Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1050749
3 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 11 NOVEMBER 2018 NEWS ordinary Maltese house house on the same day the accident happened found no trace of the cov- ert operation. "It appeared as if the house had been stripped of the equipment despite information gathered by the inquiry on the operation going on inside the building," the source said. The scene was described as one that involved a quick getaway. "There were remnants of wire cords still sticking out of the concealers, clearly ripped in a hurry, and the remains of a dish aerial on the roof," the source said. But this was not the only hurdle the Maltese investigative authorities faced. Missing black boxes The source said that two black boxes and three laptops were retrieved from the crash site despite French authori- ties claiming in a report published last week that the aircraft was not sup- plied with black box technology. The black boxes and one of the laptops had gone missing soon after French investigators came to Malta, the source said. It appears that NET News had ini- tially reported the story of the missing evidence but, as of today, this article is no longer available online. These were not the only documents to go missing. The source said docu- ments on the aircraft's maintenance supplied by CAVOK, a subsidiary of CAE, so crucial to the investigation, had been sequestered by the French secret service. These documents were not acces- sible to the Maltese court, effectively stalling the case. Air accident report The report published by the BEA-É, an agency tasked with investigating air accidents involving military and other aircraft used by law enforce- ment agencies in France, blamed lack of adequate maintenance on the air- craft's modifications for the Malta crash. It also reserved some scathing re- marks on the Maltese control tower, noting it was not the first to sound the alarm that something was wrong with the aircraft. But the source said the French deci- sion to publish the air accident report was questionable given that Malta had jurisdiction over the investiga- tion. When contacted, police Inspector Melvyn Camilleri, who is heading the police investigation into the accident, said investigators were not endorsing the French report. "We absolutely do not agree with their conclusions," he said. Camilleri, however, would not elab- orate and refused to comment on the information in MaltaToday's hands. Court-appointed expert Colin Galea, an aircraft engineer, also re- fused to comment on the Maltese in- quiry's findings. Kenneth Chircop, CEO of Malta Air Traffic Services (MATS) said, the company had collaborated fully with the Maltese investigation. "The investigation was conducted with the full collaboration of MATS and without any hindrance whatso- ever. While the inquiry is still ongo- ing, it is prudent for the company not to comment further on the accident," Chircop said. Attempts to contact Magistrate Do- reen Clarke proved futile. dhudson@mediatoday.com.mt