17 Black owner Yorgen Fenech being held in police custody
● Opposition walks out of Parliament
17 Black owner Yorgen Fenech was taken into police custody yesterday, after a boat belonging to Fenech was intercepted at sea by the Armed Forces of Malta and returned to Malta.
The Opposition, meanwhile, walked out of Parliament after the Prime Minister refused to answer questions on his chief of staff Keith Schembri and Tourism Minister Konrad Mizzi.
The yacht was seized off the coast of Pembroke soon after it had left Portomaso at 5.30am. Fenech was arrested and is in police custody. Data from vessel tracking website Vessel Finder showed that the boat was back at shore within an hour. The boat is now berthed at Portomaso, under strict police surveillance.
ElectroGas power station director and Tumas Group CEO Yorgen Fenech has been identified as the owner 17 Black. The Dubaibased company was itself identified in a leaked e-mail as one of two sources of income for the Panama companies Hearnville and Tillgate, which were set up by Nexia BT for Mizzi and the Schembri.
On Tuesday, Prime Minister Joseph Muscat said he signed a letter that assures a presidential pardon to a man who claims to have information with regard to the assassination of Daphne Caruana Galizia in October 2017.
Prime Minister Joseph Muscat yesterday would not speculate on the reasons behind the arrest of Yorgen Fenech, saying that he wants to be cautious in what he says as anything he does might prejudice the case. He did say however, that he understands that the media is joining the dots and making obvious assumptions.
What he did say was that from the information he had until the moment he was speaking there was no politician connected. Muscat said that yesterday’s events confirm that, as he had said two years ago soon after the assassination of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia, he “is leaving no stone unturned in search of the culprits.”
He added that the recent events also show that the country's institutions are working as they should.
Muscat argued that he would be prudent in his comments because he does not want them to in any way prejudice the case. He said that he was forced to make public comments after media stories earlier this week which, he said, may have alerted persons of interest.
He said that he had given instructions to the authorities to be on the lookout for persons of interest who could react following the news in the media.
“If I had not given these instructions maybe today we would be speaking about persons of interest who may have escaped,” Muscat said.
Muscat once again appealed to the media to be prudent in its reporting, saying that he has kept information to himself for a long time and is not as yet ready to speak openly about the case.
The time, he said, will come when he will be in a position to be more forthcoming.
“Anything I say may be used not to close the case but to keep it from closing,” he said.
Muscat said that what happened yesterday showed that justice is blind and that the country’s institutions were doing their utmost to bring any perpetrators to book.
He said it is too premature to say whether the information provided to investigators will lead to a recommendation for a presidential pardon for a person who was arrested last Thursday who had offered to reveal details in connection with the murder of Daphne Caruana Galizia.
The Prime Minister on Tuesday signed a letter promising a recommendation, on condition that the information provided is corroborated in court. He said one must not speculate and wait for the investigations to continue.
“I want to say much more but I have kept it to myself for the past two years and I will continue to do so until investigators have the necessary evidence that will lead to a conviction. I must wait a few more hours or days, what I’ve kept to myself for two years I will keep for a few more days,” said Muscat.
When asked whether Fenech’s arrest should lead to the resignations of Minister Konrad Mizzi and Chief of Staff Keith Schembri, Muscat said that he must wait for the investigations to take place before commenting.
“I am sure there will be the necessary conclusions, and we cannot jump to conclusions before all the facts have emerged,” said Muscat.
He said that he has no indication that there are any politicians are linked to the assassination of Caruana Galizia.
When asked whether Muscat has spoken to Mizzi and Schembri yesterday morning, Muscat said that he will be solely taking decisions himself. He said that there were other politicians who may have business links with Fenech both in the past and present.
“I hope that we will close this case, which has been the biggest in the country’s history, very soon.” He said that Wednesday’s operation showed the government’s and his own personal commitment to get the truth out there.
He said that the investigators acted as soon as they had enough facts in their hand. He said had they acted prematurely, there would have been a risk of the whole case collapsing.
