Michel Rizzo, who is the Managing Director of Allied Newspapers, the media house which publishes The Times of Malta, The Sunday Times of Malta and timesofmalta.com, chose not to respond to questions sent to him by newspaper ‘Il-Mument’ seeking to establish the relationship he holds with disgraced former Allied director Adrian Hillman (his predecessor) as well as Keith Schembri, the Prime Minister’s Chief of Staff, who was exposed for having secretive companies in Panama.
Keith Schembri, who is the owner of the Kasco Group of Companies, is owed a huge sums of money by Allied Newspapers for considerable volumes of paper, which the company buys to print The Times of Malta as well as other Maltese newspapers using its services.
We are aware that Keith Schembri had a very close relationship with The Times when he was owed hundreds of thousands of Euros from the same company.
Harsh attacks against the Gonzi administration.
During the time when Adriam Hillman ran Allied Newspapers, The Times of Malta as well as The Sunday Times of Malta unscrupulously attacked the Gonzi administration. Amongst many of the criticisms led by The Times against the Government of the time, prior to the 2013 election, there were a number of articles regarding the public transport consession – Arriva, as well as the then Minister for Transport Austin Gatt. The Times also systematically suggested that the Gonzi administration was rife with internal quables. A repeat of the same strategy can be seen unfolding today.
What is the current relationship between Allied Newspapers and Keith Schembri?
We asked Michel Rizzo, now Managing Director and Adrian Hillman’s successor, about Hillman’s relationship with Keith Schembri when he was still Managing Director and was exposed for having secret companies outside Malta and which were directly linked to Keith Schembri, the Prime Minister’s Chief of Staff. We asked these questions since Keith Schembri was also exposed for having secret companies in Panama, which is where he planed to receive millions of Euros from 17Black, the company we now know is owened by Yorgen Fenech, a shareholder in the Electrogas Powerstation, a company which was awarded the biggest Government contract in history when Keith Schembri had already taken on his role of Chief of Staff at Castille.
We also asked Michel Rizzo, if he had any discussions with Hillman regarding Keith Schembri’s business and when he last made contact with Adrian Hillman from when he resigned from Allied Newspapers. We also asked him to explain the nature of his correspondence with Hillman, if any occured.
In what remained unanswered questions, we also asked Rizzo whether he informed the Board of Directors of Allied Newspapers and Progress Press about his correspondence with Adrian Hillman.
How much money is Keith Schembri owed from The Times?
In the name of transparency, accountability and good governance, which The Times writes about so regularly in a number of Editorials, we asked how much debt The Times, Allied Newspapers and Progress Press have with Keith Schembri and/or companies of which he is a beneficiary.
We asked Rizzo why the company he is running owes money directly to Keith Schembri and/or companies of which he is a beneficiary.
Allied Newspapers had to sell its iconic building in Valletta, once a symbol of democracy
We asked Rizzo to confirm or deny whether it is true that the company’s finances are so precarious that they were forced to sell Strickland House in Valletta, an iconic and symbolic building in the country’s fight for democracy.
We also asked Mr Rizzo to confirm how much of the money from the sale of the building will be allocated to debt owed to Keith Schembri and/or companies of which he is a beneficiary.
The Times is printed on paper imported by Kasco
Amongst the questions that Michel Rizzo chose not to reply to, we also asked him to explain why The Times of Malta is still being printed on paper purchased from companies owed by Keith Schembri after he was exposed in the Panama Papers scandal.
Allied Newspapers do not want to publish the inquiry regarding Hillman
In the meantime, the outcome of the internal investigation conducted by Judge Giovanni Bonello is still not known and whether or not it was established that The Times of Malta is also implicated along with Adrian Hillman. Hillman has always denied these allegations but the report was never published.
We also asked Michel Rizzo if this report, which The Times does not want to make public, was given to the Police and/or a Magistrate who is leading an inquiry related to the Panama Papers, Keith Schembri, Konrad Mizzi, Yorgen Fenech and Adrian Hillman, but this question also remained unanswered.
To avoid the possibility of any doubt, after Il-Mument sent these questions, we also phoned The Times to inform them about the email. In a short reply Mr Rizzo informed us that ““As a private company, it is contrary to our policy to discuss matters of a commercial or internal nature.”
