Karl Stagno Navarra is at it again. Labour’s chief propagandist allegedly defrauded a maintenance worker of thousands of euros. Jean Pierre Schembri, a 47-year-old from Żebbuġ, sold Stagno Navarra a car. Stagno Navarra never paid Schembri, and, for months, he took Schembri for a ride, telling him to collect the money from various places but failing to turn up, according to Schembri’s lawyer.
For months, Schembri tried all legal means to get paid. He even filed a judicial letter through which he secured an executive title over the vehicle.
But the vehicle remained in Stagno Navarra’s possession and the money remained unpaid. Stagno Navarra claims he was paying Schembri in small sums of between €300 and €500 and that the car wasn’t in his possession.
Schembri is a maintenance worker with sole custody of his young daughter. He is raising the child single-handedly.
Stagno Navarra, on the other hand, is blessed with a multitude of lucrative Labour jobs. Stagno Navarra has been on ONE TV’s payroll for years for his programme Pjazza, on which he targets government critics.
He has been given cushy jobs at Malta Enterprise and, later, recruited by Konrad Mizzi to Air Malta on an annual salary reported to be around €90,000. When Air Malta went bust, he seamlessly transitioned to the Occupational Health and Safety Authority. He was asked what he does at OHSA. He arrogantly replied “nilgħab biċ-ċombini” (I play with lace bobbins). He’s rarely, if ever, been seen at the OHSA offices. Stagno Navarra also got multiple ‘consultancies’ at the Office of the Prime Minister and Transport Malta.
Schembri was desperate to get paid. After months of taking all the legal avenues, Schembri started contacting Stagno Navarra directly, demanding to be paid.
According to Schembri’s lawyer, Stagno Navarra threatened Schembri that if he didn’t stop pestering him for his money he would “have (the defendant’s) daughter placed in state care”.
On August 28, Stagno Navarra reported Schembri to the police for “harassing” him. He claimed he had received “insulting and threatening messages”. Remarkably, that same day the police called Schembri in for questioning.
The following day, Stagno Navarra again reported Schembri to the police. This time, he claimed Schembri had turned up at his home and tried to strangle him. The police immediately summoned Schembri and arrested him on the spot.
By August 30, Schembri was arraigned under arrest before Magistrate Giannella Camilleri Busuttil charged with harassment, intimidation, insult, criminal damage, assault resulting in slight injury and offences relating to the misuse of telecommunications equipment.
That’s just incredible. Within hours of Stagno Navarra’s report, Schembri was under arrest. Victims of domestic violence only dream of such swift police action. Some of them can’t even dream because they’ve been murdered while waiting for police protection. Bernice Cassar filed five reports against her estranged husband. Her lawyer pleaded with the police to “avoid tragedy” but the police never arrested the man who threatened to kill her – enabling him to fulfil that threat.
But Angelo Gafà’s police scrambled to protect Stagno Navarra with lightning speed. They drew up an impeccable charge sheet – with, incredibly, not a single error. The name was correct, the date was correct, the long list of charges was precise. That’s proof the police can get it right when they want to.
It wasn’t just the police scrambling to defend and protect Labour’s chief propagandist. So was the prosecution.
The prosecution demanded Schembri be remanded in custody for Stagno Navarra’s peace of mind. They didn’t flinch at the thought of imprisoning the sole carer of his minor daughter. The prosecution vociferously objected to the man’s request for bail because of the risk of “tampering with evidence”.
Schembri’s lawyer pleaded that the man would face consequences far worse than the offences he was charged with if jailed. Still the court gave in to the prosecution’s demands.
Karl Stagno Navarra also got multiple ‘consultancies’ at the Office of the Prime Minister and Transport Malta- Kevin Cassar
The man was sent straight to Corradino. “What am I going to do with my daughter,” Schembri cried. Stagno Navarra’s threat of taking Schembri’s daughter away had been realised.
That wasn’t the most obscene move by the prosecution. To shield Stagno Navarra, the prosecution requested a ban on publication of his name. Stagno Navarra didn’t want the country to know he’s still conning people. There is no legal basis to such a request. The prosecution knew the court couldn’t entertain such a request, yet, they made it anyway. Somebody must have coerced the prosecution to request that ban. What’s most disturbing is that the prosecution complied.
Thankfully, the court flatly rejected the request. But the mere fact that the request was made indicates how far the institutions have been eroded, how deeply they’ve been perverted to shield Labour’s insiders.
Stagno Navarra, the prima donna, claimed in court that “my choice was either to commit suicide or file a report”.
He claimed he made monthly payments to Schembri for the car but Schembri didn’t issue receipts. He claimed he was being “blackmailed”. He put on a real show in court. He said “all the swear words in his audio message would melt my mobile”. Stagno Navarra told the court that he’d told Schembri: “I’m going to commit suicide.”
Stagno Navarra is an alleged serial fraudster.
Eighteen different creditors had to obtain a warrant of seizure in an attempt to get their money back from Stagno Navarra. He didn’t even pay the rent on his St Julian’s apartment.
He was ordered by the court to pay €42,902 to LCL Investment Ltd and was declared a squatter and ordered to vacate the penthouse. He was ordered by the court to pay Managing Consulting Services Ltd the €7,303 he owed for cleaning services at his rented apartment.
He had even refused to pay back Zaren Vassallo the €1,163 he’d lent him. Stagno Navarra ignored several requests for payment, including a legal letter. Vassallo resorted to the Small Claims Tribunal, which ordered Stagno Navarra to pay him the €1,163 plus interest, as well as the tribunal’s expenses.
In the latest brush with the law, Stagno Navarra was found guilty of failing to pay his own lawyer, Jean Paul Sammut, the sum of €3,500.
Stagno Navarra didn’t even bother to turn up to defend himself. The poor lawyer forked out money to third parties on Stagno Navarra’s behalf. And Stagno Navarra never paid him despite repeated promises, including through voice and text messages.
So, what are the chances of Stagno Navarra’s claims that he was paying Schembri in cash with no records kept? Pretty slim I would say. And, with his history, the court can’t consider Stagno Navarra a reliable witness. Anything he says should be dismissed.
But Stagno Navarra knows he’s protected. Labour has hijacked the institutions not only to shield the serial fraudster but to persecute his creditors.
Kevin Cassar is a professor of surgery.