Updated: Malta denies it is to investigate witness evidence
Malta has denied reports in the Daily Telegraph that it was to investigate the evidence of one of the key witnesses who helped convict the Lockerbie bomber.
According to the newspaper, the Maltese government wants to examine the claims of Tony Gauci, the shopkeeper who identified Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed Al Megrahi as the man responsible for placing explosives on Pan Am flight 103.
Gauci ran a clothes shop in Swieqi, Malta, at the time and claimed that Megrahi bought a piece of clothing found among the debris of the aircraft in December 1988.
His evidence was crucial in securing the 2001 conviction of the former Libyan intelligence officer, but doubts have since been raised about Gauci's reliability.
The Telegraph quoted a Maltese legal official as saying: "Tony Gauci is an area we want to investigate more thoroughly and we are preparing for this."
But Home Affairs Minister Carmelo Mifsud Bonnici told timesofmalta.com the report was untrue.
He said that since 1988 successive Maltese governments have always maintained that the bomb which downed the Pan Am flight 103 had not departed from Malta and ample proof of this was produced.
Megrahi was jailed for life for carrying out the atrocity in which 270 people died, including 11 people on the ground.
The 82-page trial judgment detailed how the three judges were satisfied Megrahi walked into Gauci's shop one day in 1988 and bought random items of clothing.
These were packed around the bomb that exploded in a suitcase on board the Pan Am Boeing 747 two weeks later, and Gauci picked out the Libyan as the man who bought the clothes.
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Joe Fenech
Oct 31st 2009, 23:20
And why would our government not investigate such a controversial witness?
joseph schembri
Oct 31st 2009, 18:35
@Miguel Micallef
Maybe because Al Megrahi was suspected already he had the potential to do such things? Then they traced his last activities?
Otherwise, I ask the same thing as you.
Miguel Micallef
Oct 31st 2009, 16:13
My big question always was:
How did Mr gauci get to see the 'clothes wrapped around the bomb' ?
Was he there when the plane crashed and he saw them falling then called the police saying "I recognize those clothes! I sold them!'
I mean.... this just doesn't happen does it? Someone must have asked Mr gauci to 'look at the clothes and see if you recognize them'. How did Mr gauci get pulled into this in the first place?
Can somebody clear this up please?
Jesmond MIcallef
Oct 31st 2009, 15:25
Sorry, but have I missed something here !!! Whatever happened in Frankfurt airport seems not to be under the lens here !!! It should really, considering it is a very important element of the bagage flow. !!!
Carmen Farrugia
Oct 31st 2009, 13:49
The truth should always be pursued. The Gauci brothers and the evidence must be re-examined until there are no doubts. Malta should be ashamed it does not even try to get to the truth. If there was a mistake, it should be corrected. If there was perjury, by the witness it should be punished. Was he really paid millions to testify? Isn't that what is right and justified? Isn't that the way of an honest, Catholic country? Mr. Gauci should want to clear his name if he has nothing to hide. If he was not sure when he identified Al Megrahi, his testimony should not have been accepted by the court.
E. Azzopardi
Oct 31st 2009, 12:42
The citizens of Malta demand that the government will do whatever is possible to remove the bad name this case has given to our country. It is the least it can do for its people.
Incredible! I thought that we would grasp the opportunit with both hands.
So my question is ; WHY NOT? What is holding us?
a.dalli
Oct 31st 2009, 11:49
This is really preposterous!
Yes the man should be investigated for perjury and if found guilty assets should be confiscated and build a prison with the money.
L Debono
Oct 31st 2009, 11:20
Nope, Rezaq was released as a free man only after 7 years. Even a different identity was set up for him. This is BIG MISTAKE.
He flew to Ghana in Africa right away. In 1993 he was arrested in Nigeria and handed over to the FBI.
Edward Gatt
Oct 31st 2009, 11:10
@ Mario Attard
Actually he was not transfered to the USA. He was released by the Maltese authorities and on his way to wherever he wanted to go he was re-arrested by the FBI in Nigeria and convicted once again by the US courts.
Mario Attard
Oct 31st 2009, 10:38
@ e. cortis
Ali Rezaq served 8 years in Malta, but was then transfered to the USA, and continued to serve his prison sentence there.
e.cortis
Oct 31st 2009, 10:11
The least we Maltese talk about other people's faults with regards how terrorists are dealth with, the better, lest others will remind us of the episode involving Malta and the hijacking of Egypt Air's Boeing Flight 648 in November 1985 !!. Ali Rezaq was condemned 25 years in prison and he only served eight !!. And this for the loss of 58 out of 90 passengers !!.
Paul Micallef
Oct 31st 2009, 09:19
Good luck in finding the truth,as i think due to time, the truth is lost, but we as MALTESE people should be satisfied that the credibility of Mr Gauci and his brother is true, and we are not looked like fools in the eyes of the world. Good luck to the police and the investigators,as we are coming out of this one with bruises, as a nation.