Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1096093
13 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 24 MARCH 2019 NEWS Cauchi's disappearance with these corrupt land deals or the people in- volved in them. Piju Camilleri has always denied any link with Cauchi's murder, in- sisting he only got to know of his disappearance from the newspapers. However, an investigation car- ried out by MaltaToday in 2002 re- vealed how the day after Cauchi's disappearance, a man from the In- land Revenue Department had gone knocking on Anna Cauchi's door, asking for some important files. The man was later revealed to be a certain Charles Zammit, an ac- quaintance of the Cauchi family, who had been doing the bidding of a top official at the department, a cer- tain Micallef, known as Il-Mulej. In a renewed effort to carry on the investigation, in 2002, the police in- terrogated Zammit but the man who sent him had by then passed away. Nobody knows what information those files contained and why was it so important for an Inland Revenue official to go and pick them up, less than 24 hours after Cauchi went missing. The death of Lino Manfré Cauchi's disappearance must also be viewed in the context of another incident a few days before when his former boss at Diamantino-Manfré, Lino Manfré, died in mysterious cir- cumstances while receiving treat- ment at St Luke's Hospital. Manfré was said to have been ad- mitted in hospital with nothing seri- ous and his death raised suspicion. No explanation was ever given as to how a medical pipe attached to Manfré was removed. After Manfré's death Cauchi in- creased the value of his life insur- ance, interpreted by family members as an indication that he may have been fearing something bad was go- ing to happen to him. Cauchi's father, Emanuel, had claimed in a newspaper interview years later that Manfré had informed acquaintances that Lino Cauchi had access to all the files and was privy to sensitive information. Manfré's death and Cauchi's subse- quent disappearance a few days later has always left open the question as to whether both men were an in- convenience to someone because of what they knew. The priest's advice The MaltaToday investigation in 2002 had also prompted the police to question Fr Joseph Falzon, the Santa Venera parish priest at the time of Cauchi's disappearance. Family members had told MaltaTo- day that Falzon mysteriously advised Anna Cauchi soon after the disap- pearance to look for her husband in "the reservoirs of Santa Venera". The priest, who knew the family well had also confessed to them that he was scared, so much so that he visited on foot rather than by car. But Falzon changed his version when interrogated by the police many years later in 2002. Journalist John Pisani writing in Il- lum in 2014 said the police had al- ways considered Cauchi's murder a hard case to solve. Until the body was found, Cauchi's case was con- sidered as that of a missing person. When the discovery of the victim's remains was made, the body had to be identified. It was only in 1989, when the mag- isterial inquiry concluded its report that Cauchi's case became a murder investigation. Cauchi's funeral was held in April 1989 at the Immaculate Conception church in Hamrun. The son he never saw was also there – a seven-year- old boy dressed in school uniform. Paolo, named after his father, whose official name was Paulino, had received a special dispensation from the Curia to be able to receive the Eucharist since he had not yet made his first holy communion. With little evidence, a lot of omertà and the passage of time, hope that justice would ever be done continues to fade. It has been left to Anna and Paolo to seek some form of closure by in- stituting legal proceedings against the State, which in the eyes of many may not have done enough to solve a brutal murder that continues to haunt the national conscience. TIMELINE End November 1981 A meeting is held at the Valletta office of Joe Pace, the owner of the Magic Kiosk in Sliema. Pace was a director in Terry Ltd and a shareholder with Piju Camilleri in Tor Ltd. The people present for this meeting are Pace, Camilleri, business partners Jo- seph Borg and Victor Balzan, notary Joseph Saydon and accountant Lino Cauchi. Borg and Balzan jointly want to develop land they own in Fgura but Camilleri is asking for 22 plots to be transferred to his company in exchange for the building permits to be issued. The meeting is intended to finalise the transfer of plots but Borg plays for time and another meeting has to be scheduled. 8 December 1981 A contract is signed for the transfer of 22 plots in the Ta' Belinja area in Fgura from Borg and Balzan to Camilleri. However, at the last minute, Camilleri decides that Pace should appear on the contract in his stead and the plots are transferred to Terry Ltd. During this meeting, a separate private agreement is drawn up between Borg and Camilleri in settlement of another dispute between them involving their joint company Luqa Developments Ltd. When testifying in court in a case he later instituted against Pace and Terry Ltd, Borg said the private agreement was drawn up by Lino Cauchi. The agreement would see Camilleri transfer 30 plots back to Borg. In exchange, Borg would drop a court case he had instituted against Camilleri. The agreement is held by Cauchi but goes missing when he disappears two months later. 12 December 1981 A general election sees the Malta Labour Party returning to power after winning a majority of seats but a minority of votes. This gives rise to a turbulent period that lasts until 1987. 15 February 1982 Lino Cauchi returns home in Santa Venera for lunch at noon. An hour later he leaves for work at his office in Old Bakery Street, Valletta. At around 5pm two of Cauchi's clients ask for him at home but his wife Anna tells them he is not there. They point out that his car is parked outside. Cauchi never returns home. The last recorded sighting is at 6.30pm in Valletta. 16 February 1982 An Inland Revenue official visits Cauchi's wife, Anna, at the family home and asks her to pass on certain files. She passes on the documents because the man is a family friend. Years later it transpires that this official was obeying instructions from a top official at the department by the surname Micallef, known as Il-Mulej. 17 February 1982 Cauchi's briefcase is found abandoned in the vicinity of Chadwick Lakes. The briefcase is empty and forced open. 15 November 1985 Human body parts wrapped in plastic bags are found in a well in Buskett in an area known as il-Bosk. The body cannot be identified. A mallet believed to be the murder weapon is also found in the well. 3 May 1988 In-Nazzjon reports that the remains belong to Lino Cauchi and were identified by Australian forensic experts. 20 March 1989 Magistrate David Scicluna concludes his inquiry into the discovery of body parts in Buskett and concludes the victim was Lino Cauchi. The report says the man was killed by a violent blow to the head with a heavy mallet found inside the well. The case now becomes a murder investigation. 24 April 1989 Cauchi's funeral takes place at the Immaculate Conception church in Hamrun. His son, Paolo, is now seven years old. June 1992 Cauchi's name crops up in the testimony Joseph Borg gives in a law suit he institutes against Joe Pace over the transfer of land. Borg describes in court what happened in a meeting held on 8 December 1981 with Piju Camilleri. Borg says Cauchi was present at that meeting as Camilleri's accountant. He also identifies Cauchi as the person responsible for drawing up a private agreement to settle a dispute between Borg and Camilleri. 7 April 1994 Testifying in court during a libel case against Il-™ens, Piju Camilleri denies Lino Cauchi was ever his accountant. He also denies any connection with him, an as- sertion he reiterates years later when summoned to testify in front of the inquir- ing magistrate. Macabre murder: the remains of Lino Cauchi are discovered in a well in Buskett. The crime has never been solved