No request so far by Malta to obtain copy of data from Caruana Galizia laptops

So far, the Maltese authorities have not asked the German police for a copy of the data found on the laptops and hard drives of slain journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia, the chief prosecutor of Wiesbaden has confirmed.

Contacted by The Malta Independent on Sunday, Attorney General Oliver Kuhn said he could not answer questions on which information Germany would be willing to share with Malta, and that the German police would make sure that Caruana Galizia’s sources are protected, because the German authorities are still examining the data.

Last month, Times of Malta, which forms part of the Daphne Project, reported that the Caruana Galizia family had, through a representative, handed over two laptops and three hard drives belonging to the murdered journalist to the German Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA). The equipment was handed over on 27 April. Caruana Galizia was killed in a car bomb attack metres away from her home in Bidnija on 16 October of last year. At first, it had been reported that her laptop was destroyed in the fire, but this newspaper had later revealed that the laptop was not in the car at the time of the explosion.

A few days after the assassination, the police had taken possession of a laptop, but it later emerged that this was an old device that the journalist had not used in two years. It was later reported that the police had requested Magistrate Anthony Vella, who is leading the murder inquiry, to take possession of the laptop the journalist was using at the time of her murder. The magistrate could not confirm, when asked by sections of the press, whether he had asked the family for the laptop.

The Caruana Galizia family had later confirmed that it was holding on to the laptop because it did not trust the Maltese police with the sensitive information it contained, including the identity of her sources.

Daphne’s sister, Corinne Vella, had said: “Daphne would never have wanted her laptop to be given to the authorities. She always hid her laptop before going out. It was about protecting her sources, and she died protecting her sources. She knew that whatever information the police got hold of would go straight to the same people in government she was investigating.”

Daphne’s son Matthew had said earlier he did not know where the laptop was, saying he would rather burn it than give it to the Maltese police.

In May, PN MP Jason Azzopardi, who is also appearing for the family in court, revealed that Daphne Caruana Galizia had received hundreds of thousands of documents from an Electrogas whistleblower. Electrogas is the consortium that built and now operates the new Delimara power station.

The family’s reluctance to hand over the laptops to the Maltese police was exploited by one of the murder suspects, Alfred Degiorgio, who claims that the laptop might hold information pertinent to his legal defence. He has claimed that his right to a fair trial was being breached by investigators’ failure to obtain the last laptop used by the murdered journalist.

Times of Malta reported last month that the German regional prosecutor had informed Magistrate Aaron Bugeja that the police authorities in Germany had taken possession of the laptops. Bugeja was informed of the development because he already had a working relationship with the German federal police, having previously asked them for information related to the Panama Papers.

It was reported that the Maltese courts and police could now ask the Germans for a copy of the data found in Caruana Galizia’s laptops. This raised questions about the protection of the journalist’s sources – would the German police hand over all the data, including the names of the sources, thus rendering the whole exercise futile?

The Malta Independent on Sunday asked Wiesbaden Attorney General Kuhn whether the Malta Police Force or the Maltese courts had requested the BKA to hand over the data from the laptops and, if a request was made, whether the BKA had accepted or refused the request.

We also asked whether the BKA would share all contents of the laptops or only share the information it deems necessary to the murder investigation in Malta. Will the journalist’s sources be protected when information is being shared with Malta? And how would the BKA determine which information is relative to the case and which information is sensitive (protection of sources)?

Replying, Kuhn said: “Until now there has been no official legal assistance request by the Maltese authorities to be given the equipment or the data stored on it by copy.”

Kuhn said he could not answer the rest of the questions “first of all because the content of the equipment must be examined by the police.”