Mark Camilleri qabbiżielhom. U qabbiżielhom ta’ veru!

Din id-darba mhux se jkunu huma li jitkellmu, iżda ta’ Repubblika, Occupy Justice u The Shift News issa ħallew f’idejn l-attivist Julian Delia biex jiftaħ il-kanuni kontra l-ipokrita Mark Camileri li ntalab jagħti ġustifikazzjoni għall-kuntratt ta’ €25,000 li nnegożja mal-Kunsill tal-Arti, u b’hekk ġabu jiekol mill-istess idejn li tant jitkaża bihom!

Fi ftit kliem beżquh, u beżquħ il-bogħod l-aktar il-bogħod li jistgħu, u Vammilleri bħal l-iblaħ joqgħod jeqred li ‘ħajtu f’periklu!’

Julian Delia, kiteb b’mod estensiv u saħansitra ppubblika t-traskrizzjoni kollha tal-messaġġi li biddel ma’ Mark xamilleri.

Se tarw x’ikun għaddej mill-moħħ megalomaniku ta’ Mark Camilleri, il-psiko terrorista li kulma jara biss hu flus, flus, flus u flus.

U mbghad, kollox, jien, jien, jien u jien.

Insomma, aqraw ftit l-istat ta’ kif jirraġuna l-psiko terrorist Mark Cammileri quddiem il-mistoqsijiet ta’ Julian Delia, li jammettilu: ‘M’għadnix nistmak daqs qabel!’

IT-TRASKRIZZJONI TAL-KONVERSAZZJONI BIL-MESSAĠĠI BEJN JULIAN DELIA U MARK CAMILLERI

JD: Hi Mark – I’m trying to understand this ongoing tussle with MaltaToday and, to be honest with you, I am not so convinced by your argument.

For starters, I find it funny that, of all people, Labour Party supporters are angry because someone they don’t like was awarded a direct order…but, the fact that you liberally admit to negotiating directly with the government is not something I like and it reduces the level of respect I have for your operations.

If this wasn’t a manifestly corrupt government I would accept the notion that state funding can be beneficial to the press. In Malta’s case, however, especially considering that you yourself wrote a lot about this subject, such funding is used like a carrot on a stick for those who are willing to negotiate behind closed doors. I feel like you’re preaching one thing and then doing another.

In relation to that specific point of criticism, I feel like Saviour Balzan was right (though again, he certainly has no high horse to ride, either).

It’s true that you’re saying that the Arts Council (correction: this should have referred to the National Book Council) discriminated against you because you were denied access to public funds, and it’s good that you took them to court and you were vindicated by that court.

But at the end of the day, everybody knows the Arts Council is a fiefdom run by Albert Marshall. You yourself as a high-profile whistleblower about government activities should know better than anyone else that these kind of contracts do come with strings attached.

So, I guess my question for you is – and I may quote you on this because I am considering writing up a commentary piece about this – is this:

How do you reconcile your writing about bad public procurement practices (like for example awarding direct orders above the €10,000 limit and with direct negotiation with OPM) with the fact that you were awarded a contract in this exact same manner?

Mark Camilleri wieġeb:

MC: “What I can tell you is that I am currently being systematically targeted in a very serious manner and that even my family is at risk. I expect my colleagues to show solidarity but some have abused the situation to advance their agenda and make themselves look good. Everyone has a right to do what they want. I am saying this on a personal level, not as an answer to your questions. I don’t have an answer for what you asked because I’d rather respond to whoever is showing solidarity with me.”

Julian Delia jirrispondih…

JD: Mark, let me be very explicit because that’s just how I am – I am speaking to you in good faith because I think you’re just trying to survive like everybody else. I, for one, understand that you are an underdog.

I don’t even intend to speak to Saviour Balzan because I know what kind of person he is – he can send a Right of Reply if he wants. Most of all, I’d like to report on this because I think that there is a massive split in the Labour Party, and the reaction to this proves it.

But, to write about that, I need to be informed, and I need your comment.

U hawnhekk jerġa jwieġeb Mark Camilleri…

MC: “What do you want to know exactly? You have an error in your question – my case was against the Book Council, though I did have the same kinds of problems with the Arts Council too.

I’ve been systematically discriminated against. I fought back against that in court. I’ve been talking to the Arts Council for a year, about artistic matters and the things they do, and I criticised them a lot as well.”

Jerġa Julian Delia

JD: I just want an answer to the question I asked – how do you reconcile your commentary about bad public procurement practices while benefiting from these practices yourself? Why are you looking for public funding from a government that uses public funding to control the press?

U jerġa’ Mark Camilleri…

MC: “I know Albert Marshall because I was an executive like him. Your question is a rhetorical comment. I don’t write a lot about procurement, that’s more The Shift’s area.

I used to give a lot of direct orders as an executive. When it comes to such consultancies, it is usually done through a direct order if the service being provided is something very specific.

In this case, there was a particular job to be done which I happen to know how to do, so it worked out well in that sense. It would be stupid to issue a tender if you want something specific and technical and then give it to the lowest bidder, because you’ll only attract trash.

If this went out as a public tender, people like me wouldn’t have bothered applying. It would have been more expensive for them if they gave this to job a company like PWC or something like that.

I still won’t be voting for Labour, and nothing will change from my end. Obviously, it does happen that loads of direct orders are given to people who don’t deserve them, so there is a lot of discrimination – that’s why I went to court.”

Qed taqbiżlu lil Julian Delia…

JD: Okay, thank you for presenting your perspective to me. Two more questions – who were you negotiating with for this contract? Because everybody’s saying different things about that.

Regarding the direct order itself, so am I understanding you correctly – you’re defending this by saying that direct orders aren’t necessarily bad if they are used correctly and that, for the sake of this specific and technical report, it would have been impractical to issue a tender?

