The belief of many that Malta is a truly mafia state has been reinforced by recent shocking revelations about the brutal murder of investigative journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia and the charges of corruption and financial crime brought in court against 11 persons close to the corridors of power in connection with two magisterial inquiries.
Disgraced former prime minister Joseph Muscat’s chief of staff, Keith Schembri featured in two inquiries and faces the largest number of charges that include money laundering, criminal conspiracy, corruption, fraud and forgery.
The first magisterial inquiry concerned an alleged undisclosed commission of €100,000 in kickbacks to Schembri from Brian Tonna, managing partner of financial consulting company Nexia BT, on the sale of Maltese passports to three Russian nationals in the cash-for-passports citizenship programme.
The second magisterial inquiry concerned alleged money laundering and graft over the transfer of more than €650,000 from Schembri to the former managing director of Allied Newspapers Ltd, Adrian Hillman. This case was revealed by Caruana Galizia on March 11, 2016 and a report about it was transmitted by the FIAU to the police on November 3, 2016.
Malta owes a lot to Daphne who played a critical role by exposing the rampant corruption within the country that involved high-level governmental and political figures who enjoyed Muscat’s personal protection.
Since Muscat was elected prime minister in 2013 Malta has gone through a notable state capture by private interests, following the pre-electoral meetings behind closed doors between people involved in the Labour Party’s finances and powerful business operators that took place at the fourth floor of the Labour headquarters.
According to the World Bank’s Governance Indicators, since 2013 Malta’s rule of law has deteriorated faster than any other EU member state.
A perception of impunity of the powerful and influential has been fuelled, in turn leading to an unprecedented collapse of the rule of law that Malta has not experienced before throughout its 56 years of independence.
After the police abdicated its responsibility of investigating and taking criminal action over FIAU reports that had found suspicion of criminal activity by persons close to Muscat and then attorney general Peter Grech refused to use the powers vested in him to initiate criminal investigations, former Nationalist Party leader Simon Busuttil rose to the occasion and emerged as a critical figure in the fight for the rule of law. It was solely because of him that the magisterial inquiries were opened.
Malta owes a lot to Daphne who played a critical role by exposing the rampant corruption within the country- Denis Tanti
Another institution that has clearly failed in its responsibility to protect the public interest and the integrity of the profession it represents was the Accountancy Board. It
refrained from probing into the professional conduct of Tonna and his partner, Karl Cini as members of the accountancy profession and ignored the fact that they had set up companies in a secrecy jurisdiction under a tax evasion scheme for Schembri and former minister Konrad Mizzi.
Busuttil and others who followed in his tracks, like MEP David Casa, were threatened and ridiculed by Labour exponents who had an interest that the truth on corruption and money laundering involving officials at the highest levels of the government does not surface.
Muscat completely and totally exonerated Schembri and Mizzi from any wrongdoing after it was revealed that they had secretly opened their offshore Panama companies. He also did his level best to avert attention from their web of intrigue in their offshore companies.
The illicit purpose for which these companies were set up became evident after it was revealed that each of them was due to receive €150,000 every month from two Dubai based companies, namely 17 Black and Macbridge, which were set up specifically for such purpose.
Behind these companies there were two individuals who had benefitted significantly from two separate deals signed by Mizzi on behalf of the Maltese government. These were Yurgen Fenech, CEO of the Tumas Group and the prime suspect in Daphne’s murder, who owned 17 Black, and Cheng Chen, a control and instrumentation engineer for Shanghai Power Co. Ltd.
In May 2014, a €420 million deal was signed with Electrogas Malta Ltd of which Fenech was director and co-owner.
Subsequently, in December of the same year, a €320 million deal was signed with Shanghai Power Co. Ltd, whereby it acquired a 33 per cent stake in Enemalta and effectively took control of the power station. This enabled the company to expand into the European energy market. At the heart of the deal there was Chen Cheng, whose mother-in-law was the owner of Macbridge.
Muscat astonished everyone when he said that it would be a matter of curiosity to ask Schembri about his business plans with 17 Black and refused to answer, under the excuse of being a leading question, when he was asked what reason could there be for Fenech to engage in a commercial relationship with Mizzi and Schembri. Muscat even joined Schembri, Mizzi and other persons allegedly involved in criminal activities in the filing of an appeal against another magisterial inquiry that was ordered into whether his two close allies had breached money laundering laws when they opened their tax evasion companies, which offence could result in a penalty of more than three years in prison.
The inquiry was stalled in January 2019 after a judge ruled that there was no legal basis for it and, subsequently, another magistrate rejected an application for the opening of an inquiry into 17 Black. Busuttil did not mince his words when he said that the courts were protecting corrupt politicians and that he would continue insisting on justice in Malta.
Busuttil’s determination and perseverance paid off. A magisterial ruling given in April 2019 to another request by Busuttil ordered that an inquiry into the Panama Papers scandal should be conducted within the confines of a magisterial inquiry commenced seven months earlier into possible money laundering and criminal activities by Schembri and Mizzi.
The fight for justice continues as Daphne’s long-standing claims of rampant corruption are being vindicated.
Denis Tanti, former assistant director at health ministry