Chief Investigator in Daphne Caruana Galizia murder investigation testifies in public inquiry

The Chief Investigator in the murder of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia, Keith Arnaud, testified in front of the public inquiry into the journalist’s murder on Wednesday.

Testifying in front of Judge Michael Mallia, Chief Justice Joseph Said Pullicino, and Madam Justice Abigail Lofaro, Arnaud recounted the process that the police followed in the investigations into the journalist’s murder.

Perhaps of most note from Arnaud’s testimony is his recounting of two meetings held at Castille prior to the arrest of 10 people in connection with the murder in December 2017. Three of those – Alfred Degiorgio, George Degiorgio, and Vince Muscat – were eventually charged in connection with the murder.

Arnaud said that just over a month after the murder, then Assistant Commissioner Silvio Valletta instructed him to accompany him to Castille for a briefing on the case. He said that then Prime Minister Joseph Muscat was present, as was his Chief of Staff Keith Schembri, and possibly his spokesperson Kurt Farrugia amongst others.

"I never had meetings at Castille on any other case...but no other case was like this," Arnaud said when asked if this was usual practice.

He remarked that by that time, they had identified that the murder was executed with a bomb, and that they had traced the three mobile phones used to set the bomb off. However, there was still no plan for any arrests at that point.

Arnaud also confirmed that a second meeting took place a week or so later, where the police mentioned three potential dates for the arrests to take place – these being 4 December, 5 December, or 10 December. Eventually, the arrests took place on 4 December. He said, however, that he had not informed the government about which date was to be chosen.

This being said, Arnaud did not exclude having informed them about some of the names of those who would be arrested. He said that if names had been mentioned, they would have been those of the trio, who are now charged in connection with the murder.

At the time of these meetings, the police had no knowledge of the alleged involvement of Melvin Theuma and Yorgen Fenech in the murder, or even of the motive behind the assassination. Arnaud remarked that it was clear to them, however, that there was a mastermind beyond the trio who were arrested on 4 December, as there was no connection between them and Caruana Galizia.

Arnaud also said that they had briefly considered the fuel smuggling scandal that was in the news cycle at the time as being possibly connected to the murder, but had eventually not spent much time on this idea. They had confirmed that, as of yet, no connection between the two has emerged.

The Director of the Department of Information Paul Azzopardi also testified on Wednesday, with his testimony centring on the issuing of DOI access cards and of press releases and press coverage lists.

Azzopardi said that all press releases and press calls are issued online and can be accessed by anyone through the Department of Information’s website and even receive notifications through an RSS system.

Madam Justice Lofaro pointed out, however, that while all the information about press coverages is publicly available, people still cannot attend government press conferences and ask questions without a press card. Azzopardi first clarified that the term "press card" is a misnomer and that under his watch that term had changed to be an access card. He stated that it is not the DOI which decides who is a journalist or who isn't. He asserted that once an editor signs off on a person, they are approved by the DOI.

The public inquiry will continue on Friday morning.