Murder on the Malta Express
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Four: The Hillman affair, in which Mr Schembri was allegedly involved in money laundering with Adrian Hillman, then managing director of Allied Newspapers. The police failed to act, despite an FIAU report, and a magisterial inquiry is still ongoing after two years.
Five: The ‘golden passports’ affair, in which Mr Schembri received €100,000 from his long-standing associate Brian Tonna, owner of accountancy firm Nexia BT, an agent for ‘golden passports’ applicants. The FIAU found that Mr Tonna had received this money from three applicants for golden passports. The police have declined to investigate and a magisterial inquiry is still ongoing after two years.
Six: The Vitals Global Healthcare (VGH) affair, in which the health minister, Dr Konrad Mizzi, awarded a major hospitals contract to a consortium with no prior experience in the field and to which the government had allegedly promised the contract before the bidding process began. VGH may have received as much as €150 million from the government, yet made negligible progress with promised investments in the hospitals, before being sold to a US healthcare company. The auditor general is currently investigating this affair.
Seven: The fact that Mr Tonna and his firm Nexia BT, who played key roles in the Panama Papers, Electrogas, Egrant, Hillman, and ‘golden passports’ affairs, both received numerous lucrative government contracts, including after Mr Tonna came under investigation. The accountancy board has declined to take disciplinary action against them.
Eight: The role of Pilatus Bank, which was rapidly licensed by the Maltese Financial Services Authority (MFSA), leading to significant concerns on the part of the European Banking Authority; whose clients included mainly ‘politically exposed persons’, including Mr Schembri and companies owned by the daughters of the president of Azerbaijan; whose owner was connected to the prime minister and Mr Schembri, and was arrested by the US authorities and charged with violating sanctions against Iran; and which was subsequently closed by the MFSA and the European Central Bank.
Omtzigt concludes: The rule of law in Malta is seriously undermined by the extreme weakness of its system of checks and balances … If Malta cannot or will not correct its weaknesses, European institutions must intervene.
The Council of Europe report is no less disapproving of the investigation into Daphne’s assassination. Omtzigt notes ‘the weaknesses of the rule of law in general and the criminal justice system in particular are also directly relevant to its analysis of the authorities’ response to the assassination of Daphne Caruana Galizia … No one has been arrested for ordering the assassination. A magisterial inquiry is still ongoing, with no news on its progress.’
The rapporteur identified 10 serious concerns over the investigations into the murder.
One: The need to recuse a series of magistrates from various roles because of conflicts of interest
Two: The need to remove the investigating police officer because of a conflict of interest
Three: The prime minister’s removal of the inquiring magistrate after months of work
Four: The failure of the authorities to request possible evidence from the German police
Five: The failure of the police to interrogate economy minister Chris Cardona, despite claims that he had had contacts with the suspects
Six: The allegation that a police officer warned the suspects before they were arrested
Seven: False claims by the interior minister about progress in the investigation
Eight: Inflammatory and misleading statements by persons close to the prime minister
Nine: The possibility that the Maltese security service may have had prior intelligence about the murder plot
Ten: The director of Europol’s complaint about co-operation with the Maltese police on the case.
Omtzigt calls on Malta to comply with a deadline set by the parliamentary assembly of the Council of Europe to launch a public inquiry not later than 26 September 2019. At the time of writing, 10 days before the expiry of this deadline, the government of Malta has not yet done so.
The report condemns Malta’s culture of impunity. Omtzigt has sharp words for prime minister Joseph Muscat’s advisers, including John Dalli. Dalli writes a letter, attacking Omtzigt’s report. Here are some of the choicer cuts from Omtzigt’s reply which starts with a reference to Dalli’s exit from the EU Commission and the smokeless cigarette scandal.
In these circumstances, I feel that my use of the word ‘disgraced’, whilst succinct as a description of your situation, was well within the bounds of fair comment.
… you mention my report’s reference to your Pilatus Bank account. I note that you do not deny the truth of this statement but rather assume that it was included at the request of the anonymous alleged ‘prompter’, with the aim of implying certain connotations. In this case, not only are you imagining the existence of a ‘prompter’, you are also reading more into the text than it was intended to convey. Since you mention these possible connotations, however, I would agree that it seems peculiar for a person in your position to engage with a bank such as Pilatus, whose business model and operations have since been exposed as highly dubious to say the least, entrusting it with the not insignificant sum of €1000 merely in order to ‘see what services they offer’, when a simple enquiry would surely have provided the same information for free.
In light of the foregoing, I consider that I have nothing for which to apologise to you. I am, however, prepared to overlook for now the accusations and insults against me in your published letter.
16 July 2019. The constitutional court rules in favour of Daphne Caruana Galizia’s family and finds a breach of their right to freedom of expression.
The family hung a banner against their property in Valletta in April 2017, six months after Daphne’s death, with the questions:
Why aren’t Keith Schembri and Konrad Mizzi in prison, Police Commissioner?
