• MEPs question ‘reluctance’ for public inquiry in light of journalist’s work on Electrogas story

• Queries indicate ‘high level of prejudice’, not ‘based on any form of basis,’ says EU ambassador

• Dismissal of inquiry calls will only make calls for justice louder - MEP

Malta’s ambassador to the EU has slammed a “speculative” question linking journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia’s work on the power station story to her assassination.

In questions sent earlier this month to EU ambassador Daniel Azzopardi, MEPs pointed out that Ms Caruana Galizia was working on a data leak involving 680,000 documents from power station company Electrogas before her death.

“It was subsequently revealed that the Electrogas director was about to pay large amounts of money to Maltese PEPs Konrad Mizzi and Keith Schembri”, the MEPs wrote. 

MEPs questioned the government's “reluctance” to call an independent public inquiry into the assassination.

In a letter replying to MEPs’ questions on Thursday, Mr Azzopardi slammed the “highly-speculative” question, which he said was not “based on any form of basis”.

EU ambassador Daniel Azzopardi.EU ambassador Daniel Azzopardi.

“The question itself indicates a high level of prejudice and pre-formed bias that is not conducive to an honest exchange of views,” Mr Azzopardi wrote in reply to a letter by Petr Jezek, the chairman of the European Parliament’s special committee on financial crimes, tax evasion and tax avoidance.

Mr Azzopardi reiterated the government’s position that an independent inquiry while criminal proceedings were ongoing may seriously prejudice the case.

He said the government had committed itself to appoint an independent inquiry once judicial proceedings had been concluded.

“The issue is one of timing, not whether an inquiry is happening”, Mr Azzopardi wrote.

Read: 17 Black owner identified as local power station businessman

‘17 Black link far from speculative’

In response to the letter, committee member David Casa dubbed the replies as “farcical”.

Mr Casa said the implications that the 17 Black scandal had on the investigations into the assassination were far from speculative and it was in the public domain that Ms Caruana Galizia was working on the Electrogas leak before she was murdered.

He said efforts to dismiss such links raised grave suspicions, particularly in view of the fact that local authorities had not yet even secured evidence about 17 Black from their foreign counterparts.

MEP Roberta Metsola said the government’s dismissal of calls for an immediate inquiry into Ms Caruana Galizia’s murder would only serve to make the demands for justice ever louder.

She said the letter sent by Mr Azzopardi raised more questions than answers, and it was incredible how the government sought to push the type of spin in relied upon in Malta at a European level.

The MEP said it was telling how the government chose to defend Nexia BT and the accountants who set up Konrad Mizzi’s “global secret financial structures”.

‘Not government's role to act against Karl Cini’

Mr Azzopardi said in the letter to MEPs that it was not the government’s role to spark action against Nexia BT partner Karl Cini.

Malta’s ambassador to the EU said it was the Accountancy Board’s role, not the government’s, to take any disciplinary action against its members.

Mr Cini featured prominently in the Panama Papers leak as the person who set up offshore companies for the Prime Minister’s chief of staff Keith Schembri and Dr Mizzi.

The Nexia BT partner also set up the mystery Panama company Egrant.

Mr Azzopardi brushed off concerns about potential breaches in the power station procurement process.

He said the Auditor General’s “deep scrutiny” of the procurement process did not find any wrongdoing and did “confirm any of the allegations made”.

MEPs also questioned whether there was any explanation why Mr Schembri and Dr Mizzi set up structures to receive regular payments of €150,000.

Speculation would be inappropriate” and public statements detailing the reason behind setting up those structures had already been made- EU ambassador

In reply, Mr Azzopardi said “speculation would be inappropriate” and public statements detailing the reason behind setting up those structures had already been made.

Malta’s ambassador to the EU assured MEPs there was nothing in Maltese law precluding investigations and prosecutions of money-laundering cases involving politicians, even if they currently held office.

Mr Azzopardi also said that the government was not privy to investigations carried out by the Financial Intelligence Analysis Unit (FIAU).

He “refused to speculate” on a draft FIAU investigation report into Konrad Mizzi, stating the FIAU had pointed out the report as published by MEP David Casa had been re-typed and contained discrepancies.

The report in question, which established the link between 17 Black and Dr Mizzi’s Panama company, has since been completed and submitted to the police for a criminal investigation.

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.