Sant hits out at MITTS investigation

Alfred Farrugia

Oct 10th 2008, 15:50

@ V. Micallef,
I am talking about Dr. Alfred Sant’s double standards and his own friends of friends. Do you know what action Dr. Sant took against his own friend of friend? Do you know the hardship that Dr. Sant’s administration caused to the career officer who was doing his duties as a result of the irresponsible behaviour of Dr. Sant’s friend of friend, not to mention all the locally engaged employees who tendered their resignation from the ambassador’s residence and the embassy because of the incompetence of Dr. Sant’s friend of friend?

I look forward to Dr. Sant taking this issue to the competent EU authorities! That implies that Dr. Sant believes in EU institutions when it suits him, while he deprived us of the EU benefits when he practised “good governance”?

If Dr. Sant does not want his e-mails to be hacked he should not use e-mail. Does he have anything to hide? If the most sensitive and secure departments in the world have been hacked, in one case by a 19 year-old, how can Dr. Sant expect these things not to happen in Malta. I am not condoning hacking, but it happens.

eric saliba

Oct 10th 2008, 10:10

@ j martinelli. regarding your misconceptions related to the MLP and dr sant. regret i cannot give you dates but, believe me, i must have missed the one time you wrote anything in favour.
this is not just my impression bcoz various posters are of the same opinion. but maybe we're all wrong??
re the courts. we all remember the recent past when dr fenech adami publicly attacked certain court decisions which were not to his liking and threatened to change the system.
i will take your advice and wait until the mitts investigation by the police is over and then comment.
if this is going to be anything like the mistra investigation i think we all know already the outcome don't we?? resignations?? yeah in my dreams !

V.Micallef

Oct 10th 2008, 09:10

@Alfred Farrugia

What are you talking about? What is a career officer or whatever to do with the serious, indeed outrageous issue under review? I repeat, I look forward to seeing Dr Sant take this issue of national import before the competent EU authorities. There is no chance of solving the problem locally given the highly undemocratic Administration we have.

Joseph Borg

Oct 10th 2008, 06:33

@ J. Martinelli

Where was J. Martinelli when Labour goverment gave young couples land for free and Lm2000 to begin the construction?

Ok at that time they didn't have foreign choclate bars but they didn't have a life time loan as well!!!

Alfred Farrugia

Oct 9th 2008, 17:45

Has Dr. Alfred Sant forgotten his own “good governance” of 10 years ago? Does he remember his friend of friend, and the disgrace he caused among the diplomatic community in the area of his jurisdiction? Was it not a disgrace then to cut short the diplomatic posting of a career officer instead of exerting discipline on the political appointee that he had selected, and whom the Minister of Foreign Affairs did not even know? Why was the wrong-doer preferred over the officer who was performing his duties in the appropriate way? Was that good governance?

If any MITTS employees committed what is being alleged, then they ought to suffer the consequences.

Dr. Alfred should not blow this serious matter out of proportion, as if it were an issue of national security. Were European credentials not supposed to remain frozen had he remained in office? Does he know that e-mails in the U.S. may be hacked too, including those of the Pentagon! The Secretary of Defense did not resign, and as far as I know, the Director of the FBI did not resign when the FBI computers were hacked.

http://rawstory.com/news/2007/Pentagon_confirms_email_system_hacked_0621.html

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/07/06/national/main1779905.shtml

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2002/11/13/brit_charged_with_hacking_pentagon/

http://news.cnet.com/DOJ-charges-teen-with-Pentagon-hacking/2100-1023_3-230527.html

J Martinelli

Oct 9th 2008, 17:43

I Brown - nothing further from the truth!

I have nothing against Dr. Sant the man, but Dr. Sant the politician whose negativity is known to (at least) half the nation, is another matter.

History speaks for itself and requires no further input from me.

In fact, I do not blame Dr. Sant from behaving the way he does since he was brought up since his early years in an atmosphere of protest - anti-everything. Look at a classical example underneath in reference to the violence in the late 50s and early 60s.

