Updated 1745
Times of Malta says the Planning Authority has postponed a decision on a controversial application to build apartments and garages close to cliffs in Sannat.
MaltaToday says that an elderly man from Marsa has told a court how a Nigerian woman had disappeared with expensive gifts despite promising to marry him.
Newsbook says Court has accepted the Nationalist Party’s request to hear a constitutional case on the national broadcaster’s political bias with urgency, giving minister Carmelo Abela, the Broadcasting Authority, and the State Advocate six days to make their submissions.
TVM says that the 30-year-old Steve Camilleri of St Paul’s Bay has been arraigned in court and charged with the theft of items worth thousands of eurosfrom his former employers last year.
Updated 1630 – BOV ordered to pay €370 million on Deiulemar case
BOV has been ordered by an Italian Court to to pay €370 million over massive losses suffered by bondholders in the so called Deiulemar case. Shareholders in the latter company were found guilty of fraud and in 2014 seven members of the company’s founders were jailed by an Italian court. BOV has always disputed the amount in compensation being claimed, saying the shares held were deemed worthless following the bankruptcy of Deiulemar Group. “The bank held no other assets on behalf of the Deiulemar Group,” BOV said in a press statement were it also announced to appeal.
Updated 1230
Majority of Maltese people feel their voice does not count in EU- A new Eurobarometer survey has found that just over half (51%) of Maltese people said they did not feel their voice counted in the European Union. This was close to the average that was reported across all U member states, where 52% of citizens said they did not feel that their voice counted in the EU. Most respondents from Malta (45%) said the EU should be taking action over climate change. Of the eight countries that placed climate action as their top priority to address, Malta was the lone southern state, with the category being dominated by northern EU member states such as Sweden, the Netherlands, Denmark, Germany, Belgium, Austria and Finland. The surveys were carried out between November 2 and December 3 of 2021.
Teachers’ union warns heads of schools of possible legal action: The Malta Union of Teachers has sent a legal letter to the heads of schools and principals of state schools to warn there will be legal action if any of its members “experiences harassment or discrimination” because of management action. The Union said it was notified that some teachers obeying directives had been told they could not participate in continuing professional development courses.
Covid-19 Update: 186 new cases were found in the last 24 hours, with 286 new recoveries. There are 89 patients currently being treated at Mater Dei Hospital, 4 of whom are in the ITU. The Health Ministry announced that an 85-year-old woman died while Covid-19 positive.
Updated 0830
Kidnap gang could be involved in money laundering, drug smuggling – report
The Times of Malta this morning reveals some very dark elements to a recent news item featuring a group of car rental and auto dealership investors accused of a violent kidnapping last month, with police sources indicating that the group is featuring in a drug smuggling and money laundering investigation. According to the report, the probe is looking into how cryptocurrency is being used to bring drugs, arms and even explosives into the country. The police are understood to be be looking at how illicit funds were laundered through a network of companies they own as well as those owned by their other known associates.
Morning Briefing
Half a billion barrels of oil in Maltese waters, Finance Minister claims
Finance Minister Clyde Caruana said that more than 500 million barrels of oil in the south-east of the Maltese territorial waters could be extracted commercially. “The problem is that there is a dispute with Libya. As a minister, I have had two attempts to find a middle ground with the Libyan government, but the political situation in Libya is fluid”, Caruana told Parliament. “In the same vein, a little further up there is a dispute with the Italian government,” the minister reiterated. Caruana said that 60% of the Maltese territorial waters are not contested and it is a wasted resource that is not being used. He said the price of oil, which has been cheap in recent years, has not encouraged the international companies to consider new areas for oil exploration. (Newsbook)
Vitals accuses government of mismanagement, parties spar on issue
Health Minister Chris Fearne side-stepped questions on claims by Steward Healthcare about government mismanagement in the hospitals concession. In comments to reporters, Fearne said when questioned that he will not be entertaining any public debates with Steward about the matter. Steward Healthcare Malta has accused the government of pulling out of a revised concession agreement on three occasions in three years. Earlier in Parliament, former PN leader Adrian Delia quoted a media article by a Steward official, insisting that her comments proved that “the deal was not well planned because it was done without thought and was not in favour of the Maltese people. Vitals created companies to cover up the abuses and were not keeping track of what they were spending, and they also admitted that they were given millions and no one from the government was checking what was being done by them,” Delia said. (Times of Malta/Maltatoday)
Covid-19 Update
175 new Covid-19 cases were reported on Monday, with 236 recoveries, leaving an active case tally of 2331. 90 persons are currently hospitalised, five in ITU. A 65-year old man became the 570th victim of the pandemic in Malta.
