FIAU Director stopped me from taking full report into Konrad Mizzi to magistrate – Ferris
The Financial Intelligence Analysis Unit’s Kenneth Farrugia, who would later be appointed as its Director, stopped Jonathan Ferris from taking the Unit’s full report into Konrad Mizzi and his Panama structure to Magistrate Aaron Bugeja, the former FIAU investigator said yesterday.
Testifying in front of the public inquiry into the assassination of Daphne Caruana Galizia – which is made up of retired Judge Michael Mallia, Chief Justice Emeritus Joseph Said Pullicino, and Madam Justice Abigail Lofaro – Ferris said that Farrugia had insisted that he should only take the last four pages of the 130 page report with him.
When he arrived in court, Ferris found the Head of the Economic Crimes Unit Ian Abdilla – whom he had seen at the FIAU out of office hours – there as well who said that Bugeja had already been given a copy of the report and that Ferris merely had to verify it.
Ferris said that he found some discrepancies in the report that he was presented when compared with the one which he had penned.
The report into former Minister Konrad Mizzi and his Panama structures dominated most of the testimony, with Ferris providing details from in the report and speaking of how it had been handled by those who ran the FIAU.
The 130-page report, he said, had been completed in March 2017. A copy was sent to him, the analyst who worked on it, FIAU Head Kenneth Farrugia and his deputy Alfred Zammit, with the agreement that they would meet the week after to send the report to the police.
Ferris said that he had read the report overnight, but noted that Farrugia had barely even skimmed it before dismissing it.
He continued by explaining that when cases being investigated by the FIAU were leaked by the media, then the unit would immediately go to the police with the information. He recalls how The Malta Independent had published a story related to Konrad
Mizzi and the LNG Tanker, and states that he had phoned Kenneth Farrugia “at least 13 times” to no reply - with Farrugia actually hanging up on him on one occasion.
When he confronted Farrugia about why he had not made a report to the police, Farrugia said that, “I have been given different instructions.”
The report in question named Keith Schembri, Brian Tonna, Karl Cini, Brian Tonna, Mossack Fonseca, and Nexia BT along with the €150,000 monthly income for Mizzi’s company and the arrangement on his London flat as suspicious.
He noted that the FIAU works on the basis of “reasonable suspicion”, while the police works on the basis of “beyond reasonable doubt”.
Konrad Mizzi’s presence in Montenegro soon after an agreement was signed between the country and Enemalta also raised suspicions, Ferris said, as did a 1c transaction on a credit card belonging to Mizzi. He also noted that Mizzi made 17 trips to China, and stayed at hotels on 16 occasions in spite of having family there.
Ferris also stated that banks in Dubai, the Bahamas, Miami, and Panama had all rejected setting up an account for Mizzi, and the willingness to pay $4,500 for a service - opening the account - which would otherwise be free also raised suspicions. This was before the Panama Papers scandal broke out, he pointed out.
Ferris continued that at the time there was a sense of paranoia surrounding the FIAU in May 2017, not least due to the remarks of Finance Minister Edward Scicluna, who had said that the reports had been “written to be leaked”.
He said that he had suspicions that someone was accessing his office, noting that his office was the only one which was not covered by CCTV cameras.
He said that he had seen Ian Abdilla – then Head of the Economic Crimes Unit – at the FIAU long after office hours.
Days later he was summoned to court by an Inspector Stivala to testify in front of Magistrate Aaron Bugeja in relation to an inquiry he was conducting into the leak of documents from Electrogas, which had been one of the topics in The Malta Independent’s story.
He said that he had taken his red file about the case out of the drawer to take with him, but Kenneth Farrugia had insisted that he should only take with him the last four pages of the conclusions.
In spite of having been summoned by Inspector Stivala, Ferris said that he when he got to court he found Ian Abdilla with Bugeja instead.
Ferris said that Abdilla had provided consistent opposition to his testimony, before stating that he had been presented with a report by the Magistrate and insisted that he should go through it himself as he did not trust a single person inside the courtroom.
Ferris said that he did and found some discrepancies, but cannot recall exactly what they were.
He said that he was sacked soon after, in June. Asked whether he knew why he was sacked, Ferris said that to this day he did not. He has since filed a case against his dismissal, and a case against the Police Commissioner for resisting his reinstatement.