Ms. Gauci writes, "Protesting and trying to bring change. And I'll do the same in five years time. Becuase this democracy is not the one I like to live in". Protest yes, but violence no!
Most probably Ms. Gauci is too young to remember those days.

One thing I am certain of, had Dr. Sant just kept silent during the last election campaign, he would have been Prime Minister today. Of course, his colleagues would still have managed to come up with a few gems of their own.

Dr. Sant is not the only one angered by the MITTS affair, but let the police investigate without interference.

I Brown

Oct 9th 2008, 16:48

Mr Martinelli, you will say and do anything for the sake of discrediting Alfred Sant. Just admit this whole affair is a big shame on all those responsible and stop justifying everything. We keep hearing the same things from people like you every single day.

I'm tempted to think you are a nostalgic who misses those times, just for the sake of having fresh fodder against something vaguely reminiscent of Labour.

History pops in and out of these arguments so conveniently that we tend to forget the present and future. Last thing we all need is Mr Martinelli's "A History of How the PN Gallantly Defeated the Troglodite Labourites and Rescued Malta from Oblivion."

Marisa Gauci

Oct 9th 2008, 16:36

Protesting and trying to bring change. And I'll do the same in five years time. Becuase this democracy is not the one I like to live in.

J Martinelli

Oct 9th 2008, 15:59

Where was Marisa when Police Stations were burned, dockyard workers rioted and NP clubs ransacked?

Marisa Gauci

Oct 9th 2008, 15:43

Where was Mr Martinelli in the 60s when MLP supporters, and the Maltese in general, had civil and political rights going out of their ears?

J Martinelli

Oct 9th 2008, 15:13

@ Eric Saliba

The Labour government did indeed see to freedom of speech and expression in the 1974 Constitution - then proceeded to act differently.

Ask The Times.

The 1974 constitution also provided for the Constitutional Court which was arbitrarily suspended when convenient to the government as were the court premises ransacked when the courts ruled against a government decision !!!!

I had already sent my answers (individually), before you even asked. But thanks for the reminder.

How about pointing out any misconceptions I may have regarding the MLP and Labour governments of the past?

J Martinelli

Oct 9th 2008, 14:47

Additional notes:

Noel Cutajar - you defeat your argument. Dr Sant went to the police after allegations were leaked to him. Dr. Gonzi asked the Commissioner to start investigations as soon as Dr. Sant made them public. So?

Eric Saliba & Steve Carr
Where I live, the RCMP would have been called in to investigate. Resignations follow when a case is proven.

Joe Vassallo
Of course this situation is unprecedented. There were no computers in Labour's time. I have never seen an igloo, have you?

Enzo Caruana
Investigating 'thouroughly and transparently' does not require the Commissioner, PM or anyone else to give you daily reports on the progress of the investigation.

@ M Borg
Shows you how closely I follow events in Malta.

@ Smuscat
I watch NET news rarely - hard to get due to time difference.

@ Philip Pace
You are so right. The PM should not remain cool. He should be standing on his head, run around like a chicken with his head cut off, grandstand just to give you the impression that he is doing something. In the meantime the Commiss & Co. should remain in their HQ and let the PM to handle the case.

eric saliba

Oct 9th 2008, 14:38

@ j martinelli. no one is denying you the right to express your opinion......the labour govt saw to that in the 1974 constitution in case you've forgotten.
maybe in your next comment you'll find the time, or the courage, to answer the various questions many posters have been asking you hereunder.

J Martinelli

Oct 9th 2008, 14:20

@ all

Serious criminal offences are investigated by the police - not politicians.

All Sant is doing here is adding one more allegation that he has been hacked - no proof yet. The police will find out.

Resignation will only be considered in case of negligence on someone's part. All of you think that because you use a keyboard, you know everything about computers. You don't as much as I don't, but, computer crime is nearly always done remotely. A supervisor may not be aware of the activity unless the computer's programme gives out an alert.

