These are the main headlines reviewed by our editorial and research team for today.
Joseph Muscat has joined the ranks of Russian president Vladimir Putin and Azerbaijani ruler Ilham Aliyev in one of the world’s lesser-known accolades: the ‘man of the year in organized crime and corruption’ award by the OCCRP, a non-profit media organisation. Maltatoday
Prime Minister Joseph Muscat, his wife and children jetted off on a holiday to Dubai on Friday afternoon. A spokesman at the Prime Minister’s office said Dr Muscat was on a “personal trip with his family” but declined to say for how long he would be gone for. Source: Times of Malta
Neville Gafa’ has come to the defence of Prime Minister Joseph Muscat, writing on Facebook that there is an ongoing campaign, “orchestrated and coordinated by those who want power.” He described it as a dirty campaign against Prime Minister Joseph Muscat. It is understood that Gafa’ said this in reference to the recent scandal surrounding Malta’s outgoing PM, regarding gifts he reportedly received from Yorgen Fenech. Source: The Malta Independent
The Maltese police has granted the former chief of staff to Malta’s prime minister, Keith Schembri, permission to travel on a family holiday.Keith Schembri travelled abroad on Thursday after police granted him permission to take his family abroad on “a three-day getaway”. Source: Malta Today
The Nationalist Party has declared in a statement that the personalised gifts of luxury watches and fine wines costing thousands of euro, which were revealed by the media as having been given to Prime Minister Joseph Muscat by Yorgen Fenech, are evidence of the close connections between Dr Muscat and a circle of criminals, who according to the Nationalist Party ended up taking over Castille. Source: TVM
The former Chairperson of Alternattiva Demokratika and Independent candidate for the European Parliament Elections, Arnold Cassola has asked the Permanent Commission to investigate reports on gifts that Yorgen Fenech donated to the Prime Minister of Malta Joseph Muscat. Source: Newsbook