Home Affairs Ministry under Carmelo Abela had demanded information about investigations - Ferris
Carmelo Abela – currently Minister within the Office of the Prime Minister – was also mentioned during Ferris’ testimony, with the former FIAU investigator saying that Abela had requested information on an ongoing investigation during his time as Home Affairs Minister.
Answering a question from the board on whether there had been any interference in the police while he was still part of the corps, Ferris said that he had once been emailed by Abela’s secretary asking for details about this investigation – details which he refused to provide.
Ferris explained that the secretary tried to go above his head to ask for this information, as he received another email the day after with the same demand. After this demand was also rejected, he received a third email, written in caps, which stated clearly that it was the Minister himself who wanted the information. The Minister was also cc’ed in the email, Ferris said.
He explained that he was then called in by Ian Abdilla who advised him not to “create diplomatic incidents” and to hand over the information. Ferris told the board that he once again refused to provide the details, and that he had replied to the email stating that “data protection laws are for everyone (even the Minister)”.
Copies of the email exchange were submitted to the inquiry, and Ferris noted that there were no other similar such cases during his time in the police.
‘John Dalli told me that Egrant belonged to the Labour Party, and stood for “election grant”’ - Ferris
Ferris was asked about his testimony in the Egrant inquiry and whether he had anything to add, he said that he had been summoned to clarify certain matters by then-Magistrate Aaron Bugeja on 8 August 2018 and had not been summoned since.
The matter that he wished to seek clarification on was with regards to the $1.017 million transaction which Daphne Caruana Galizia had reported on on 21 April 2017, Ferris said.
This was a transaction which allegedly took place between the wife of the former Prime Minister Michelle Muscat and the Azeri ruling family, and which had led to Ferris receiving a compliance report which the FIAU had penned on the bank prior to the commencement of employment with the FIAU.
He told the inquiry board of his shock at seeing that in spite of the fact that this compliance check had shown serious breaches in the bank’s practice, the FIAU had given it a “clean bill of health”.
Also speaking about Egrant later in the testimony, Ferris once again said that it had been John Dalli who had told him that Egrant belongs to the Labour Party and stands for “election grant”. Ferris noted that he had told Magistrate Bugeja this, and that it had then been leaked by MaltaToday.
John Dalli was ‘obsessed’ with Caruana Galizia, described her as ‘cyber-terrorist’ - Ferris
Ferris also spoke about the time when he had met OLAF Head Giovanni Kessler in Rome, recalling that Kessler had asked him whether he had received a report from OLAF about John Dalli.
Ferris replied that he had not, with Kessler saying that he had sent it two months prior to the Attorney General. Ferris said that he went to the Attorney General Peter Grech’s office and told him about the report. Grech, he said, had replied that he had not received any such reports. Ferris told Grech to look properly, and the report was eventually found under some papers on his desk, with the envelope still sealed.
John Dalli was also mentioned later in the testimony, with Ferris recalling that Dalli was “obsessed” with Daphne Caruana Galizia, and had described her as a “cyber terrorist”.
Ferris recalls 45 minutes first phone call with Daphne Caruana Galizia
Ferris said that he had never met Daphne Caruana Galizia, but noted that he did receive a telephone call from her once.
At the time, he said, he was at mass and had called her back – after which point an argument had ensued for 45 minutes because she had insisted that they, the Economic Crimes Unit at that point, had treated whistleblower Maria Efimova badly.
Three days later however, she phoned back and apologised for that introduction and asked to start afresh. Ferris clarified that Caruana Galizia had never asked him for information.
On 30 June 2017 when the story on him being sacked from the FIAU broke, she had sent him a message saying that these are hard times and that “they” had done the same thing to her son’s diplomatic post.
Asked by the board whether he had on any occasion, both as a police officer and at the FIAU, had any suspicions that Caruana Galizia’s life was at risk. “No”, Ferris replied before pointing out that she was considered as an open source of information.
Asked whether he felt that there may be a threat, Ferris said that it never really crossed his mind, noting that in Economic Crimes they look more at numbers than threats. The public inquiry will continue on Monday 3 February at 2:30pm.