Lack of UAE cooperation reason police can’t take 17 Black findings to court – Officers
The absolute lack of cooperation from authorities in the United Arab Emirates means that the police do not have enough evidence to go to court with the findings in connection to 17 Black, a public inquiry board heard on Wednesday.
Wednesday saw Ray Aquilina and Antonovitch Muscat testify in front of the public inquiry into the assassination of Daphne Caruana Galizia, with the board being made up of Judge Michael Mallia, Chief Justice Emeritus Joseph Said Pullicino, and Madam Justice Abigail Lofaro.
Both Muscat and Aquilina are veterans of the Economic Crimes Unit; the former has served there for over 25 years, while the latter has served there since 2009. Both had served in the Money Laundering Unit at the same time in recent years.
Their testimonies mentioned a number of subjects, but 17 Black – the company belonging to Yorgen Fenech, who now stands accused of being the mastermind behind the Caruana Galizia murder – took centre-stage, with both admitting that due to the lack of cooperation from the authorities in Dubai, they did not have enough evidence to go to court.
This being said, it also emerged that neither former government Minister Konrad Mizzi, nor former Prime Minister Joseph Muscat’s Chief of Staff Keith Schembri – for whom 17 Black had been listed as a target client of their Panama
companies in leaked emails – had been questioned in relation to the case. Fenech was also not questioned in this regard.
It also emerged that the other company which was listed as a target client for Mizzi and Schembri’s Panama companies – a company called Macbridge – remained completely shrouded in mystery, with the police not being able to find a registration number related to the company in spite of numerous inquiries abroad.
The duo’s work in investigating 17 Black was a key topic of the day’s hearing, but it was one of frustration for many, with the two saying that they did not have enough evidence to take the matter to court, and that the United Arab Emirates had provided absolutely no help with the case.
Both Muscat and Aquilina confirmed to the board the mention of Konrad Mizzi and Keith Schembri in the 17 Black report.
Aquilina said that Schembri and Mizzi featured in the timeframe of events with regard to Electrogas and the emergence of 17 Black, and includes other details such as trips abroad, signing of local contracts, and credit card details.
Muscat meanwhile said that no transactions took place, but there was correspondence which showed intent.
The argument over whether the police should have taken action against Mizzi and Schembri in spite of not having evidence from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) took up part of both testimonies. On his part, Muscat said that without the evidence from the UAE they did not have full disclosure, in spite of the fact that the police had found evidence at Yorgen Fenech’s offices which corroborate findings related to 17 Black.
Jason Azzopardi, a lawyer for the Caruana Galizia family, asked why Konrad Mizzi and Keith Schembri had not been spoken to in terms of an attempt to launder money, to which Muscat replied that no money had been passed on. "So what!", Azzopardi replied incredulously. "You know very well that the law makes no difference between planning to do so and actual doing it", he continued. "We focused on 17 Black, to try and get information from abroad because today we still cannot call in the person concerned because in terms of disclosure, we have nothing," Muscat said.
"The fact that there is suspicion, I agree totally; but there wasn't enough to take the matter to court," Muscat said.
"To this day, I do not have enough evidence to charge someone with a crime," Aquilina also said in his testimony before adding that he has "asked for an explanation" from certain individuals so far.
United Arab Emirates offered “zero cooperation” to the 17 Black investigation, but that may change – Muscat
Turning to the UAE’s lack of cooperation, Muscat said that a meeting which was meant to take place last December was cancelled by the UAE at the last minute. He said that the rogatory letters had been sent through the Ministry for Foreign Affairs. They were first sent back with an attachment which said that they should be sent to the UAE’s Ministry for Justice, and when they were sent there, they were returned, practically untouched with their requests rejected.
Aquilina meanwhile confirmed in his testimony that rogatory letters were sent to Latvia and Dubai. The letters, he said, had been amended later to reflect new developments such as that 17 Black had changed its names to Wings Development and that there may have been two other bank accounts which the police had not known about when writing up their analytical report.
Muscat however shared a shred of optimism with the board, telling them that he is "optimistic" that "somehow" they will arrive at the truth and be able to take the matter to court.
"Recently there was so much hype, especially following the developments last November and December, it seems that the Dubai authorities are no longer comfortable with the situation and will finally offer their assistance," Muscat said.
Macbridge remains shrouded in mystery
While much has been said about the company 17 Black, the company Macbridge however remains shrouded in complete mystery.
