Saviour Balzan did not reply to my questions about whether it is true or not that he chatted with Yorgen Fenech.

Some days ago, Andre Delicata wrote an article about the relationship between Keith Schembri and Saviour Balzan. In this article, Delicata reminds Saviour Balzan that on the day Daphne Caruana Galizia broke the Egrant story, Keith Schembri called Balzan at 1 a.m. Delicata adds that Schembri was even prepared to testify that he did not. In Delicata’s opinion, this close relationship between Saviour Balzan and Keith Schembri is a reason why a free press is lacking in Malta because Keith Schembri’s name is being mentioned in connection with Daphne’s murder.

However, there is more to this story than what appears on the surface. It is an open secret that The Times journalists have copies of the chats of Yorgen Fenech on which there is a court ban. A copy of these same chats is in the hands of Mark Camilleri. This site is in a position to state that the person who gave these chats to The Times is the same individual that gave them to Mark Camilleri.

In the meantime, this site has received information that there was a late-night phone call by Mark Camilleri to the editor of Malta Today. I am told that Camilleri made this phone call after he published extracts from the famous chats.

On my part, I have written to Saviour Balzan to ask him whether it is true or not that Mark Camilleri made this late-night call to the editor of Malta Today, Matthew Vella. I also asked him if it was true that after this call, Balzan lodged a report with the police, and if this was so, why?

Nevertheless, there is more to this story than just a simple call. I asked Balzan whether this call had to do with the chats of Yorgen Fenech and whether it is true that there are chats by Saviour Balzan to Yorgen Fenech which the press has all the interest not to be published. I sent these questions via messenger on Friday and I have not yet had any reply from Saviour Balzan. This is the reason why I am repeating these questions in this blog.

What is worrying here is that the mainstream media want to have chats concerning the life of private individuals published, but then they bury chats if they concern journalists. I am sure The Times journalists, notably the editor, Herman Grech, know about these chats. So why does he not publish them? He is in awe of Mark Camilleri for breaking the court ban and published chats concerning Rosianne Cutajar! I do not think that he is afraid of our courts. I am sure that had The Times released other chats, nothing would have happened as The Allied Newspapers remains a sacred cow protected by certain members of the judiciary.

Last Sunday, Mark Camilleri wrote a blog full of praise for Saviour Balzan, describing him as an asset to Malta’s press. Mark Camilleri presented this blog as a quick reply to Saviour Balzan on what he had written about the state of the local media and to express his disagreement with why Malta does not deserve to rank low on the World Press Freedom Index. In other words, Balzan and Camilleri reacted to the same report that propelled Delicata to pen his article. At least, on this point, Andre Delicata disagrees with Mark Camilleri, regarding Saviour Balzan. Today, Mark Camilleri is posing himself as the reincarnation of Daphne Caruana Galizia and the defence advocate of Daphne’s family. Tempora mutantur, nos et mutamur in illis.