Ivan Camilleri and Jacob Borg summarise some of the year’s stories that highlighted serious gaps in governance or outright misconduct, many of which appeared in The Sunday Times of Malta.

17 Black owned by power station investor

In November, a joint investigation by the Times of Malta and Reuters revealed that the mystery Dubai company 17 Black was owned by power station investor Yorgen Fenech.

According to a leaked e-mail, Keith Schembri’s and Konrad Mizzi’s Panama companies planned to receive $2 million from 17 Black.

While Mr Schembri claims the e-mail was part of “draft business plans”, Dr Mizzi says he has “no link” with 17 Black.

Prior to the revelations, both men had refused to say who owned the 17 Black company that was set to make them millions.

17 Black subject to criminal investigation

The police have been investigating the once-secret offshore company 17 Black ever since the financial intelligence unit flagged its concerns back in March.

The criminal investigation also prompted a magisterial inquiry – separate to the one held up in the courts – in a bid to get hold of evidence.

Police sources said the probe started the same week they received an intelligence report naming Electrogas power station director and businessman Yorgen Fenech as the owner of the mystery Dubai company 17 Black.

NAO finds flaws in Electrogas contract bid

A bid by Electrogas to build a power station failed to meet minimum requirements to win the lucrative contract in “multiple instances”, the National Audit Office found in November.

In a 500-page report tabled in Parliament, the Auditor General flagged shortcomings in the 2013 selection process that eventually saw Electrogas win the contract to build a new power station and supply electricity to the national grid. Former energy minister Konrad Mizzi had described the selection process as a “rigorous” one.

Gafà ‘bumps into’ Libyan militia leader

Government official Neville Gafà admitted he “bumped into” one of Tripoli’s most notorious militia leaders during his controversial Libya visit in November but played it down as “nothing serious”.

Mr Gafà, who faced allegations of posing as a diplomat to meet Libyan government ministers in Tripoli, was spotted speaking with Haithem Tajouri, the leader of a militia group known as the Tripoli Revolutionaries Brigade, sources told this newspaper.

Food tender becomes multimillion project

July brought news about how a tender requesting the provision of meals and construction of a new kitchen at Saint Vincent de Paul hospital for the elderly was turned into a mega extension of the facility for the contract winners.

The extension project at Malta’s largest residence for the elderly is expected to rake in tens of millions of euros in additional income for the winning private consortium, over and above what it will earn from the kitchen contract.

Three public hospitals change hands

The €2 billion deal signed by Cabinet Minister Konrad Mizzi during Labour’s first legislature hit the headlines once again when the government announced that the 30-year concession for three public hospitals – Karen Grech and St Luke’s in Malta and the Gozo General Hospital – suddenly changed hands.

Vitals Global Healthcare – an unknown company in the health industry – encountered serious financial difficulties and found a way out by selling its concession to Steward Health Care.

New Health Minister Chris Fearne dubbed the Steward deal “the real one” but failed to disclose the price of VGH’s sale of its concession for public hospitals to Steward.

At the same time, none of the concession milestone deadlines inserted in the original contract were met and the government is currently renegotiating a new set of deadlines. No details have been given yet on what is being discussed with Steward.

Permit for the ITS site, sold to db Group for €15 million

While a probe by the NAO on the controversial sale of a prime site in St Julian’s to the db Group for just €15 million continued, the Planning Authority issued the requested permits to transform the area into a luxury hotel and a gigantic residential tower for sale.

The PA issued the permit despite public protests and written objections by thousands of residents in the vicinity of the development.

Meanwhile, the government started work on the relocation of the ITS campus at the former Air Malta offices in Luqa. Planning permits were only sought after the completion of works.

Pilatus Bank closed down

Following the arrest in the US of Pilatus Bank chairman Sayed Ali Sadr Hasheminejad in connection with a scheme to evade US economic sanctions, Pilatus Bank came under the Maltese authority’s radar.

In a series of decisions taking by the MFSA, following pressure by the EU banking authorities, the bank was first put under the surveillance of an independent regulator and afterwards had its banking licence withdrawn.

It was also revealed that Prime Minister Joseph Muscat and his chief of staff Keith Schembri were among the few invitees at the Pilatus chairman’s wedding in Venice in 2015.

Medical cannabis permits issued before enactment of law

In April, MGC Pharma, an Australian medical cannabis producer, announced that it had obtained a Maltese licence to operate on the island. The company said that it was given the go-ahead to construct and operate a facility in the south of Malta.

The government failed to explain how a licence was issued when the law permitting the production of medical cannabis was still being debated in Parliament.

Mafia-related gambling operators infiltrate gaming industry

Five Italian owned gambling companies licenced in Malta left the country after they were investigated by the Italian authorities and found to have links with Mafia companies using the island to launder millions.

The Malta Gaming Authority took action following probes by the Italian judiciary and insisted that it was taking steps to ensure that the island observed anti-money laundering rules.

Malta exposed to ‘high’ money-laundering risk

Malta is at a high risk of being used for money laundering and at a “medium-high” risk of terrorist financing, a national study found.

