Not so circumstantial

The quiet of a sunny afternoon in Gharghur was shattered last week by a blast in a farmhouse. There we go again, we must have said. Our instant reaction was that someone wanted to kill someone in what has become Malta’s favourite manner of assassination.

Later speculation seems to have come up with an alternative scenario. At around the same time, the country was digesting the testimonies of three foreign experts – two from the FBI and one from Interpol – regarding their investigations into the killing of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia on 16 October. At least one of the accused had asked the court to stop the testimony of these foreign experts but the court had turned this request down.

Most of the reports in the media reported in the time-honoured tape recorder manner. But others were more analytical. One such person, with more than enough reasons to do so was Michael Vella, Daphne’s father, who analysed, in a post on Manuel Delia’s Truth be Told blog, some details which had been revealed in the testimony at court.

Let’s begin with the phone data, as revealed in court by one of the FBI experts. The phone that was used as a detonator on 16 October had been used only twice before: on 10 January and on 21 August. At 1.41am on 16 October, the phone was turned on. It remained in the same location until 2.58pm when it received the text message ’#rel1=on’ after which it was disconnected. (We know why: it blew up).

These dates tell us the phone was first used as early as January. Now, on a completely different level, the common belief has been that Prime Minister Joseph Muscat decided to hold the election a year earlier than its term allowed, after Daphne made the Egrant claim that his wife had received funds from Azerbaijan.

But as Daphne herself had said in a blog posted on 17 May, the theme of the election had already been chosen in April, specifically 7 April when the domain name www.laqwazmien.com was registered. The Egrant claim was made by Daphne 13 days later. The decision to go for an early election had already been taken.

Now as Mr Vella (Daphne’s father) writes: “Plans were made by Henley and Partners to silence Daphne Caruana Galizia by SLAPP action, and approved by Keith Schembri and Joseph Muscat, back in November 2016.

“The plan was held back, quite certainly, due to public dissent and the loss of PL votes that such action would have caused in the lead up to the early 2018 general election. SLAPP action had to wait until Joseph Muscat was again se- cure in government for a further five years.

“SLAPP action was then instituted in Arizona, USA, against Daphne Caruana Galizia by Ali Sadr/Pilatus Bank, but put on hold (somewhat unconvincingly) because her home address was not known.”

Mr Vella then adds: “Following the election of Adrian Delia late in September, and the consequent emasculation of the PN as a credible political force capable of rallying an adverse public reaction to Daphne being subjected to serious harm, the political climate favoured a less protracted, cheaper, and permanent solution.” Daphne was killed by a powerful bomb on 16 October.

The media yesterday quoted Prime Minister Muscat: “There are ways and means to find out who ordered the assassination of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia,” Prime Minister Joseph Muscat has said.

“Without drawing comparisons with other countries, I am very pleased that we brought in foreign experts right from the get-go,” Muscat told presenter Andrew Azzopardi in an interview that was published in a book to commemorate a decade since the Prime Minister’s appointment as Leader of the Labour Party.

“They cooperated very well with the Maltese police and three men have been charged in court as a result. I believe we can also find out who ordered the murder, either through the ongoing judicial process or through other means.”

There the story remains, for now.