Instead of ‘taking leave’, she should just leave

So Director General and Permanent Secretary Rita Schembri has asked to be investigated by the Auditor General. Now that's rich, coming for someone who was using public offices to engage in private business. 

She should have been kicked out by Godwin Grima, but I guess Dr Grima is far too good. I will, at least, give him the benefit of the doubt.

And if anyone is worried about her livelihood, please don't bother shedding a single tear. A cursory glance at the law courts will reveal that she is involved in some serious litigation that either runs into a five digit figure or a six digit figure. Better still, she owns villas at Santa Marija and Wardija (and I'm sure elsewhere, too) which are worth over half a million euros - if not over a million. She was involved in running a restaurant in Birzebbugia. Furthermore, she is President of the Farmer's Wine Cooperative and was involved in a pre-contract for the sale of the old property of the cooperative, which was worth over 800K, and wonder of wonders, the commission agent was her husband (who poses as a humble care worker).

My question is very simple: what is this woman doing as permanent secretary and chief of the internal audit department, and as the Maltese representative on the supervisory board of OLAF?

What I do know is that Richard Cachia Caruana had a very good relationship with Rita (and by 'relationship' I mean purely on European Union matters).

Schembri had plans to ride high and reach out to the very top of the civil service rung, until it was discovered that she was using her government office as a 'negotiating' ground for her business with a foreign mega company known for its 'controversial dealings'.

Her official email is also used for her personal business deals, as has been proven.  And I'm sure there are many other things we do not know about.

Rita Schembri has become a household name because of John Dalli's resignation. I have no idea if the question of trading in influence has been raised when considering Rita Schembri, but I feel it would be justified to raise the issue sooner, rather than later. John Rizzo, please take note - Attorney General Peter Grech too. Though it must be said that Police Commissioners and Attorney Generals have traditionally avoided ruffling prime-ministerial feathers.

Much more interesting, and far more pertinent, is her specific role in the John Dalli investigations and the investigations with issues related to tuna farming by OLAF, along with other OLAF investigations.

I say this because her friend and associate is Dr Pio Valletta, who is associated in no small way to a local tuna farmer of some stature.   Pio Valletta: the same man who represents Aliyev, the man who would have us believe he is a victim. If the Prime Minister did not sack her, it is only because he labelled her as a honest person with integrity. And as it happens, Schembri's surname is not Dalli. If that were the case, there is no doubt in my mind that she would be garrotted and fed to the spin machine by Gonzi's Orcs.

On Friday evening, the Department of Information - the equivalent to what Pravda used to be in Mintoff's time - issued a statement saying that Schembri would be investigated by the Auditor General. Schembri is on long leave to prepare for her defence. I hope the Auditor General will look at all the commentaries made in MaltaToday especially, those concerning her official role in the Dalli case and the investigations into subjects such as tuna farming which are  - or were - of great interest to OLAF. The truth is that this was not news for PBS. On Friday evening, Natalino Fenech's newsroom did not have a word to spare about Ms Schembri. If there ever was a gatekeeper, then here he is.

On Friday evening, Anton Attard - the man who had plans to become the Times's business development manager, but who is still hanging on to his job at PBS as CEO - and Natalino Fenech (author of Fatal Flight), did not consider the DOI press release to be of any significance.

PBS presents itself as the harbinger of truth.

It is not. It remains as it always has been: a gatekeeper for the government of the day.

Prior to 1987, when Bondi was a raving Marxist in Toronto, we had a PBS which was dominated by the Eileen Montesins of yesteryear.

This week, my lawyers wrote to PBS and called on them to offer a remedy to Lou Bondi's toxic comment (he had described MaltaToday as 'Malta Labour Party Today'). I won't divulge much about the riposte, but what is more interesting is the lawyer who scripted the answer. It happened to be the one and only Andrew Borg Cardona, the man who thinks he can write and cannot quite understand that he boasts all those retainers simply because he is a dedicated sycophant of the Gonzi clan.  How can Andrew Borg Cardona possibly be the right person for the job at PBS? Not only is he prejudiced and bigoted, but he also sincerely believes that everyone else is a moron.

Just look at all the new names associated with PBS: Joe Mizzi of MidSea books, Joe Pirotta, Natalino Fenech of Fatal Flight fame (who also has enormous chip on his shoulder), Pierre Portelli (no comment), Joe Mifsud and Brian Hansford (two people who cannot see their limitations), Joe and Lou, Norman Vella (someone people like to dislike), Therese Comodini Cachia (a Nationalist candidate) and Victor Scerri (another Nationalist candidate). Who else? 

You never know... but everything seems to be going to the blue-eyed boys, even the set at TVM was surprisingly dished out to Vassallo joiners a subsidiary of Zaren Vassallo.

Which takes me to the fight for the deputy leadership. Now, it is more than obvious that Simon Busuttil is facing a difficult task to convince PN councillors. He must be shocked at the dirty campaign against him and more importantly, how the Times, captained by the Mario de Marco way of thinking, has leaned heavily towards Tonio Fenech. Dr Busuttil may also be wondering why the Labour party has not opened its guns on Tonio Fenech. Yes, why has it not raised its howitzers on Fenech, reminding them of the Hedley and Montebello affair?

Just wait until Saturday - then, they will fire their guns, reminding the electorate just who Tonio is (more so if he wins the race).

They fear Simon Busuttil more than they fear Tonio Fenech. Because they know that Busuttil will narrow the gap between the two parties, convincing hundreds of disgruntled PN voters back into the fold.

On this one, I am afraid my old friend Joe Saliba is probably right.

***

I scrambled back to my opinion.  I could not believe it when I read it. Consuelo Scerri Herrera has sent a 75-year-old man who is alleged to have threatened Rita Schembri by sending a simple email, to jail. The magistrate has refused him bail. What is not said in the police statement and on the iNews a website run by the GWU (where there is still a strange affection for Lorry Sant), is that Joseph Borg was the whistleblower who proved beyond a doubt what a rat Lorry Sant was. 

Scum is what he was, and I have no qualms about saying it. But more significantly, in 2001 Joseph Borg revealed in a magisterial inquiry in front of Magistrate for Justice Silvio Meli that Justice Joseph Herrera had put undue pressure on him to reach an agreement with Lorry Sant's henchman Piju Camilleri over pending court cases. But these were denounced as false by the judge's children, Jose Herrera and Consuelo Scerri Herrera. What was also not said that Joseph Borg had leased Tramps bar to her. She did not pay and he won a court case. Well, yesterday Schembri reported that the 75-year-old man had threatened her and offended her husband, the police opened the courts.

Well I will vouch for Joseph Borg. I know him to be an honest man.  It would be interesting to ask whether Rita Schembri's family has a link to Lorry Sant.

Consuelo Scerri Herrera should not have presided over this case.  She very well knew who Joseph Borg was and what it meant when he mentioned her father. What is also clear is that Inspector Chris Pullicino appeared overzealous.

For my sins I have stood by Consuelo when she was assaulted verbally by the puerile and frustrated bile queen. Not because I have a soft spot for Consuelo Scerri Herrera, far from it, but because the bile queen had no justification in regurgitating on her or anyone else just because someone was discussing a plate-throwing incident at a dinner party where the gracious Marxist from Toronto was eating away.

I thought some people had a conscience or principles.

Sending Malta's most worthy whistleblower to prison for allegations made by the one and only Rita Schembri is a shame on Consuelo Scerri Herrera and John Rizzo's police force.