A spokesman at Castille has insisted the government does not get involved in matters of a "private nature", despite cash-for-passport scheme concessionaire Henley & Partners telling MEPs it only sued journalists after getting an informal thumbs up to do so from authorities.
Speaking during a video call with MEPs probing the rule of law in Malta, Henley & Partners chairman Christian Kalin, chief operating officer Juerg Steffen and managing partner Stuart MacFeeters explained that they would not proceed with legal action unless they had received “at least an informal OK from the key decision makers”.
The three MEPs participating in the call – Ana Gomes, Sven Giegold and David Casa – referred to an e-mail between Henley & Partners, Prime Minister Joseph Muscat and his chief of staff, Keith Schembri, discussing a lawsuit by the firm against slain journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia.
They pointed to “the informality and closeness of the writing between the CEO of Henley & Partners and the Prime Minister”, noting that this was “striking”.
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“The point of the e-mail was to ask the government if they would be OK with a legal action Henley & Partners was planning to take (which can have political repercussions). As a concessionaire of the IIP programme, we wanted to inform the government.
“We would not go ahead with something like that unless we got at least an informal OK from the key decision makers,” the company said during the video call.
Henley & Partners has threatened both Ms Caruana Galizia and The Shift News with vexatious legal proceedings in the UK.
'We don't interfere' - OPM
When contacted about the comments by the Henley & Partners officials, however, a spokesman for the Office of the Prime Minister said the government does not “interfere in matters which are of a private nature”.
READ: Stockbrokers stunned by Henley and Partners' four per cent commissions
“In this case, the dispute was between a company safeguarding its reputation and Daphne Caruana Galizia,” the spokesman said in a two-line reply to a series of questions.
No reply was given regarding whether there were others who had approached the government for its go-ahead before taking legal action against journalists.
The spokesman also did not reply to questions on whether the Prime Minister considered such behaviour inappropriate.
During the video conference call, a transcript of which was published by Ms Gomes this week, the Henley & Partners officials also describe how they had “organised a meeting” in London between the Prime Minister and the former Pilatus Bank chairman, Iranian Ali Sadr Hasheminejad, who is currently behind bars in the US, having been charged with sanctions-busting and money laundering.
They insisted, however, that Mr Hasheminejad had contacted the Prime Minister before.
On Dr Muscat attending events organised by Henley & Partners, the officials told the MEPs that the Prime Minister had no obligation to do so.
“There is no specific requirement. The Prime Minister is always invited to the event but he only goes when he wants,” the Henley officials said.