Your morning briefing gives you an overview of the salient news from Malta and around the world.
Bank of Valletta said this morning that following yesterday’s events, it resumed a number of its services during the night.
The resumption of services follows rigorous overnight testing of the Bank’s IT systems which were successful, the bank said in a statement.
Malta’s Newspapers’ front-page stories:
The Malta Business Weekly leads with results from the Central Bank’s Quarterly Review for Q3 2018, showing a rise in the economic sentiment indicator to 121 from 116 in the previous quarter.
BOV – The Times says that Bank of Valletta could not indicate when operations will return to full service after an attack on its systems prompted the bank to shut down all functions on Wednesday. Hackers tried, earlier, to withdraw €13 million in falsified international transactions. L-Orizzont quotes a statement by the Prime Minister in parliament who said that the funds held at Bank of Valletta are safe and secure. Bank officials, the police, and members of the cybersecurity security committee are assisting an investigation into the attack. In-Nazzjon quotes Opposition Leader Adrian Delia who, in reaction to the BoV hacking, said that this represents an attack on the country as this is a Maltese bank that the belongs to the Maltese.
Fisheries Scandal – The Malta Independent follows story about the corruption allegations levelled at the Fisheries Department but says that neither the Environment Minister nor the responsible Parliamentary Secretary were contacted by Spanish tuna rancher Jose Fuentes. Meanwhile, The Times reports that members of the police force travelled to the Interpol Headquarters in The Hague on Wednesday to discuss the alleged tuna laundering racket. The paper says the police is requesting information to be able to collaborate with the Spanish authorities. L-Orizzont says that Spanish newspaper El Confidencial published new information indicating that the Fisheries Department Director General met another member of the Spanish tuna company. Fenech Farrugia denies all allegations.
The Malta Independent reports a statement by the Environment and Resources Authority expressing concern over the effect of new apartments being built outside the development boundaries. ERA says there is no valid justification for loss of undeveloped land.
In-Nazzjon covers a political event in which PN Leader Adrian Delia spoke about the shortage of housing. Delia said that housing is a right not a gift, and criticised the government for failing to respond to a growing problem in housing.