That, and the claim that you will not alter your reporting as a result of this contract?

Mark Camilleri qed isir nervuż…

MC: “Yes to all of your questions. I always spoke to the Arts Council directly, and these conversations have been going on for a year. And when I say ‘spoke’ to them, I mean fighting them and threatening them with my lawyer.

There are good people within government who want this discrimination against me to stop, there clearly are people who want to stop me from taking the government to court about these things and for these entities to function as they are supposed to.

Then there are others who wish to harm me, and when I won that court case, things started opening up.”

Julian Delia qed jgħejja

JD: Okay, but none of this is actually reassuring Mark, not when this agreement itself is a result of these unnamed “good people” who are fighting against these unnamed “others” who you claim wish to cause you harm.

If you are so convinced that everything is in order and that this contract effectively serves as a vindication of the discrimination you were already claiming in court,  why weren’t you more transparent about all this?

Why aren’t you mentioning names clearly? Why didn’t you publish this agreement? Because like this, there will always be doubts about you and how you acquired this contract.

Mark Camilleri issa jibda jibgħat il-voice mails…

MC: (a four minute voice message):

“I’m sending a (voice) message to cut this short, because I need to start writing. Whoever in government wants to help me by stopping this discrimination against me, obviously has an interest in winning me over and bringing me back into the party’s fold.

That doesn’t mean that these people are trying to buy me off. These people want these things to be done well while ensuring that I have a good relationship with cultural entities. Through a normalisation of this situation, they hope to bring me back in.

Obviously, there is no obligation, because these are good people, not the bad ones. These people try to do things right and it doesn’t make a difference to them whether you end up joining the party or not.

Obviously, they would be happy to rope me back in and secure my support for the party. They will always have that interest, obviously. Now it’s up to you…I won’t start voting Labour just because I was awarded this contract.

Obviously, there will be those who don’t want to build good relationships, those who want to discriminate by telling you ‘you’re not Labour, so we don’t want to work with you.’ There’s a lot of people who do that, which is wrong.

As you can see, their mentality is to dish out contracts to ‘their’ people so they can provide for them, there’s no sense of meritocracy. There are good people within government who do have a sense for it, who want things to be better but still have an interest in the party and want the party to do well.

That’s not abnormal. There are all sorts of people – there’s a lot of bad people in government, though there are good ones too. If that wasn’t the case, I wouldn’t have been able to obtain this contract. I would still be fighting in court instead.

I needed to file that case to get here. Just claiming that you were discriminated against doesn’t mean anything…a lot of people do that, everyone says they have a case. I actually fought for it in court so I could have evidence – so I could prove that claim.

There’s a lot more I can bring to court on this subject. That’s the situation, you will find all sorts of people in government. There are good people who want things to be done right, and though these people won’t attach any strings to the help they give, they would be pleased if they knew that their actions help bring someone closer to the party.

Then there are others who will attach conditions to such contracts, which usually means you need to support the party. Obviously, there are a lot of bad ones as well…”

Aktar voice mails mingħand Mark Camilleri. Din ta’ seba’ minuti sħaħ…

(another voice message, almost seven minutes long):

“We always disclosed any public funding we received. I knew what was going to happen, that’s why I didn’t disclose this contract. I knew that there would be someone from the government who would kick up a fuss about this. I let them do it so I could see how they would react, and in fact, they reacted badly and they are exposing their really bad frame of thinking about how these things should be.

Now, let me tell you another thing on a personal level, because you keep going on about how this is not reassuring and all this nonsense…there’s a lot of stories about this, but objectively, the biggest story is that I am being systematically attacked by Labour’s mob…

You’re focusing on this fucking €25,000 instead of focusing on my personal safety, which is pathetic, but you do whatever you want. Everyone has the right to do whatever they want. I am now telling you my personal perspective.

I am really disappointed that people like you, along with other journalists, instead of showing some sense of solidarity – in the same way I did with a lot of other people and entities throughout my entire career in the publishing industry, advocating for everyone – not one of you showed some solidarity.

Instead of people like you checking in with me and asking me about whether I’m okay and whether I’m safe, you’re all trying to see what critical piece you’re trying to publish to somehow cast me in a bad light, as if I did anything wrong with accepting a direct order to do my job after four fucking years of trying.

Do whatever you want, everyone has the right to do what they want. I am telling you how it feels and how I’m seeing it. I’m being systematically attacked and journalists and other publishing industry people are holding back and letting this happen instead of showing solidarity.

From my point of view, I am seeing more reasonable attitudes from people in government who gave me this contract than from people like you who want to find an element of criticism in what I am doing.

I’m being clear here. Write up all the criticism you want, scrutinise me as much as you want, as you should. But to grab this story about what I’m doing instead of talking about 2,000 people saying that they’ll remove my passport, that I can’t live and work in Malta – instead of writing about that perspective, you’re doing this.

I lose all respect for people like you. You do you…but you’re failing to see the bigger picture that there’s a section of society which does not want a dissident to remain active in that society…that’s almost a murder sentence.

I lose all interest in this…do what you want. If there is any sense of journalistic integrity, I’m not saying that my contract shouldn’t be scrutinised. But the real story here is that there’s 2,000 people who want to literally kill a dissident and a journalist.

If you’re not seeing this, if you fail to see the fact that I cannot conduct normal business without getting attacked like this, that’s your call, but I lost all respect for you. That’s not right, it’s not right, only I know what it’s like because I’m the only one who has these kinds of problems in this country.”

Jgħalaqlu Julian Delia

JD: Whether you respect me or not is your call, Mark, do whatever the fuck you want. What I can tell you is that you’re completely misreading me, especially in terms of what story angle I was looking at. Hope you have a good day, man.