Why isn’t your wife being investigated by the Police, Joseph Muscat?
Who paid for Daphne Caruana Galizia to be blown up after she asked these questions?
It was taken down by planning enforcement officers within hours.
Two weeks later, Daphne’s family put up another poster. ‘This is our second banner. Our first got stolen.’ It went the way of the first.
The court ordered the planning authority to compensate the family for suppressing their right to freedom of speech.
Other protest banners or posters get the similar treatment.
In the wake of the Oscar-winning film Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, #occupyjustice activists hire three billboards from a private contractor in February 2018. Their billboards read:
No Resignations. No Justice
A Country Robbed. No Justice
A Journalist Killed. No Justice.
No sooner were they put up, then planning enforcement officers were taking them down, and fining the contractor for erecting illegal structures, despite the fact that the billboards used existing infrastructure.
It was a case of using a minor administrative law to crush the higher fundamental right to freedom of expression.
23 July 2019.Adrian Delia demands to see a full copy of the Egrant inquiry report, all 1,500 pages of it. After all, the attorney general had provided the prime minister with a copy, so why not the leader of the opposition as well? When the AG refuses, Adrian Delia sues and his lawyers push the AG, Peter Grech, to list the recipients of the full inquiry report.
The list is short but telling. Peter Grech says he felt Joseph Muscat should get a copy of the inquiry report because after all it was about him and he had requested the inquiry in the first place. He also gave a copy to the justice minister. Why? In administrative matters, the minister may well be seen as the AG’s boss. But Malta’s constitution clearly states that in criminal matters the AG reports to no one. Especially not to a government minister.
Peter Grech explains that the justice minister, Owen Bonnici, had requested a copy in his capacity as personal legal adviser to Joseph
Muscat and he could only assume he was acting on his client’s instructions.
The court turns down Adrian Delia’s request.
9 September 2019. The second anniversary of Daphne’s death is upon us. At the time of writing, the Maltese authorities have yet to set a date for the trial of Alfred and George Degiorgio and Vincent Muscat.
The Maltese authorities have yet to open a public and independent inquiry into the killing of Daphne Caruana Galizia.
The Maltese authorities have yet to apprehend the masterminds.
The Maltese authorities have yet to investigate John Dalli, Konrad Mizzi, Chris Cardona, Keith Schembri, Brian Tonna, Adrian Delia, and others whose misdeeds were revealed by Daphne Caruana Galizia.
The Maltese authorities have yet to prosecute anyone on the back of the evidence unearthed by the Panama Papers.
The Maltese authorities were forced to close Pilatus Bank under pressure from the European Central Bank. But they have yet to take any criminal action in relation to Pilatus Bank for money laundering.
The international arrest warrant against Maria Efimova is still in place. She remains under the protection of the Greek authorities.
The attorney general, Peter Grech, and the chief of police, Lawrence Cutajar are still in office.
Keith Schembri is still the prime minister’s chief of staff.
Konrad Mizzi is still a senior cabinet minister and is pitching to succeed Joseph Muscat as party leader and prime minister.
The magisterial inquiry into the assassination of Daphne Caruana Galizia is still open.
MALTA’S SHAME
Two days before Daphne Caruana Galizia was assassinated, prime minister Joseph Muscat was at a small shindig celebrating 30 years of a manufacturing company at the Meridien Hotel. Economy minister Chris Cardona was present and there is a photo of Muscat twinkling at the audience. Muscat is a politician to his fingertips, seriously good at the small change of politics: the easy smile, meeting and greeting, pressing the flesh. The Shift News team, led by reporter and founder Caroline Muscat (no relation), broke the story of what happened next.
The prime minister fainted.
There is, of course, no suggestion that the prime minister had prior knowledge of what was going to happen to his archenemy within 48 hours.
In January 2018, co-author John Sweeney, then working for BBC Newsnight, interviewed Muscat. It was the last time Muscat would give a major interview to a member of the international media, as at September 2019.
The interview took place inside the prime minister’s office, a magnificent palazzo called Auberge de Castille overlooking the Grand Harbour. It was originally built to house the Knights of the Order of St John in the 1570s. The present building is a Baroque pearl, dating back to the 1740s. Inside, hushed courtiers and minions move hither and yon behind gloomy curtains. The furniture is spindly and French, elegant once, but now with a touch of woodworm.
After the camera team had set up, Muscat entered the room. He’s a small, compact man, elegantly dressed, smooth, smiling frequently, a little too smiley perhaps, as if there might be something wrong within. He sat down, smiled, and battle commenced.
Where was the PM when he heard of Daphne Caruana Galizia’s assassination?
Right in this office. The security services informed me that there was a bomb. First information I got that it was in the town where I lived and then it got corrected to the town where Daphne Caruana Galizia lived which is basically next door. And then within minutes I got an unofficial confirmation that it was probably her car.
What had been the effect of the assassination on Malta’s standing in the world?
