Murder suspect wants il-Koħħu’s pardon revoked

A man facing criminal proceedings over his alleged involvement in two murders is demanding the revocation of a presidential pardon granted to self-confessed assassin Vincent Muscat, citing breach of conditions through “fictitious stories and lies”. 

Jamie Vella also said it was “ironic” how the same cabinet of ministers who were found responsible for contributing to the assassination of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia in 2017 were still there today and were expected to decide on the presidential pardon granted to Muscat, il-Koħħu. 

Muscat was granted a pardon in February 2021 for his role in gunning down well-known lawyer Carmel Chircop in 2015. The pardon was part of a deal that saw Muscat agree to provide information on the men who ordered the killing.

Concurrently, he was sentenced to 15 years in prison after admitting to his part in the Caruana Galizia murder, with an agreement to provide information about the murder.

Muscat subsequently failed to obtain a second pardon to reveal inside information on three more major crimes – two failed armed robberies and an assassination.  

Il-Koħħu’s pardon has now been brought into question by Vella who, along with Maksar brothers Robert and Adrian Agius, stands accused of playing a role in the murders of Caruana Galizia and Chircop. Vella is believed to have supplied the bomb that killed Caruana Galizia but he insists that he is innocent. 

In a judicial protest filed in the First Hall of the Civil Court against the cabinet, the Police Commissioner and the Attorney General, Vella said the cabinet was aware that Muscat had lied but did not lift a finger to get his pardon revoked. 

He insisted that the conditions on which the presidential pardon was pegged included that Muscat had to provide “reliable, credible and truthful information”. Instead, he provided “fictitious stories and lies”, with the prosecution continuing to rely on this “self-proclaimed criminal” as their star witness. 

"It was obvious that he did not tell the truth"

“Muscat did this [pleaded guilty] only to secure his personal interests and that of a mitigated punishment and a presidential pardon, when in truth, although he is aware of all the facts, he knows that the persons really responsible for these murders are not those accused today, including himself, but others who were not mentioned,” Vella wrote in his protest.

During the investigation as well as during his testimony before the investigating magistrate and in the compilation of evidence, “it was obvious that he did not tell the truth”. Instead, he “lied several times to protect his friends as well as himself from further criminal proceedings”, in violation of the terms of the pardon.

In the meantime, despite being presumed innocent, Vella said he was constantly being denied his freedom “not only for legal reasons but, above all, for manifestly political reasons”. 

He went on to claim that the government had a direct interest that he and the other co-accused are found guilty “so that the same government will publicly appear to have done its job, when in truth it knows who the responsible persons were and who until today were not brought to justice”.

Through his lawyer Ishmael Psaila, Vella said the presidential pardon granted to Muscat was “a fallacy” and ought to be revoked since the conditions on which it was granted have been breached. 

He said he was also filing an official request to the President of Malta for the pardon granted to Muscat in February 2021 to be revoked and warned of further action if the situation remained unchanged.