zonqor and the other part taking up the historic buildings at Dock No. 1.

Libyan residency permits courtesy of Joe Sammut

Former Labour Party treasurer and candidate Joe Sammut was charged in relation to fraud, misappropriation of funds, money laundering, falsification of documents and breaching his professional responsibilities as an accountant, amongst other charges.

Mr Sammut, 58, from St Paul’s Bay, was allegedly helping Libyan nationals obtain residence permits by creating fictitious companies with bogus stock levels that qualified the companies’ owners for Maltese residency status. Investigators looked into hundreds of companies he helped set up before filing charges against him.

When shown copies of their files from the Citizenship and Expatriate Affairs Department – which were linked to their residency applications filed through Mr Sammut’s office – witnesses in court said that the documents carried the correct details but the signatures on them were not theirs.

Some of the documents – the lease agreements for the properties in which they were supposedly staying – included photocopies of the ID cards of landlords they had never met or spoken to. They also told the court that they had not received receipts for thousands of euros in fees paid to Mr Sammut’s office, although one witness said he had received a receipt via Viber (a mobile messaging app) when he had asked for it.

Algerian visas

Over 7,000 visas were granted to Algerian nationals in just 18 months following the opening of Malta’s consulate in Algiers, which was headed by the cousin of the Prime Minister’s father.

The PN quickly asked for explanations on the issue. Foreign Affairs Minister George Vella said that that the 7,000 visas issued in 18 months to Algerian nationals represented just half of the applications received, adding that they had all been cleared by the police, Interpol and the Schengen Visa system.

Despite the government’s efforts to downplay the fact that Malta had granted “only” 7,000 Schengen visas to Algerian nationals over the 17 months in which the consulate has been operational, compared to over 300,000 issued by France for example, Malta is currently the Schengen area’s number one source for visas for Algerians on a per capita basis.

The police are looking into the matter but there has been no news regarding their investigations since November.

Gaffarena’s Old Mint Street steal

Marco Gaffarena and his multiple shady dealings took the media by storm last year, after he purchased part of an Old Mint Street property on the cheap and shortly afterwards sold his share to the government at a hefty profit.

The property houses a school and government offices. Gaffarena bought half the property on 26 February for €140,000, and government bought that share from him on 10 April for €823,000 – in land and cash. The move raised eyebrows and flamed suspicions that Gaffarena had known that the government was planning to expropriate the property.

It transpired that on 28 January, the government had bought an area in the same property from Gaffarena. In total, government paid €1.65 million for 445 square metres. Later in the year, Gaffarena attempted to force the other owners of the building to sell him another 25 per cent of it. A promise of sale had been previously signed, in which Gaffarena paid a €13,976 deposit for a promise-of-sale agreement, to finalise a contract worth the €139,762 with the other owners. The Court, however, refused his request to enforce the sale.

Joe Cassar resigns over Gaffarena’s gifts

Former PN Minister Joe Cassar resigned from Parliament over allegations that he received gifts from Joe Gaffarena – the father of Marco Gaffarena.

The Nationalist MP allegedly let Mr Gaffarena pay a €8,000 bill for construction work carried out on his Dingli home. Dr Cassar also paid a €1,000 donation to the PN a year after he bought a car from the Gaffarenas instead of paying Joe Gaffarena directly. Mr Gaffarena also allegedly paid for a €800 security system at Dr Cassar’s house, with the latter claiming that the people who installed the system repeatedly refused payment.

“In terms of the Ministerial Code of Ethics which applied to me prior to March 2013, there were no gifts to declare and therefore I do not believe that I breached the Code. It is only because of this person's manipulation of events that took place three years ago that, today, they are being made to look like gifts,” Dr Cassar said in a statement.

Maltese remote gaming Ndrangheta Mafia links

Last year saw allegations that the Ndrangheta had links to Maltese remote gaming companies.

Originally, six Italians were arrested in Malta, but further investigations by this newsroom had revealed that there were several more with links to Malta, on the Italian prosecutor’s list.

The saga put the spotlight on the Malta Gaming Authority as the regulator, and it suspended a number of licences for those gaming companies in the sector.