The 2017 assessment, which had not been published by the government on security grounds, found Malta to be at a “high” risk of receiving foreign proceeds of crime and a “medium-high” risk of local crime.

In a presentation of the results made by the authorities to financial industry stakeholders, tax evasion and local criminal groups were said to be the highest threat drivers of money-laundering identified by the national assessment.

Med fuel smuggling operation coordinated from Malta

Malta was identified as the centre of a well-coordinated, multimillion-euro fuel smuggling operation with stolen Libyan fuel products traded at the island’s Hurds Bank and through established storage facilities inside the Grand Harbour, the Daphne Project discovered.

The government said that it had always collaborated with international authorities on the issue despite the fact that no one was arraigned in Malta. Two Maltese citizens were arrested in Sicily in connection with this multimillion smuggling operation.

Gozo Channel chooses inexperienced company for fast ferry service

Gozo Channel decided to cancel the selection of Virtu Ferries as its partner for a fast-ferry service between the two islands, and instead choose Islands Ferry Network.

The move was made following the issue of a new call and the appointment of a new selection board. Island Ferries was registered just a week before the selection was made and is formed by tomato paste producers Magro Brothers and the owners of the Fortina Hotel.

Virtu filed a raft of lawsuits in court over the decision.

Authorities’ ‘disdain’ for planning processes

Widening Tal-Balal Road despite having no permit in hand is a sign of the “disdain” being shown by public authorities, which are “steamrolling” over planning processes, the Church Environment Commission warned in September.

 This remark was made in submissions filed to the Planning Authority with respect to an application to sanction work to add two additional lanes to the arterial road between San Ġwann and Naxxar.

Nexia BT partner risks ACCA inquiry

Nexia BT partner Karl Cini risks facing an investigation by the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants.

In a September letter sent to the global network of accountants, Nationalist MEP David Casa listed cases of alleged wrongdoing resulting from the Panama Papers and involving Mr Cini.

He accused Mr Cini of being complicit in withholding evidence from the Financial Intelligence Analysis Unit (FIAU) during its investigations into Tourism Minister Konrad Mizzi’s offshore structures

‘Big fish, big money’

An international fishing giant with a foothold in Malta is at the centre of an illegal tuna racket worth €20 million a year, The Sunday Times of Malta reported in October.

A months-long investigation by Spanish and Maltese authorities uncovered a network of shell companies and distributors that have allegedly been funnelling illegal tuna catches from Maltese waters and Malta-based fish farms to the tapas bars and fish markets of Spain. 

Sources privy to the investigation, code-named Operation Tarantella, said it was being touted as the biggest ever crackdown on illegal tuna trading in EU history. 

Former Labour general secretary still not charged with corruption

The police have still not pressed charges against former Labour general secretary Jimmy Magro despite a damning report by the Commission against Corruption highlighting its conviction that Mr Magro had asked for bribes in relation to a government tender.

Mr Magro relinquished his post as a CEO of a new government entity related to Malta Enterprise, but charges against him remained elusive.

The police insist they are still investigating the case which first surfaced in early 2017.

Foreign Minister’s home veranda built by public workers

Foreign Minister Carmelo Abela admitted that he had a wooden veranda manufactured and placed at his private residence in Żejtun by public servants attached to his ministry.

He justified the work insisting that he had paid for the works and his office’s employees performed their job on a part-time basis outside their office hours. Prime Minister Joseph Muscat failed to take any action against the minister.

Guilty law students given warrant by Justice Minister

Justice Minister Owen Bonnici ignored critics, including the Chamber of Advocates, and proceeded to issue warrants to two students who had been found guilty of criminal charges.

Despite the law clearly stating that those convicted of a criminal offence cannot practice as lawyers, Dr Bonnici insisted that they were giving the green light by a panel of judges.

One of the students was also given a job by the government to represent Malta at its Permanent Representation to the EU in Brussels.

Egrant: prime minister off the hook

No evidence linking PM’s wife to Egrant

An inquiry into allegations that secret Panama company Egrant was owned by the Prime Minister Joseph Muscat’s wife found no documentation linking it to the Muscat family.

The Attorney General’s office published 48 pages of the “voluminous” report drawn up by Magistrate Aaron Bugeja following a 15-month inquiry.

According to the published section of the report, Magistrate Bugeja found no documentation that linked Ms Muscat or Dr Muscat to the allegations.

A UK-based forensic accounting firm also failed to find any evidence on Pilatus Bank’s servers that linked the pair to Egrant.

PM lawyer redacts Egrant report amid deep dissent over release

Prime Minister Joseph Muscat’s personal lawyer redacted the 1,500-page Egrant inquiry report himself, while the Attorney General, the magistrate who wrote it, police investigators and several legal minds were all against its release.

Sources told The Sunday Times of Malta Dr Muscat had called on several legal experts to weigh in on his plan to release the full magisterial inquiry into allegations that his wife owned the once-secret offshore company Egrant. 

The Sunday Times of Malta revealed in September that the majority of those consulted were “overwhelmingly against” releasing it, giving a number of reasons why it could compromise the government’s position and set a precedent that would be uncomfortable for the judiciary.