Dr Sant cried wolf before - for 16 long years.

MITTS is not handling the incident and shouldn't. The cyber crime unit is and will come out with the answer when it's ready.

And no, I shall not give it a rest until these allegations cease. I have as much right to express my opinion in a democracy irrespective of location. If I were unable to read this, I would not be able to respond. Do you regard nonresidents as underprivileged or are these the remnants of the infamous law against 'foreign interference'?

Martin portelli

Oct 9th 2008, 14:19

IF the PM’s action is as cognitively dissonant as his action on the Mistra case, than I think, Europe should be arbiter. In this sensitive and serious case, given Malta’s ratings and public perception on corruption, the public needs to be assured that everything is above board. It's the usual case of cognitive dissonance, professing to a belief in one thing but action alas, takes some in the opposite direction. Why would anyone in a European democracy resort to political cyber crime, specifically hack into the leader of the opposition’s email account? Responsibility aside, isn’t anyone the least perturbed by the threat to parliamentary democracy in the here and now?

Karl Abela

Oct 9th 2008, 13:27

ooooohhhhh my God why was this never included in the MLP electoral defeat report?

Sour grapes!!!!!!!!!!

J Cassar

Oct 9th 2008, 11:49

Who is MITTS accountable to, a minister, the government or the PM?

If it is handling such sensitive information which can very easily be hacked into then MITTS should be independent and accountable to parliament and free from political interference otherwise no one is ever going to trust it again.

In these circumstances the investigation should be carried out by an investigative team comprising not just members of the police but also representatives of the main interests at stake including the political parties, otherwise there will always be doubts as to whether there was any political interefence with the inquiry.

I feel that these things are not taken seriously enough in Malta.

philip pace

Oct 9th 2008, 11:29

Though appreciating the fact that the matter is quite extremely serious and it involves National Security and also Data Protection (I stand to be corrected here) I feel that the Prime Minister has committed another blunder by involving the Police.

All the citizens of Malta have the utmost priority to know all the details as it is the only way that they can understand what really happened, who was involved, and what was the motive behind this crime.

It is no use for the Prime Minister to remain so cool about it as he is losing all the credibility from the people who voted for him.

It is time for the PM to come clean about all the illegal things that are happening within his Government.

It is a very scandalous crime that has been committed from persons working under one or many Ministries that should show the country how it is being run in a much sordid way.

When shall we know THE REAL FACTS AS HOW THEY HAPPENED?

What can the Police do as they are first loyal to the Government and then, maybe to the citizens?

Can we have peace of mind?

C Micallef

Oct 9th 2008, 11:21

Resignations? Action taken?

What for? To have some MP put his neck out to defend the accused, lest they lose their job?

Haven't we seen (and heard) it all before with the case at the Transport Authority? And the hopeless justifications for such miserable acts?

I fully endorse the present government and its policies, but I'm not blind, and seriously believe that really needs to perform some cleaning in the various corridors, hoping that we won't be disappointed by some MP trying to defend the usual pack of friends. We're supposed to be responsible grown ups.

And yes, heads SHOULD roll - sometimes you've got to give people what they want - even if it's blood (while avoiding scapegoats).

One last thing - could the governemtn please ensure that potential employees are propely filtered before being employed, especially in sensitive places?

Charles Demanuele

Oct 9th 2008, 11:09

@Antoine Vella
Is a police investigation always serious? You know well enough that most times it is but sometimes it isn't. This matter is so serious that we need Gonzi's safe pair of hands to make sure that everything is done in a transparent manner. But, like most Maltese, I question if he will take any serious action against persons who might have helped his party get elected by a whisker.

Emmanuel Cachia

Oct 9th 2008, 10:50

The MITTs case is extremely serious. We want answers and we want them now.

