Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1096093
12 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 24 MARCH 2019 NEWS LINO Cauchi was kidnapped and butchered, his body sawn off, packed in plastic bags and dumped inside a well at Bus- kett. He was only 32 when he dis- appeared without trace, leav- ing his pregnant wife Anna and relatives perplexed as to what may have become of him. Cauchi's last words to his wife at around 1.30pm on 15 Febru- ary 1982 were: "I'll see you to- night." It was not to be and 37 years after he was brutally killed, nobody has ever been charged with the gruesome murder. Two days after his mysterious disappearance, Cauchi's brief case was found in the area of Chadwick Lakes, forced open and empty. Cauchi's remains were dis- covered by chance in Novem- ber 1985 by someone who had gone to wash his car in Buskett. The gruesome find unearthed human body parts and a mal- let. Three years later Australian forensic experts concluded the remains belonged to Cauchi. Inquiring magistrate David Scicluna, who later became judge, wrote that the man was killed by a violent blow to the back of his head by the same mallet found in the well. The skull was fractured in 28 places as a result of the blow and forensic evidence suggest- ed that both a manual and an electric saw were used to dis- member the body. Cauchi's murder remains a mystery to this day. His widow, Anna, and their now 37-year- old son Paolo, whom Cauchi never saw, are seeking com- pensation from the State for what they claim was a murder facilitated by the violent politi- cal climate of the time and the lack of willingness to properly investigate the case. The corrupt land deals Cauchi was an accountant by profession. He worked for the firm Diamantino-Manfré be- fore branching out on his own. His name had cropped up in testimony given by busi- nessperson Joseph Borg in court proceedings and before the Permanent Commission Against Corruption. Borg was testifying on sev- eral land deals he was involved in during the turbulent 1980s with other businesspersons linked to the notorious Labour minister at the time, Lorry Sant. Borg and his business part- ner Victor Balzan had formed Luqa Developments Ltd, a joint company with Piju Camilleri, Sant's right-hand man and a works manager at the Public Works Department. Borg had testified that he en- tered into this arrangement on Balzan's suggestion, to be able to acquire building permits without running into trouble with Lorry Sant. Borg and Balzan had trans- ferred property they owned in Luqa and Marsaskala to the joint company with Camilleri. At the time, building schemes were amended at will by Sant and according to the Perma- nent Commission Against Corruption he used this power to award or castigate individu- als. Camilleri also sat on the Plan- ning Area Permits Board that granted building permits. The corruption commission had noted how a recurrent trend was for building schemes to be changed, removed or created each time Camilleri and other protagonists got involved in a deal. Borg eventually realised that Balzan was two-timing him, having been in cahoots with Camilleri. Camilleri used his leverage on Balzan to convince Borg to agree to the transfer of plots to his personal company in ex- change for building permits. On some occasions, Camilleri asked Joe Pace, who owned the now-defunct Magic Kiosk in Sliema, to appear in his stead on these corrupt deals. Lorry Sant, Piju Camilleri, Victor Balzan, Joe Pace and others had been charged in court in 1989 with corrup- tion but the cases fell through after then magistrate Carol Peralta ruled the crimes were time-barred despite there be- ing enough evidence to issue a bill of indictment. Till this very day, Sant remains the only politician to ever be charged in court with corruption. The missing documents In this web of corruption and intrigue, Borg had described Cauchi as Piju Camilleri's ac- countant and placed him in at least two stormy meetings pri- or to the 1981 election. Camilleri has always denied Cauchi was his accountant. He told the inquiring magistrate that he only met Cauchi once or twice in his life. Camilleri had testified that it was his brother Indri, who knew Cauchi. Indri Camilleri was an accountant and took care of the joint company's books. When a dispute arose with Borg and Balzan over the accounts, Indri had suggested roping in Cauchi as an ac- countant instead of him. Camilleri has always insisted that Cauchi never entered the meeting and simply waited outside because the dispute was resolved and his services were not required. However, Borg's testimony told a different story. Borg described how in one of the meetings Cauchi presented accounts of the joint company that showed how Camilleri was inflating expenses to the det- riment of his fellow business partners. The accounts showed the real value of the property and the declared value on contract. Camilleri was enraged by Cauchi's faithful presentation of the accounts, which he had wanted to be kept hidden from Borg. In 1981, Borg wanted out of the joint company and de- manded that the remaining unsold land be divided equally between the shareholders. Borg described how a pri- vate agreement between him- self, Piju Camilleri and Vic- tor Balzan over the transfer of lands to settle the ongoing dispute had been drawn up by Cauchi. The promise of sale agree- ment would see Borg acquiring some 30 plots. The draft of that agreement was kept by Cauchi and went missing when the accountant disappeared two months later, leaving Borg empty-handed. The general election was held on 12 December 1981 and months before that date there was a rush to conclude several land deals, fearing a change in government. Evidence submitted in court claimed that Camilleri de- manded plots of land in Fgura, Safi and San Gwann, among others, as compensation for awarding permits on other plots or changing the building schemes. The disappearing files There is no evidence to link Lino Cauchi: The accountant who knew too much In February 1982, a 32-year- old accountant bade his pregnant wife farewell and never returned home. His dismembered body was discovered more than three years later in a well. KURT SANSONE revisits the case