Speaking about the incident, Parliamentary Secretary for Competitiveness Jose Herrera said: “We have a very good regulator. We have invested in more resources, have more inspectors and are placing more emphasis on due diligence. We are always upgrading. We will never eliminate the problem. In every sector of society you find bad apples. There are bad apples in the Judiciary, in Parliament, the executive and priesthood.” Dr Herrera said that what one can do is minimise the risk of such incidents. “It doesn’t mean that just because you have a bad apple, then the whole industry is bad or that you should abrogate the industry.”

Fiduciary services were also under fire. David Gonzi, a director of one of the fiduciary companies related to the investigation, was also highlighted in the media in view of the fact that his father is former Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi.

It transpired that Daniel Zammit, an Economic Crimes Unit officer and the son of former Acting Police Commissioner Ray Zammit, had been in business with at least one Italian remote gaming operator in Malta – without having the necessary permission of the Commissioner of Police.

Giovanna Debono resigns over works-for-votes allegations

Giovanna Debono’s resignation from the Nationalist Party followed allegations that her husband, Anthony Debono, was involved in a works-for-votes operation, through which the resources of the Gozo ministry were allegedly being used to carry out work for the benefit of individual constituents when he was the officer-in-charge of the Gozo Ministry’s Construction and Maintenance Unit.

Mr Debono, a 59-year-old Nadur resident, faces a total of

13 charges including misappropriation of public funds, fraud, abuse of power, falsification of documents, making false declarations, committing crimes he was duty bound to prevent and preventing people from giving evidence.

He was investigated after contractor Joe Cauchi turned whistleblower and accused Mr Debono of requiring him to carry out work for constituents and issue them with false invoices.

Swiss Leaks

In partnership with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, this newspaper revealed how former PN Ministers Ninu Zammit and Michael Falzon had held secret Swiss bank accounts that had not been declared during their time as government ministers.

Mr Zammit had an undisclosed $3.2 million in an HSBC branch in Geneva, which he maintained through annual visits to Switzerland while he was still a Cabinet member. Mr Falzon’s account contained a more modest €465,000.

Both the former ministers have benefitted from tax amnesties, meaning the money they held abroad – or at least part of it – has been repatriated and all their past tax evasion has been forgiven.

After repeatedly refusing to comment, Mr Falzon eventually publically apologised for the undeclared, untaxed funds. The same, however, cannot be said for Mr Zammit.

18-year-old directs government company

Eighteen-year-old Karl Cutajar was appointed director, secretary, legal representative and judicial representative

of a government security company called Fort Security Services. Fort Security Services falls under the remit of Minister Chris Cardona.

This state of affairs was heavily criticised by the Opposition and Mr Cutajar resigned soon

after.

Michael Falzon’s retirement package

Parliamentary Secretary Michael Falzon benefited from an apparently unique €260,000 early retirement package, described as “a hybrid solution to cater for the unique circumstances involved in the case” by his former employers Bank of Valletta.

Mr Falzon has until the end of the legislature to go back to BOV, and if he does, he would need to pay the bank back a portion of the sum he received.

Ian Borg’s Rabat ruckus

A scandal broke out earlier this year, when Parliamentary Secretary Ian Borg allegedly persuaded an elderly man to sell him land against the express wishes of his family.

The Ombudsman was subsequently requested to ascertain how the junior minister’s development permit had been approved by the Malta Environment and Planning Authority (Mepa). The Ombudsman’s report found that Dr Borg had used “devious methods” in applying for a development permit for a property in Rabat with the development application listing his father and a project manager as the property’s owners instead of Dr Borg himself, who was the actual owner.

The report also ascertained that the Development Permit Application Report (DPAR) drawn up by a Mepa case officer contained a “series of omissions and variation in the text” that “cannot be put down to human error but point to a deliberate attempt to remove the one remaining obstacle potentially blocking approval of the application”.

The case then went before the permanent Commission Against Corruption, and Dr Borg insists he has been found innocent of using his influence in the procurement of a Mepa development permit.

This results in a rather interesting situation, with the Commission having found no hint of corruption and the Ombudsman’s Environment Commissioner stating that Dr Borg had employed devious methods to secure the permit.

After all, the country’s deteriorating deficit of trust in public institutions undermines the very running of the country