Persons of Interest

NormanGate ‘exploded’ in the late part of this weekend giving us something to chew on on what would otherwise be a dreary (and very windy) Monday morning. We heard that the extremely irritating (that is admittedly a subjective judgement) ex-anchor on Where’s Everybody shows was held and questioned by the police. After a series of confusing reports we finally got an official reason for his detention : “investigations are under way into the alleged breach of airport security regulations by an immigration officer who photographed a passenger in a restricted area for which the police are responsible. Also, Norman Vella was first told that he would be suspended from his job as an immigration officer but he was later  told that he could report for work this morning.

As with all stories of this kind that unravel over the internet it is hard to pick a set of facts that are certain. It would help to list the facts and quasi-facts as a sort of aide-memoire:

1. Facts 

• Norman Vella was held and questioned by the police for four hours.
• Norman Vella’s mobile phone and tablet were confiscated.
• A group of ex-One TV/Radio employees were passing through customs at the time of the events.
• Running Commentary had uploaded posts mentioning the abovementioned trip WITHOUT posting any photos.
• Norman Vella is employed as an Immigration Officer at MIA.

2. Statements made by involved parties

• The detention was made following a report filed by two persons (NV mentions this in interview).
• No photos were sent to Daphne Caruana Galizia (DCG expressly states this and challenged TOM reporter Kurt Sansone).
• No photos were found on the confiscated equipment (NV mentions this).
• Kurt Farrugia and Ramona Attard claim not to have known of the events (interviewed upon their arrival in the UK).

So we may be dealing with a situation of an Immigration Officer who has violated the rules of his workplace and insofar as that point is concerned there would be no problem if his superiors take the necessary precautions that are proportional to the violation he committed. In truth if there indeed was a report that an Immigration officer has broken any rules of the workplace you would expect an internal investigation, a report and a proportionate punishment should the allegation be proven right.

Once you remove the shackles of partisan subjectivity from before your eyes though it would not be such a tough logical process to notice that there is much that is amiss in the treatment of the obnoxious (anything but erstwhile) ex-TVHEMM presenter. To begin with the frenzy of activity was worked up at the same time (or shortly after) Daphne Caruana Galizia posted two or three posts about the large government delegation of communication officers (or whatever Taghna Lkoll jargon is trendy nowadays) en route to some BBC training in London. The subject matter was and remains very pertinent. Here are ex-party propaganda machine employees now on a government payroll on their way to a conference in London – all expenses paid.

Is it relevant to the public? It’s as relevant as anything related to government or party salaries. This blog has often dealt with the issue of party financing and very recently dealt with the issue of how Labour’s finances were “saved” by the large exodus of employees towards the government payroll. Kurt Farrugia and Ramona Attard do not pass through passport control as private citizens but rather as government employees. Whether their presence was sighted and reported while having their luggage checked or while they were shopping at the duty free section is irrelevant.

Now my gut tells me never to trust Norman Vella. His demeanor when interviewed speaks volumes and his “innocent victim face” ensconced in a short-sleeved shirt two sizes too large was not exactly convincing. Still, there is not much where to get lost this time round. He mentions having nodded (sellem) in the direction of Kurt and Ramona (they are after all ex-colleagues of sorts). It is important since Kurt and Ramona would have been aware of his presence and I am sure that if shortly after they were catching up on the activity on the net – particularly on what they probably refer to as “il-blogg tas-sahhara” they must have made the wrong sort of one plus one.

It is an assumption I know but Occam’s razor, Dr House and Sherlock Holmes would probably agree to this version of events. The “report”, the fact that one of the communication officers works for the Minister under whose remit the police work and the sudden concatenation of news that included the red herring of “photos taken in the immigration area” can only point in one direction.

And this is the dirty part. We have developed what in the US of A is called a “person of interest“. The cool thing that you learn about a “person of interest” in Hollywood criminal series is that law enforcement agencies can opt to classify a person as such rather than as a “suspect” because it gives them more leeway in dealing with him. Less habeas corpus and the like. In our case we still have not got a hard and fast definition or use of “persons of interest” but Norman Vella just got that treatment.

Within minutes of a report that alleged that he snapped some shots at his workplace he was detained and interrogated for four hours. Really? Four? How many times can you ask the question – “did you take a photo ?”. What kind of phone and tablet does Vella have anyway? Is his photo gallery encrypted? Are his email attachments rerouted through Ed Snowden’s servers? And somehow I get the feeling that Daphne Caruana Galizia cannot afford to lie on this one – she did not receive any photos from Vella.

So what are we left with? We are left with intimidation tactics and abuse of police power all of which are intended to protect “inner circle” employees of the Taghna Lkoll generation. Beautiful. Kurt Farrugia and Ramona (use me as you will) Attard. If Vella took no photos then the only hope that some kind of excuse for disciplinary action could be taken fizzles up in smoke.

You’d have to have swallowed a huge amount of Taghna Lkoll pills in order to justify this charade.

In un paese pieno di coglioni ci mancano le palle.