V.Micallef

Oct 9th 2008, 09:47

@ Ivan Delia

No chance of that happening. I look forward to seeing Dr Sant taking the case to EU quarters. It should be interesting to see what competent EU institutions will have to say on this delicate matter!

Smuscat

Oct 9th 2008, 09:28

@ Mr Martinelli,

Why don't you unplug yourself from netnews sometimes and actually use a critical thought process that God has so gracefully given to all of us. You do understand that mitts is trusted with safeguarding all government data, this includes, taxes paid by everyone, emails, all sorts of information that if they fall in the wrong hands could cause untold damage. It is yours and everyones interest that we see that this security is maintained and that there is transparency in seeing what went wrong and how it has been fixed. Transparency helps keeping people accountable for the work they are paid to do. Dr A Sant was just asking for that and I don't see why he should be attacked for something everyone should be asking for.

That being said, I know for a fact that Mitts is staffed by extremely talented IT officers who can be trusted to take care of Government data.

Steve Carr

Oct 9th 2008, 09:09

@J Martinelli
Apparently anything linked with Alfred Sant still ruffles your feathers. Just imagine this case happened in Canada and perhaps you would begin to realise the seriousness of the whole shenanigan. Unfortunately your customary blinkered pro-PN and anti-MLP comments just muddle any sane and logical argument you may have.

Robert Lia

Oct 9th 2008, 08:55

IVAN DELIA

Dont you know that under this government no one steps down and the word Jirrezenja is not found in our maltese dictionaries any more ... Hey Martinelli tell us then! how did you end up in Canada shame for such a Nazzjonalist. You hate Dr Sant dont You?

M.borg

Oct 9th 2008, 08:39

@martinelli,

what boggles my mind is how someone living so far away writes so much on everything...give us a break sometime pls.

Joseph Borg

Oct 9th 2008, 06:26

ONLY IN MALTA!!! No resignations and as usual, it seems that nothing is happening.

I suggest Lou and Joe to produce a program about the matter........oh sorry I forgot that the election is in 5 years time!!!

Ronnie Gauci

Oct 9th 2008, 02:32

Is it possible that all the "exclusive" news on the PN media in the last years derived from hacked information?? If this is so this is a huge scandal.

Incredibly enough nobody has resigned yet, this is serious stuff gentlemen and serious stuff requires serious actions and the minister has to act if not then he has to be held accountable. Unluckily we live in Malta where resignations are something unheard of and all this reflects in the level of seriousness of the whole country.

Antoine Vella (Balzan)

Oct 9th 2008, 00:28

Ivan Delia
"Dr Gonzi must take serious action."

Isn't a police investigation serious?

Enzo Caruana

Oct 8th 2008, 23:44

Mr Martinelli
Please do give us a break. This is an extremely serious matter that in a democracy worthy of its name would have broought with itb the resignation of the minister responsible for them person concerned would have tendered his resignation until the investigations were carreid out thouroughly and transparently. If, from the comfort of your Toronto home, you have missed the court proceedings of the Mistra affair, you would have by now learnt that Alfred Sant has been more than proved right about his claims and accusations.

There is nothing mind boggling here. The allegation is that a fundamental human right of the individual's right to privacy of one's mail as enshrined in the European Charter of Human Rights has been violated and the Prime Minister and the Minister concerned owe the nation and the persons concerned much more than withewash and waffle.

This is European Malta not Mugabe's Zimbabwe Mr Martinelli

D. Micallef

Oct 8th 2008, 23:21

in other countries such a case would have led to resignations from top officials responsible for such a tragedy; an episode which sheds doubts over all the internet system and e-government promotion.

So now i'm not even safe to mail my representatives?

oh yes! european standards!

Joe Vassallo

Oct 8th 2008, 22:53

@ martinelli

So what actually are you on about? The point of it all is that a serious criminal offense has been made, one that is, to date, unparalleled in our recent history, and all you can do is to try and attack Alfred Sant.

