'Unless you have enough evidence you don't send for people'

The public inquiry into the murder of Daphne Caruana Galizia continued yesterday, and Assistant Commissioner Ian Abdilla defended decisions not to send for certain high profile people, saying that with the rules of disclosure, “the instructions I give on all my cases is that unless you have enough evidence you don’t send for people.”

The inquiry is tasked, among other things, with determining whether the State did all it could to prevent the murder from happening.

Assistant Commissioner Ian Abdilla testified yesterday. Abdilla had already testified in the public inquiry earlier this year. Last week, Abdilla was replaced as head of the police’s Economic Crimes Unit in one of the first major decisions taken by new Police Commissioner Angelo Gafà.

Michael Mallia, the retired judge heading the inquiry, asked Abdilla about his many money laundering investigations. “The cases are very varied. There are hundreds, not one or two,” he responded. Mallia narrowed down his question to investigations on the Panama Papers, Pilatus Bank, the Enemalta Montenegro deal and other related ones.

On the Pilatus Bank investigation, the judges asked about the time period when the bank was allowed to operate despite the live broadcast of its owner leaving the premises at the dead of night. The reference was to live footage taken by a NET TV camera crew that filmed Pilatus Bank owner Ali Sadr Hasheminejad and a top bank official leaving the Ta’ Xbiex premises at night. Hasheminejad was carrying with him a travel bag.

Abdilla said he wasn’t aware at the time the footage was being aired. “Shortly afterwards I received a call from the Police Commissioner asking me to come to depot at around 9pm. The issue of the suitcase was subject of the Egrant inquiry. The bank was entirely covered with CCTV. There is uninterrupted footage from the moment that Sadr left his taxi and entered the bank.”

Mallia admonished him. “Don’t you think it is irresponsible, leaving him alone for hours despite the suspicion?” Abdilla said that the matter was the subject of a long discussion with the Attorney General as to under what law the police could stop the owner of a bank from carrying documents. “He wasn’t stealing them,” he said.

The board pressed Abdilla on the issue.“The bank was closed immediately and spent months under lock and key... Even if we had been on the scene immediately after the broadcast there would have been nothing because it was all recorded,” Abdilla replies.

Abdilla was then asked about account holders at Pilatus Bank. “There was only Keith Schembri... as far as I know, Konrad Mizzi doesn’t have an account there.” Abdilla: “We didn’t take any steps as... God forbid that every time we receive a report we take steps. Every bank has these reports.”

Abdilla said he wanted to talk about the Pilatus investigation and gave a long explanation of how this was done. “Hopefully in the coming months we will have arraignments,” he adds.

One of the judges interjects: “This is good but in order for this to happen a journalist had to be murdered.”

Abdilla continued that he would use Daphne Caruana Galizia’s blog as a source for his investigations. It was probable that he had used it for the bank investigation, he added.

Abdilla said that Michelle Muscat was first mentioned on the night that the Egrant story broke on Caruana Galizia’s blog. “People out there might think that we did nothing. But Malta had one of the largest investigations. The FIAU investigated. Foreign experts were involved - we had the best experts involved. The bank was analysed from scratch, it cost us millions. Malta never had an investigation like this before.”

Lawyer for the family Therese Comodini Cachia pointed out that the bank’s computers were seized a year after the first report was filed. Abdilla said: “At first, we assume that the bank works with normal due diligence. Due diligence indicated Keith Schembri. I hadn’t sent for him at the time but Keith Schembri was later summoned in the [Egrant] magisterial inquiry.”

Abdilla said: “In many of our cases, the police don’t work independently of the magistrate. We need the experts appointed by the magistrate...” Judge Abigail Lofaro interjected and with a loud voice asked: “Did a magistrate tell you not to summon Keith Schembri? Yes or no?” Abdilla: “No.”

Judge Lofaro could not believe that he had not spoken to Schembri or Mizzi or other high profile subject persons.

Abdilla said: “Today with the rules of disclosure, the instructions I give on all my cases is that unless you have enough evidence you don’t send for people… No request for international cooperation had been made at the beginning.”

