The heirs of Lino Cauchi are suing the government, after their 38-year-long wait for justice has gone unheeded, serving only to aggravate the tragic consequences of the “barbaric political murder”.

Anna Cassar and Paolo Cauchi, widow and son of the accountant whose brutal fate came to light three years after his mysterious disappearance in 1982, filed constitutional proceedings against the Prime Minister, following a judicial letter last month which still failed to register any progress. 

This “tragic failure” by the State only served to accentuate the “tremendous injustice” suffered by the family who claimed that their right to life, to family and to protection against discrimination had been trampled upon.

The applicants said the State had not only failed to protect their relative’s life, but also to seriously investigate his murder, take all necessary measures to ensure that justice was served and afford compensation to the family who, to date, was still facing “immense and insurmountable” consequences. 

The application noted that Cauchi’s murder dated back to the “very difficult political environment” prevalent in Malta, particularly after the 1981 general election, when the Labour government retained power through “irregular gerrymandering”, winning a majority of seats in parliament, in spite of losing the majority of votes. 

Parliament was reconvened on February 15, 1982, amid a climate of “tension, uncertainty and doubts”, and that was the day when Cauchi last stepped out of his family home, at around 1.30pm, when he headed towards his office in Valletta.

Two days later, his briefcase, “forced open and empty”, was discovered at Chadwick Lakes, the family said. 

His professional services had been highly sought by government entities and members of “a dangerous political group, non-conscientious and unscrupulous”, involved in shady property deals in which Cauchi was called upon for tax advice. 

The family said that though reluctant, Cauchi gave in to the pressure, in spite of his ever-growing fear for his own personal safety, as evidenced by the fact that, at around the same time, he had even increased his life insurance cover and warned his wife never to let go of a briefcase he kept at home.

No interest to investigate

A day after his disappearance, the then-pregnant woman, troubled about her husband’s fate, had parted with that briefcase when a stranger knocked at her door, introducing himself as a tax official.

Yet, the police “never had an interest to investigate”, said the applicants, arguing that no serious investigations had been undertaken even when, in November 1985, Cauchi’s dismembered remains were discovered in a well at Buskett. 

Then-magistrate David Scicluna had sounded the alarm about a possible “cover up”, directing authorities to investigate not only the accountant’s murder, but also other possible crimes linked to fiscal wrongdoing, corruption and blackmail. 

Yet, that warning went unheeded and worse still, after Scotland Yard had been called upon  to investigate the political murders of Karen Grech, Raymond Caruana and Lino Cauchi, their brief was cut short in 1996 when they were about to start investigating the Cauchi case, the application pointed out.

All this meant that the perpetrators of this barbaric crime were still fleeing justice, while the Cauchi family continued to be denied their rightful share of justice and adequate compensation for the breach of rights. 

Others who had suffered similar breaches at the hands of the State had been compensated through ex-gratia payments, evidence of which was being put forward by the applicants, together with a list of witnesses they intended to summon in court. 

The family said in their application these include not only current and past members of the police corps, but also politicians who served as MPs between 1981 and 2003, including prime ministers and justice ministers, tax commissioners, attorney generals, present and retired members of the judiciary, the chairperson of the Permanent Commission against Corruption, as well as media personnel. 

Lawyers Peter Fenech and Stanley Joe Portelli signed the application.