Prime Minister must speak about his own political responsibility for keeping Keith Schembri - Delia
Opposition Leader Adrian Delia also spoke about the situation, and said that Prime Minister Joseph Muscat must speak up about his own political responsibility for keeping Keith Schembri, his Chief of Staff, in his office in light of the latest happenings involving Yorgen Fenech. Delia spoke on NetTV from Zagreb, Croatia, where he was attending the EPP congress.
Delia said that the country is passing through a delicate and hard time. He urged prudence in the search for truth in the case into the assassination of Daphne Caruana Galizia, in order for the case to be allowed to progress, so that the truth will come out and that justice is done in a transparent way without external influence.
But Delia made a distinction between the investigation, and political responsibility.
“What happened in the past hours has clear implications and connotations. I will hold back from commenting on the judicial process. There were more arrests in the past hours, and justice must take natural course,” he said.
“What we clearly have is people like Yorgen Fenech, the owner of 17 Black, that has clear ties with people close to the government, with Minister Konrad Mizzi, and OPM Chief of Staff Keith Schembri.”
He said that this has political connotations and, “I cannot choose not to comment, I have a constitutional obligation to speak about it.”
He said that the Prime Minister spoke yesterday morning and said what he cannot say, but not about what he can say.
“In the court process, prudence is the best choice. But politically, and this is distinctly separate from the judicial procedures, the Prime Minister has political responsibilities, ones that the PN has for months and years been speaking about saying, that must be carried.
“The Prime Minister tried to say that the only reality is that of the courts and the investigations. But there is the political world as well. He must tell us about his responsibility that near him Keith Schembri is still in his office.
“The damage done to our country and his persistence in forgetting the national interest and forgetting the interests of the Maltese, is causing damage that will have consequences.”
Joseph Muscat must resign, or Parliament must fire him - civil society
Civil society groups Repubblika and Occupy Justice said that Joseph Muscat is accountable for what he himself described as “an assault on our democracy”.
“Now he must leave,” the civil society groups said.
Joseph Muscat should have fired Keith Schembri and Konrad Mizzi on the spot in February 2016, when the Panama Papers were first leaked, the groups said.
“He didn’t. In doing so Joseph Muscat created the state of impunity – the Mafia State – that not only allowed a corrupt contract to be awarded, but led to the assassination of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia,” the groups added.
“If he doesn’t he must be fired. His party, his parliamentary group, Parliament have the power and the duty to have him removed if he does not go of his own free will.”
AD, Graffitti call for dismissal of Konrad Mizzi, Keith Schembri
As a result of yesterday’s news, Alternattiva Demokratika called for the dismissal of Minister Konrad Mizzi and OPM chief of staff Keith Schembri.
Fenech’s arrest opens the door to many possibilities, AD chairperson Carmelo Cacopardo said. He said that Fenech’s presence in Malta led one to believe that Fenech was convinced that nothing would have happened.
“The fact that he is the owner of 17 Black linked him to Mizzi and Schembri.”
Seeing all this, Mizzi and Schembri should be the first to go, Cacopardo said.
“Others should follow.” Moviment Graffitti also reiterated its stance that Keith Schembri and Konrad Mizzi should immediately resign and disappear from the political scene, “something that is long overdue. The arrest of Yorgen Fenech in connection with Daphne Caruana Galizia’s murder further makes the position of these two political figures totally untenable,” the NGO said in a statement.
“The scandal surrounding Yorgen Fenech prior to yesterday’s arrest directly involves the privatisation of energy in Malta and the opening of offshore accounts by Keith Schembri and Konrad Mizzi.
“17 Black, whose owner was revealed to be Yorgen Fenech, was a company cited in the Panama Papers as one transferring funds in these two offshore accounts.
“Regardless of, and before ascertaining, any eventual criminal responsibility by everyone implicated, it is blatantly obvious that a Prime Minister’s Chief of Staff and a Minister cannot remain in their positions.
“Should Mizzi and Schembri yet again decide not to resign, public anger would be entirely justified and everyone should be asking about Keith Schembri and Konrad Mizzi’s stranglehold on Muscat.
“Why are they so indispensable? Why is the Prime Minister once again ready to face pressure from all quarters, including from pockets of the Labour Party, in order to protect these two individuals whose credit has run out long, long ago?”