Lawyer Jason Azzopardi pointed out that in July 2018, Magistrate Aaron Bugeja, who led the Egrant inquiry had demanded that Karl Cini from Nexia BT be investigated for perjury. Abdilla: “The case is almost concluded... the person doing it is a good man... and it might not even be perjury.”

Azzopardi asked whether the police had sent for any of the directors of Enemalta over the Cifidex and Montenegro investigation. The reference is to a wind farm project purchased by Enemalta from Cifidex in Montenegro in 2015. A recent news investigation by Reuters and

Times of Malta revealed how Cifidex had only just bought the shares in the project before selling them at more than triple the price to Enemalta. Yorgen Fenech’s 17 Black ended up pocketing a “profit share” from the Cifidex sale.

Abdilla: “No. The investigation is part of the 17 Black investigation. There was just one transaction involving Cifidex... where necessary we are sending letters rogatory. Dubai hasn’t bothered replying. The Cifidex report in its conclusive state hadn’t arrived from the FIAU. All we have is a draft report. The investigation into Cifidex was given a boost with the arrest of Yorgen Fenech.”

Azzopardi: “Do you know that a journalist and the son of the victim went to Dubai and obtained this information? Why can’t the Maltese police not do this?”

Abdilla protested that the police are bound by procedure and protocol. “The police cannot just up and do things like this… I was hurt by the fact that the media had been more successful than the police on this issue,” he added.

Judge Lofaro asked why he had not sent for Keith Schembri and Konrad Mizzi. She shook her head and added: “We seem to be living in a parallel universe.”

Azzopardi asked Abdilla why he had told his subalterns not to send the letters rogatory to Montenegro until the end of summer. Abdilla explained that not even the magistrate had sent letters rogatory to Montenegro. Letters rogatory had been sent to France though, he confirms.

Azzopardi turned to Pilatus: “Have the Maltese authorities asked for the extradition of Ali Sadr from the US?” Abdilla said the US authorities hadn’t answered a letter rogatory and had given reasons. But the rest is to be discussed behind closed doors, he added.

Azzopardi said that Caruana Galizia had mentioned on 19 April 2017 a link between the daughter of the Azerbaijani leader, Alijeva, and Egrant but the police waited 24 hours to investigate. “Why?”

Abdilla responded: “The Egrant inquiry involved, among other things, gathering all the journalist’s writings on the issue. We didn’t find the transaction and couldn’t trace it at all... there was nothing that was close to this allegation. At the time, Azerbaijan did not even have a functional FIAU. We tried to investigate any truth in that report and analysed everything. But we found nothing at all.”

Comodini Cachia asked about 17 Black and Dubai. She queried whether the police information indicated that the transactions were mostly in dollars. “Yes, mostly,” Abdilla replies.

Comodini Cachia: “Doesn’t this always require an American correspondent bank?”

Abdilla: “Yes.”

Comodini Cachia: “Had you asked any American correspondent banks about the transactions?”

Abdilla: “Normally, the correspondent bank would have the Swift message... to date we want the full picture of Yorgen Fenech and all his interests in Dubai.” He insisted on answering the question in private.

Abdilla was asked about a visit to Yorgen Fenech at Portomaso with then deputy police commissioner Silvio Valletta. He was also asked when he got to know about the involvement of Fenech in 17 Black. Abdilla: “It was 18 March [2018] for sure because the FIAU report told me.”

He was asked again about the visit to Portomaso. Abdilla said it happened the “Sunday or two Sundays” after the Times of Malta revealed 17 Black belonged to Fenech. Comodini Cachia interjected, suggesting it happened between the 9 and 14 of the month. Abdilla said that Valletta had called him up to tell him that Yorgen Fenech was not there. “I had discussed the visit with Valletta as my direct superior,” he added.

Abdilla was asked who took the decision not to interview Fenech at the depot. “It is possibly his... Valletta’s,” he replied.

Abdilla said he never knew Fenech personally. “I never spoke to him or exchanged phone calls or messages. The relationship between Valletta and Yorgen, we heard it on recordings shortly before it came out on the media.” Abdilla said he does not know how Valletta knew that Yorgen was not there on the day that he was going to question him.

The sitting continued behind closed doors.