Well I think it’s been very bad. I think it’s the worst nightmare I ever had coming through having such a horrific act taking place under my watch. So I feel the responsibility for it. Given our judicial system I really cannot comment on what’s taking place since then but I am comforted that our security services have put forward and have prosecuted people who have allegedly made this bomb. What I want to see is that justice is done fully. So I know that there are people who will ask whether it was them who planned the whole thing, who were the commissioners of the whole thing or that they were just the executive arm of this whole plot …
What was the effect of her assassination on his own standing?
Well, bad. Definitely because that’s not something that any prime minister would want. She was a very fierce critic of many people. I might have been the top of that list and this doesn’t look good on me. I’m very realistic on this …
Daphne’s fiercest criticisms were that the Panama Papers revealed that two of his closest political associates, his chief of staff Keith Schembri and minister Konrad Mizzi had opened shell companies in Panama. When that came out, what did he do?
Well I removed a minister from his post as deputy leader of my party. I removed his portfolio, put him directly under my supervision, and then there were elections in which these people, the minister went to the people and I went to the people with my judgment and the people judged us on this.
So Konrad Mizzi is still in government?
Well he has a different portfolio now but I think that people judged both what he did and what I did. I have gone on record saying that I think that, they, it was a misjudgment from their side to do those things. They came up with, they explained their reasoning. Mr Schembri is a businessman who gave up his positions in business to enter politics on the executive arm. He gave his reasons for opening companies, he had companies before entering politics. Mr Mizzi gave his reasons too. I said that it was lack of good judgment. I made my decisions on their regard. And then people made their decisions on me.
Why is it OK for these two guys who are still in government to have opened secretive companies on the far side …
(interrupting) I’m not saying it’s okay and I’m not here to give their version of facts. I’m here just to say that they gave a very open account of what they did. They subjected themselves to open audits. They published those audits. Mr. Schembri, my chief of staff, was in business and had companies before entering politics. They gave their answers and people judged us on those answers. I said that’s something I wouldn’t have done. [Daphne] also said that my wife or myself had such companies something which is totally false and I went to the judiciary. I asked for those allegations against me, against my wife to be investigated and I said quite clearly and I stand by my word that, if there is even a whiff of evidence on what Mrs Caruana Galizia had said in my regard, I would resign on the spot. And I still, I still, I will keep my word. That’s something that would be unacceptable.
Daphne Caruana Galizia had many enemies. You’d expect the police to interview them, wouldn’t you? Have the police interviewed your wife?
(taken aback) I am not … well, I don’t know what the police have done. I know that my wife wasn’t called in because she’s my wife. I am pretty sure that the security services know what they’re doing. We’re not intruding in all this for sure. What I can tell you is that we’re not that sort of people and what I can tell you is that this goes beyond politics. Besides her family, I think if there is one person that has suffered from this assassination, it’s us. Just because this long shadow has been cast on us.
Sorry, one person is us? That doesn’t make sense.
Me and my wife, well, two people. It has cast a long shadow on us when we have nothing to do with all these things and you know yes she made allegations on my wife, on me, on my family. [Daphne] hasn’t produced one shred of evidence on this. She had all the time and I am informed that, before the assassination took place, she went to testify in front of the inquiring magistrate on the case relating to me on an inquiry that I called myself through the independent, an independent magistrate, so she said what she had to do and I await with trepidation the day in which the results of this investigation comes out which I am sure will prove that there was nothing in all this. I think Mrs Daphne Caruana Galizia, you couldn’t box her really in one typ
e of journalism. On the one hand she produced some cutting-edge world-class pieces of journalism where she uncovered things both locally and on all sides of the political spectrum and also internationally. On the other hand, some parts of her blog were purely gossip, were purely unsubstantiated stories that she put forward and which I think no other journalist would put forward without evidence. So in the case of what she said about me, that’s one of the latter.
Have the police interviewed you?
No they haven’t.
Have the police interviewed your wife?
No, they haven’t and I know …
So how good an investigation is that? Because there was evidence, she said, she had a whistleblower inside Pilatus Bank and this whistleblower said that your wife had a shell company.
OK. I think I think we’re now confusing things. I submitted myself and my wife submitted herself to answering questions by the investigating magistrate on the allegations you have mentioned. We have been subjected to a long interrogation. We went there quite some time ago. We produced all the evidence that was asked by us. We answered all the questions. We went into the interrogation separately without the help of any lawyer and we have not availed ourselves to the right of not answering. We have fully collaborated, both of us.
No lawyer?
No lawyer because we have absolutely nothing to hide. That we have done fully. Where the police have not called us in is in interrogating us on the assassination of Mrs Caruana Galizia. So if you’re referring on whether we were interrogated on the claims that she made, yes, because we subjected ourselves and I myself asked for that investigation. On the latter, no…
But while you are being investigated and while members of the government are being investigated, they’re still in power, they’re still in office?