Your problem seems to be not the fact that the Govt is refusing to even make a statement, but that Alfred Sant dared to criticise the way the matter is being handled. I mean, come on, what right does the opposition have to crticise!

How pathetic and hypocritical can you get!! Are you so steeped in partisan propoganda to not have even have the guts to say that this is wrong?

As far as I recall, EFA did not bother to wait for the polie to conclude their investigation into the corruption case involving members of the judiciary - he even mentioned them by name in his televised statement.

Take my advice and stick to designing igloos or whatever you do in Canada.

Kevin Agius

Oct 8th 2008, 22:51

David Kernell who in September of this year hacked Sarah Palin's yahoo email account was indicted Tuesday by a federal grand jury in Knoxville and faces a maximum of five years in prison, a $250,000 fine and three years of supervised release. Trial is set for Dec. 16. Palin was highly criticised for "running state business out of Yahoo".

If the Maltese government cannot guarantee that gov.mt email accounts are supported by the proper mechanisms for confidentiality, security and non-repudiation can our politicians risk using these email accounts for government matters? Can the government ever restore credibility?

eric saliba

Oct 8th 2008, 22:46

@ j martinelli. i usually ignore your comments which are always so full of hatred for the labour party in general and dr sant in particular. this time i'll make an exception.
again today you could not hide your hostility towards the ex labour leader.
let me ask you one simple question. what would happen in canada (where you reside) were this breach of fundamental rights to take place? but then this is malta where gonzipn never get the blame for anything.
btw if i were you i wouldn't mention mistra.

Noel Cutajar

Oct 8th 2008, 22:25

@ J. Martinelli - as usual comments offshoot to another direction, but to offshoot with my reply, would the PM had gone to the police to start the investigation on JPO if Dr. Sant would not have made it public? The answer is NADA, NIET and NEIN!! Apart from the fact that it was JPO who went to the police commissioner before Dr. Sant after Dr. Sant made it public.

Each person using the gov.mt email accounts has a right to what has been accessed. The pleasure of hackers into any system is to get the buzz of cracking firewalls, retrieve data or worse of hacking the system and change it. This particular case shows that the intention was mere spying on whoever was the target...why not use it for personal benefit, political benefit...time will tell when the investigation is made 'public' (if people are taken to court). I have enough experience of cover ups that do not make it to the public (and documented!!!).

D Zammit

Oct 8th 2008, 22:19

@ Mr Martinelli

When you start being objective in your posts I will start to take them seriously. I haven't yet read any of your posts which does not protect and excuse the PN governmet for all its shortcomings.

J Farrugia

Oct 8th 2008, 22:07

This man needs a rest , a long rest out of politics. May I humbly suggest to him to heed what the Commissioner of Police had told Dr Gatt. Let justice take its course. Do not try to interfere with the investigations, otherwise the people will think that there are much more interests than meets the eye.

J Martinelli

Oct 8th 2008, 22:00

Mr. Sant: "The investigation was being used so that the government would not be held to account".

Is this the same Mr. Sant who, cameras, deputies, reporters and all posed in front of the Police HQ with papers in hand telling the nation that he was handing important evidence of corruption regarding the Mistra affair? Only to find out that the PM had beat him to it?

Now, that the government has done very much the same as he did in the Mistra case, he has accused the government of using police investigations into alleged hacking at MITTS as a screen so as not to give an account of what had really happened.

Could this be a throwback when the police Commissioner was referred to as a 'paraventu'? What are police investigations for? But then I forget that the police force has been deprived of the professional services of Mr. Sant's friend and Joseph's deputy, for some time now.

It boggles one's mind, doesn't it?

Ivan Delia

Oct 8th 2008, 21:49

The chairman of MITTS should resign with immediately effect.
this is a scandal.... how our ex-leader had his email hacked .
where is the data protection ???
shame on those who do these acts. Dr Gonzi must take serious action.