“Nobody in the world knows anything about Macbridge", Muscat said when he was asked about the company. He said that they had mentioned Macbridge in every overseas inquiry that they had made in the hope that some detail would pop up, but there has been "absolutely nothing" that has been found - not even a registration number.
Not enough evidence to suggest that Keith Schembri received kickbacks for passports - Muscat
In the case of Brian Tonna, Keith Schembri, and Willerby, Muscat said that there was insufficient information to continue with the case.
He said there was not enough evidence to suggest that the payments to Keith Schembri through Brian Tonna from three Russians to get a Maltese passport were kickbacks. Therefore, he cannot take the matter to court. He remarked that it will be something which is very difficult to establish unless someone comes forward with details.
Replying to Madam Justice Lofaro, Muscat stated that he never personally sent someone for questioning and had never been instructed to do so. Muscat was still an inspector at that point, and hence answerable to Ian Abdilla.
Operation Green Power: The special codename for 17 Black investigation
While former Police Commissioner Michael Cassar had mentioned ‘Operation Green’ in his testimony, Muscat went a step further and revealed the existence of ‘Operation Green Power’.
Operation Green, Muscat explained, was a report based on information gathered from the
Panama Papers in general which then also saw the Willerby report and the Adrian Hillman report included.
Operation Green Power, on the other hand, was specifically related to the March 2018 report into Konrad Mizzi, Keith Schembri, and 17 Black and all the procedures and letters sent out connected to that case.
They had made requests through Europol to gather information from overseas, but the majority of replies - those that did come, Muscat notes - had requested a rogatory letter. An inquiry was opened and by the end of 2018 two rogatory letters had been sent, Muscat explained.
Aquilina meanwhile said in his testimony that he had never heard of Operation Green, noting that he had never seen the police file on this case, but only the FIAU report.
FIAU divided investigation work into three branches
The FIAU had taken the decision to divide their work into these cases into three branches, it was revealed.
The point emerged during a meeting between the Economic Crimes Unit and the FIAU, the board heard, which discussed the contents of the FIAU’s first report. This report dealt with Keith Schembri, Brian Tonna, and the company Willerby.
The report, both Muscat and Aquilina testified, had been discussed with Ian Abdilla and was also the subject of a meeting with the FIAU, through Manfred Galdes and Alfred Zammit.
In that meeting, the FIAU had told the police that they would be dividing their investigations in relation to the revelations of the Panama Papers into three branches.
One report would delve into Schembri, Tonna, and Willbery; another into Schembri and Adrian Hillman; and a third report which would be analysing in a more general sense. "And that is what happened - the first one July 2016, the second in November 2016, and the last on 27 March 2018," Aquilina said.
That third report is what later turned out to focus on 17 Black.
Judge Said Pullicino at one point asked whether the police considered taking action following the Panama Papers. Aquilina replied that when it comes to money laundering, even the attempt to do so is considered a crime. Aquilina said that he wanted to pursue the case, but couldn't pursue it further as he did not have the files in hand.
Muscat meanwhile stated that he had never received any instructions to investigate the Panama Papers in a broader sense, including people who were not PEPs.
Police launched investigation into Adrian Delia based on Caruana Galizia story - Aquilina
Adrian Delia also got a less than honourable mention during proceedings after Aquilina was asked whether the Police had used any of Caruana Galizia’s writings to open investigations.
Aquilina referred to a particular investigation launched based on Caruana Galizia’s writings and passed it on to Abdilla. Although he did not initially name Delia, Aquilina’s explanation made it very easy to draw the conclusion on what the case being referred to was.
Aquilina told the board that it refers to a PEP and to a case relating to money from prostitution in the UK along with bank accounts connected to it in the UK and a particular company in the UK directly connected to the said PEP.
Judge Said Pullicino asked the question which was likely on most people’s minds: “Is the PEP Adrian Delia?” to which Aquilina nodded in the affirmative.
Asked by Azzopardi whether former government Minister Chris Cardona is involved in this investigation as well, Aquilina replied in the negative, although he said that he had passed this file on in November 2018 and does not know of developments since.
Both Aquilina and Muscat were asked the same final question: whether they had ever spoken to Yorgen Fenech and Keith Schembri. Muscat replied in the negative for both, while Aquilina replied that he had never spoken to Schembri, and had only spoken to Fenech to give out summon notices.
The public inquiry will continue on Wednesday 12 February at 2pm, with journalists Monique Agius and Caroline Muscat expected to testify.