The Prime Minister’s Office learnt of Pilatus Bank’s multimillion-dollar lawsuit against journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia “when it was made public”, Parliament was told.
Former Opposition leader Simon Busuttil asked Prime Minister Joseph Muscat whether he or his chief of staff, Keith Schembri, knew about the lawsuit filed in Arizona. Dr Muscat replied his office had become aware of it only when the matter became public.
Pilatus Bank owner Ali Sadr filed the case last May after Ms Caruana Galizia reported allegations made by a former bank employee that the Panama company Egrant was owned by the Prime Minister’s wife, Michelle Muscat.
Mr Sadr withdrew the lawsuit the day after Ms Caruana Galizia’s assassination.
Maria Efimova, a former employee of the Ta’ Xbiex-based bank, had told the slain journalist that a $1 million payment went into Egrant’s account via Pilatus Bank. Ms Efimova has since left Malta.
Mr Sadr withdrew the lawsuit the day after Ms Caruana Galizia’s assassination
Dr Muscat, his wife and Pilatus Bank all deny the claim. The Prime Minister filed legal proceedings against Ms Caruana Galizia in the Maltese courts, and a magisterial inquiry was opened to look into Egrant’s ownership. The inquiry continues.
In another parliamentary question, Dr Muscat told Dr Busuttil there had been no correspondence between himself and Mr Sadr after Pilatus Bank was given a licence to operate in Malta. The same applied to the Office of the Prime Minister, he noted.
Opposition MP Jason Azzopardi said in Parliament this week that Mr Schembri had known about the case Pilatus Bank instituted against Ms Caruana Galizia in Arizona.
During last year’s electoral campaign, Mr Schembri pledged to seek revenge against a Maltese media organisation after the election.
That press organisation had, in fact, received a letter from Pilatus Bank’s attorneys threatening to start legal action in its regard, Dr Azzopardi explained.
A number of local media organisations were threatened with lawsuits similar to the one instituted against Ms Caruana Galizia, Dr Azzopardi added.
Dr Azzopardi has proposed legislation that would make foreign judgments against local media organisations unenforceable, thus protecting them from “libel tourism”.