Vital evidence about 17 Black could soon be in the police’s hands as the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has vowed to “shortly” share information about the company owned by murder suspect Yorgen Fenech.
Replying to questions from Times of Malta, the UAE’s ambassador to the European Union, Mohamed Abushahab, said the authorities in his country had engaged directly with the Maltese on this matter.
“Since the complete request for this exchange of information was received late this summer, the Ministry of Justice has been gathering the requested information from our relevant authorities and I can confirm that they will shortly be sharing the first batch of this information with the Maltese authorities,” Abushahab said.
Intelligence about Fenech owning 17 Black was first handed to the police by the Financial Intelligence Analysis Unit (FIAU) in March 2018.
The FIAU had been trying to get intelligence about the company’s ownership and transactions from the UAE, where 17 Black was set up, since 2016.
This intelligence, which cannot be used as evidence in court, did little to spur the economic crimes unit, then headed by Ian Abdilla, to conduct a serious investigation.
Times of Malta has previously reported how the stalled investigation helped Fenech walk away from 17 Black in April 2019 with two cheques worth €1.5 million, as the UAE bank where its accounts were held decided to release the frozen funds due to the lack of judicial follow-up.
Assassinated journalist first floated the name 17 Black in connection with government corruption in February 2017
A request for information sent by the police via a magisterial inquiry in December 2018 was never taken seriously by the UAE authorities as it contained an incorrect bank account number for 17 Black.
The UAE is renowned for being a secretive jurisdiction.
Abdilla has testified in the public inquiry into Daphne Caruana Galizia’s assassination that his superior, former deputy police commissioner Silvio Valletta, had stopped him from going to Portomaso to speak to Fenech on the day Times of Malta and Reuters revealed the businessman owned 17 Black in November 2018.
Valletta, who was friends with Fenech, has in turn said he received a call from former OPM chief of staff Keith Schembri, questioning why Fenech was being investigated “on the basis of a simple news report”.
He, however, denies telling Abdilla to back off from speaking to Fenech because the businessman was feeling sick that day.
Muscat protected Schembri and Mizzi from day one
A leaked e-mail found in the Panama Papers suggested the existence of plans for Schembri and former Energy Minister Konrad Mizzi to receive up to €2 million from Fenech’s 17 Black in a single year.
Both Schembri and Mizzi were called in for questioning last week over their Whatsapp chats with Fenech, who had his cell phone seized during his November 2019 arrest in connection with Caruana Galizia’s murder.
It was also revealed that former Labour leader and Prime Minister Joseph Muscat was in a Whatsapp group with Schembri and Fenech.
Muscat protected Schembri and Mizzi from day one of the Panama Papers leak in 2016.
Schembri’s and Mizzi’s efforts to open bank accounts for their Panama companies stopped soon after Caruana Galizia first hinted on her blog that she knew what they were up to.
The assassinated journalist first floated the name 17 Black in connection with government corruption in February 2017.
Fenech changed 17 Black’s name to Wings Development a month later.
Caruana Galizia was assassinated by a car bomb outside her home in October 2017.
Share certificates linking Fenech to Wings Development were found by police on his property during searches following his arrest.
Fenech denies complicity in the murder.
He claimed under interrogation last year that the murder was masterminded by Schembri, who also denies any involvement in killing the journalist.