Former FIAU official Jonathan Ferris on Wednesday recalled his surprise at seeing top police officer Ian Abdilla standing beside a magistrate when he appeared in court to testify in the inquiry over Electrogas. 

Mr Ferris, who was previously a police economic crimes investigator, told the public inquiry into the murder of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia that he had in the past clashed with Assistant Commissioner Abdilla, who heads the police force’s Economic Crimes Unit, and did not trust him. 

Answering questions, Mr Ferris recalled how he had gone to court to testify before a magistrate as part of an inquiry into alleged kickbacks concerning the Electrogas power station and found Mr Abdilla in the courtroom standing beside (then) Magistrate Aaron Bugeja. 

Mr Abdilla, he said, was insistent that he should “just confirm” a report concerning suspicions of financial crime concerning the LNG Electrogas power station, even though Mr Ferris had noticed discrepancies between his copy and that in the magistrate’s hands. 

Magistrate Bugeja, Mr Ferris recalled, had told him to take his time and make note of any discrepancies. Mr Ferris did so using indelible ink, because “he didn’t trust anyone”.

He told the inquiry how Mr Abdilla had once urged him to “please do not create a diplomatic incident” after he had refused to pass on information about an investigation.

Mr Ferris was a police inspector at the time. He would go on to work for the Financial Intelligence Analysis Unit (FIAU). 

The former investigator also noted that it was Mr Abdilla who had received a copy of charges he had drafted against two daughters of former European Commissioner John Dalli in relation to a suspected Ponzi scheme. 

Mr Dalli’s two daughters were among six people charged with fraud in late 2017. They deny the charges. 

While under oath, Mr Ferris also recalled another incident involving Mr Abdilla. 

Mr Ferris, who at the time worked for the FIAU, had checked the office’s CCTV cameras remotely from his phone and spotted Mr Abdilla entering the office of director Kenneth Farrugia. Acting FIAU director Alfred Zammit and Ruth Gauci were also present, he said. 

Times of Malta had reported on the meeting at FIAU offices in December 2017. 

He received instructions to go and testify before magistrate Bugeja the very next day. 

Pilatus Bank

As a police inspector, Mr Ferris said he was tasked with investigating claims about the alleged misappropriation of funds by a Pilatus Bank bank employee, Maria Efimova. 

Ms Efimova would go on to be at the centre of claims that secret company Egrant was owned by Michelle Muscat, the wife of former prime minister Joseph Muscat. 

Later, when he worked at the FIAU, Mr Ferris learnt of a supervisory report concerning Pilatus Bank which flagged substantial discrepancies. The report was signed by FIAU director Manfred Galdes and two others. Mr Ferris later found out that Dr Galdes’ deputy, Alfred Zammit, had later signed a “clean bill of health” concerning the bank. 

Daphne Caruana Galizia

Mr Ferris said that he had never met Daphne Caruana Galizia in person and had never spoken to her at all until April 2017, when they clashed over the phone about Ms Efimova’s treatment by police. 

The two would go on to patch things up and she had told him “let’s start afresh,” he testified. 

Mr Ferris repeated claims that Mr Dalli had told him that Egrant was owned by the Labour Party and recalled how Mr Dalli had once described Ms Caruana Galizia to him as a “cyber terrorist”.

“The chemistry between the two didn’t seem to work,” he remarked dryly.

Answering questions, Mr Ferris said he never got the sense that Ms Caruana Galizia’s life was at risk, though he added the caveat that his line of work focused on economic crimes. 

Konrad Mizzi

Mr Ferris was also asked about his investigations into former minister Konrad Mizzi, who was exposed as having set up a secret offshore structure while in office. 

The FIAU had noted several suspicions concerning Dr Mizzi and his financial advisors at Nexia BT, Brian Tonna and Karl Cini, the former investigator said. 

Dr Mizzi, who at the time was a government minister, had tried to open a bank account for his offshore company in Panama, Dubai and Miami, among others, and appeared to have spent more on setting up the offshore structure than he was saving. 

The minister had also travelled to China 17 times but stayed in hotels despite having family there and the FIAU had also taken note of a curious one-cent transaction on a credit card of his which drew suspicions related to a government deal in Montenegro, Mr Ferris said. 

Lawyers Jason Azzopardi, Therese Comodini Cachia, Andrew Borg Cardona and Peter Caruana Galizia are appearing for the family of the slain journalist.