Bonġu News on 22 July 2022

Abela pledges to continue interventions

Prime Minister Robert Abela said the government will continue its interventions to protect people’s livelihoods.

The government’s decisions were the reason that the Maltese could enjoy serenity and tranquillity this summer.

Abela particularly pointed to the consumer prices for energy and fuel, which had not increased for 111 weeks.

He said Malta now had the lowest unemployment rate ever with just 920 looking for a job.

Air Malta employees feel ‘betrayed’

Air Malta staff said they felt betrayed as the government is now trying to avoid their transfer to promised government jobs.

Nearly 600 Air Malta employees signed up for the Voluntary Employment Transfer Scheme ahead of the election.

It promised them government jobs for life whilst retaining their current financial package.

The Shift reported airline workers are now being offered golden handshakes ranging from €40,000 to €145,000.

Economy Minister Clyde Caruna is said to have threatened to close Air Malta if the General Workers Union gave in to pressure to strike.

President’s office yet to sign IVF reform

President George Vella has not yet signed amendments to the IVF law which allow genetic testing on embryos.

Sources told the Times of Malta that the delay is starting to make members of the government anxious.

Vella is understood to be uncomfortable with the reform which could be signed by his stand-in while he is abroad in August.

The government appointed university pro-rector Frank Bezzina as acting president last month.

This was seen as a move to ensure the president’s office would sign off on the law.

AG ‘mistake’: independent inquiry set up

The government has set up an independent inquiry into the acquittal of Yorgen Fenech’s lawyers charged with bribery.

Sources told the Times of Malta that former chief justice Joseph Azzopardi has been appointed to investigate.

Gianluca Caruana Curran and Charles Mercieca had been charged with attempting to bribe a Times of Malta journalist.

Because of a ‘mistake’ of the Attorney General’s office, court had to clear the lawyers of the charges in June.

Although the lawyers were charged with active bribery, the AG’s referral note indicated the wrong provision of the law.

The Nationalist Party has criticised the government for not calling on Victoria Buttigieg to resign from attorney general.

PN justice spokesperson Karol Aquilina said the inquiry’s purpose was only to retain the attorney general in her post.

Weather

Sunny and hot with temperatures up to 34°C that feel like 37°C.