Activists call for resignations

As the news of the arrest in the US of the chairman of Pilatus Bank surfaced, activists took to the streets to demand the resignations of Joseph Muscat, Keith Schembri, Konrad Mizzi and Police Commissioner Lawrence Cutajar.

What made the headlines

Employers will not pay for parents’ sick leave: The introduction of a measure enabling parents to call in sick when their children are unwell has hit a snag, as employers are insisting that the government should foot the entire cost, the Times of Malta revealed. A spokesman for the government would only say that discussions were ongoing within the Employment Relations Board with a view to introducing the measure later this legislature. However, Malta Employers’ Association director-general Joe Farrugia contradicted this, saying that the matter had not been formally discussed within the Employment Relations Board.

Pilatus Bank chairman accused in US of evading Iran economic sanctions: The Malta Financial Services Authority ordered Pilatus Bank to remove its chairman, Seyed Ali Sadr Hasheminejad, from the post of director and any executive positions after his US arrest. Charges against Mr Hasheminejad, 38, were filed in a federal court in Manhattan. US prosecutors allege he funnelled more than $115 million from a Venezuelan-Iranian housing project through a complex financial set-up circumventing US sanctions on Iran. Pilatus was at the centre of money-laundering allegations involving the Prime Minister’s wife last year. The allegations were denied. Leaked FIAU reports also claimed there were serious shortcomings in the bank’s compliance with anti-money-laundering regulations. The MFSA is expected to come under scrutiny from the European Banking Authority over its due  diligence checks on the capital Mr Hasheminejad used to set up the bank.

First Malta inhabitants arrived 700 years earlier: The first group of people to inhabit Malta arrived 700 years earlier than history books suggested to date, Queen’s University Belfast researchers discovered. Through an analysis of ancient soils, they found that the first inhabitants arrived about 5900BC, with DNA analysis revealing that they came from different parts of the Mediterranean and Europe, including Africa.

NGO migrant vessel held in Pozzallo: A Spanish NGO vessel involved in rescuing irregular mig-rants was detained in Sicily, its crew accused of illegally letting 218 migrants disembark there instead of taking them to Malta. Italian media and international news agencies reported the vessel, operated by Proactiva Open Arms, had picked up the migrants about 75 miles off the Libyan coast.

Motorcyclist dies in Coast Road accident: A 44-year-old motorcyclist died after he was thrown off his motorcycle on the Coast Road, crashing into a barrier. The man, Giulio Baldacchino from Mellieħa, was the fifth motorist to die in a traffic accident this year. The accident happened at around 7.45am last Sunday at the exit of a bend near Salina as Mr Baldacchino was driving his Suzuki towards St Andrews.

Ex-policeman charged with raping colleague: A 27-year-old man resigned from the police force one day before he was charged with raping a colleague. The man, whose name cannot be published by court order, was also subjected to a treatment order. He pleaded not guilty to holding the alleged rape victim against her will, sexually harassing her and another female officer at their workplace, and committing violent indecent assault on the second colleague, offences he had been in duty bound to prevent. No request for bail was made.

Egrant whistleblower risks deportation to Malta: An ex-Pilatus Bank employee turned herself in to the Greek police and risks extradition to Malta. Russian whistleblower Maria Efimova faces fraud charges in Malta due to a criminal complaint from the Ta’ Xbiex-based bank. Slain journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia in April published Ms Efimova’s allegations that Pilatus was used to move funds from Azerbaijan to Panama company Egrant, which, she said, the Prime Minister’s wife owned. Ms Caruana Galizia said over $1 million was transferred to Egrant by the Azeri President’s daughter. The Prime Minister and Ms Muscat deny the allegations, now the subject of a magisterial inquiry.

Another car bombing ‘was being planned’: Police investigators uncovered an “ongoing” car bomb plot while probing an unexploded device found beneath a vehicle in Fgura earlier this month, the Times of Malta revealed. The investigation into the Fgura case led to the arraignment of three men accused of the attempted murder of two people, but sources said the probe also gave rise to suspicion that another car bomb was being planned.

What trended

A political earthquake 7,000 kilometres away shook Malta’s political foundations this week, though given that the vast majority of readers’ online reactions fell into one of two predictably partisan buckets, we’ll limit debate to one reader’s comment and move on.

“I cannot understand what relevance Nejad’s arrest in the US has to revoking his license in Malta,” one man wrote about the arrest of Pilatus Bank’s (now) former chairman. “This Minister and the MFSA have had ample reason to take action against this bank for irregularities relevant to this country. They have ignored all warnings about this bank, yet at the first sign of the US, they are scrambling to be seen to be doing something.”

And from that neatly worded summary, we move on to a Eurobarometer survey which found that Maltese people are, in a nutshell, fat and lazy.

Reactions to the news ranged from the nonplussed (“With or without exercise, we’ll all end up the same”) to incredulity based on a single anecdote (“My daughter used to go out power walking in the morning and she was quite impressed seeing lots of Maltese out walking and jogging”).

Going to Buġibba on Sunday is becoming a nightmare

One woman was quick to find a scapegoat for the miserable findings: “When you compare gym prices to those abroad, they’re pretty damn expensive.” But she was quickly shot down by others, who noted that physical exertion predates the treadmill.

But perhaps the Eurobarometer researchers were simply looking for Maltese working up a sweat in the wrong places. “It seems the authors of this report have never seen a Maltese buffet dash or a fight for the last piece of rabbit,” came one suggestion.

Two motorcyclist fatalities within 24 hours on the Coast Road last week spurred authorities into action, with Transport Malta promising greater enforcement to deter dangerous driving along the long stretch of road.

Action is desperately needed, agreed one reader: “Going to Buġ-ibba on Sunday is becoming a nightmare. Powerful, extra-large bikes travel at bullet speed. I cannot use the road between 7.30am and 9am on a Sunday – shame.”

Not that the Transport Malta promises impressed everyone: “Three years I’ve been living here, and I maybe saw traffic police five times,” scoffed one foreign res-ident. “Start taking licenses [away], the majority are not able to drive.”

The threat of a crackdown would just shift speed demons elsewhere, others reasoned. “They’ll pick another road,” wrote one, as another agreed, citing the St Paul’s Bay bypass or Ħal Far road as obvious candidates.

What they said

“The last time I saw a turtle dove it was dead, and it was in Malta.”

BBC presenter and wildlife campaigner Chris Packham, accusing the Maltese authorities of flouting the EU Birds Directive to appease the hunting lobby.

“My track record speaks for itself.”

Police Commissioner Lawrence Cutajar when asked whether he was happy with his investigative achievements so far.

“We need to have alternate pathways to get certification.”

Education Minister Evarist Bartolo on the proposal for a SEC subject called Teaching of Maltese as a Foreign Language.

“What is he afraid of?”

Simon Busuttil, the Opposition spokesman on good governance, on the failure of Keith Schembri, the Prime Minister’s chief of staff, to turn up in court to testify in a libel suit that Schembri instituted against him.

“Their action vindicates our mother’s work, but it has come at a terrible cost.”

Matthew, Andrew and Paul Caruana Galizia, the sons of murdered journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia, on the US authorities’ arrest of the chairman of Pilatus Bank on charges of sanctions busting and money laundering.