Freeport CEO investigated in links with Polidano – reports / Malta News Briefing – Sunday 3 July 2022

News Update

PN in favour of embryo testing – Grech | I will vote according to conscience – Delia

The PN will be voting in favour of the introduction of embryo testing since its amendments to a bill currently before parliament had been formally taken on board, Opposition leader Bernard Grech said on Sunday, but his predecessor Adrian Delia seems to have other plans. Former PN leader Adrian Delia, on social media to say he was against embryo testing that put life in danger.  Tests on the unfertilised eggs of a woman (the oocytes) would not be endangering life, he said, Genetisc tests on the embryo would. “To be clear, I declare that I do not agree with testing embryos that could endanger or be fatal to human life,” he wrote. – Times of Malta / Malta Today

Morning Briefing

Freeport CEO investigated in links with Polidano – reports

The Times of Malta reveals that the CEO of the Malta Freeport is being investigated over alleged money laundering and corruption in connection with construction entrepreneur Charles Polidano and a multi-million-euro contract. Sources who spoke to The Times said Alex Montebello and his wife were arrested on Friday and taken in for questioning at the same time as Polidano and his son Gordon – both of whom were released on police bail on Saturday. The report adds that the police are investigating how Polidano won a lucrative contract in 2014 to carry out works at the Freeport for which the company may have overpaid.

PN calls for better police conditions

The Nationalist Party called on government to improve the working conditions of the police in order to address the exodus within the police force.
Maltatoday follows a statement signed by MPs Joe Giglio and Ivan Castillo, spokespersons for home affairs and employment respectively, in which the PN said that the morale was low within the police corps and that demotivation was rife.

Top award for Maltese ports

Malta’s flag for vessels has received a high ranking within US ports, as the country has been recognised by the United States Coast Guard (USCG) under the QUALSHIP21 initiative for the first time in the Malta Ship Registry’s history. Newsbook quotes Minister for Infrastructure minister Aaron Farrugia, who explained that the positive news for the Maltese flag continues to confirm Malta’s status as a top performing flag state.