Earlier this week, asked by Times of Malta journalist Jacob Borg during a press conference, the Prime Minister did not deny that he met with a fuel smuggler at the Labour Party’s headquarters in Ħamrun. It has now transpired that the fuel smuggler that the Prime Minister met is Gordon Debono.
Gordon Debono is not to be confused with Darren Debono, who used to be rivals. In addition, Gordon Debono has a pending Court case over money-laundering and his assets were seized. He used to be one of the many Maltese fuel smugglers in the Libyan Civil War, but as far as I know he is no longer involved in fuel smuggling and has long retired.
Illicit oil trade between Maltese shippers and Libya is still ongoing mainly pertaining with the Khalfia Haftar regime of eastern Libya and this activity has been recorded by multiple United Nations Security Council reports. Khalfia Haftar’s regime is involved in illegal oil sales that sustain his regime and oil sales by his regime are sanctioned by the United Nations Security Council.
The fuel smuggling by Maltese smugglers during the Libyan Civil War was entirely different. One of Darren Debono’s smuggling boats was spotted recently during heightened illegal activity in Hurd’s Bank.
Fuel smuggling in Malta is also taking a different and much more foreign and larger dimension due to the Russian shadow fleet and sanctions on Russian oil.
To avoid confusion, the fuel smuggler that the Prime Minister is accusing to have met Nationalist Party Leader Alex Borg is an altogether different person. Although Gordon Debono’s smuggling activities were noticeable and significant, they were by far “the biggest fuel smuggling activities in Malta”. He’s a very small player and he neither has any weight in the industry to be making any proposals in relation to the industry, so my guess is that he met the Prime Minister for a personal favour. He has traditionally been a Labour Party supporter.
Alex Borg denied that he met a fuel smuggler.
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