Russia meddling alleged in upcoming Malta election

VALLETTA: Foreign intelligence services have informed Malta about alleged Russian meddling in Malta’s upcoming general election, said Prime Minister Joseph Muscat on Wednesday.

At issue are allegations that Muscat’s wife, Michelle, is linked to a secret Panama company, claims which led to street protests and are believed to have prompted an early general election on June 3.

Muscat said his country’s security services had been informed that the Russian who made the allegations — and was initially hailed as a whistle blower — had actually invented the story, allegedly as retaliation for Maltese actions that displeased Russia.

Those including refusing to allow in November the refuelling of Russian ships on the way to Syria. Malta said that doing so would make it complicit in the tragedies stemming from that country’s war.

The Panama charges were also allegedly in retaliation for Malta’s role in pushing the EU’s Ukrainian visa waiver programme.

Russia has been accused of destabilising parts of Ukraine in an ongoing proxy war.

Speaking during a news conference, Muscat said the information had been relayed to Malta by “security services in allied countries,” but added that the Maltese government had no evidence that those behind the Panama story were related to the Russian Secret Services.

The allegations that Michelle Muscat was the ultimate beneficiary of a secret company called Egrant has featured prominently in the race. The Russian national who initially revealed the story is now at the heart of a magisterial inquiry.

Muscat made his statement after a report in specialist publication Intelligence online.com which expressed concern about possible interference in the Maltese election process.

The report claimed British and American intelligence agencies, with MI6 and CIA at the forefront, are concerned about possible Russian interference in the election process currently underway in Malta.