BusinessToday Previous Editions

21.11.19 9 EDITORIAL BusinessToday is published every Thursday. The newspaper is a MediaToday publication and is distributed to all leading stationers, business and financial institutions and banks. MANAGING EDITOR: SAVIOUR BALZAN EDITOR: PAUL COCKS CONTRIBUTING JOURNALIST: MASSIMO COSTA BusinessToday, MediaToday, Vjal ir-Rihan, San Gwann SGN9016, Malta Newsroom email: bt@mediatoday.com.mt Advertising: afarrugia@mediatoday.com.mt Telephone: 00356 21 382741 T he news that Tumas Group's Yorgen Fenech is being held by the police as a "person of interest" in the Daphne Caruana Galizia murder investigation has multiple repercussions. ere are the legal and judicial repercus- sions, which could lead the police to come closer to capturing and prosecuting the mastermind behind the assassination. e police must be allowed to carry out their job with serenity and diligence to en- sure that all those involved in the assassina- tion are charged in court and enough proof is put forward to establish guilt. ere are the political repercussions of this latest development with business links forged after the 2013 election between Fenech and government exponents, Kon- rad Mizzi and Keith Schembri. e latter two have not been implicated in the murder investigation but their link to Fenech through the Dubai-based company 17 Black makes their position in authority even more untenable. eir continued re- sistance to step down continues to harm the government and the country. But there are also business repercussions that cannot be ignored. While Fenech is innocent until proven guilty, the mere fact that he is considered as a person of inter- est in a murder investigation, is a seriously worrying matter. For starters, the Tumas Group he is a shareholder in, is one of the largest Maltese companies with wide interests in various sectors of the economy. It is also an investor in the Electrogas consortium that is respon- sible for the country's electricity supply. It is not implausible to foresee a situation where this company would need to rebuild its reputation with investors and financial institutions over the coming years. is is a painstaking exercise because al- though Fenech has resigned his director- ships in the family companies, his arrest will undoubtedly create shockwaves that will have repercussions for the wider econ- omy. However, despite these possible repercus- sions, no stone should be left unturned in uncovering the truth behind Caruana Gal- izia's murder irrespective of who may be involved. ere can be no economic or business consideration big enough to justify looking the other way. e quest for justice is mor- ally correct and is an important cog in the workings of a modern democracy where the rule of law should reign supreme. Nobody is above the law. At this stage, it is unclear what the police have on Fenech and whether the investiga- tion has wider implications on his business ethic. Indeed, it is premature to jump to conclusions at this stage. But it would be naïve to look at the devel- opments in an isolated way as if they are only linked to Caruana Galizia's assassina- tion. e journalist was killed because of what she wrote or was about to reveal. ere must have been a motivation big enough to eliminate her. And within the circumstanc- es it is not implausible to suggest that the motivation may have been linked to pos- sible information the journalist may have received on corruption or shady business deals. Corruption and business deals that in- volve criminal activity harm society and the business community. No right-thinking in- dividual can ever justify these. Murder is the highest form of violence an- ybody can inflict on the individual and soci- ety. Malta has had too many unsolved cases that left festering wounds. And while some may argue that this has no relevance for the business community, upright individuals know that assassina- tions are a destabilising factor. Businesses do not function in a vacuum; anything that happens leaves reverberations. is is why it is important for the truth in the Caruana Galizia murder case to come out. e truth may take its time not to prej- udice ongoing investigations and prose- cutions but it should eventually come out. And when it does everyone should take stock of the situation, including the busi- ness community and the authorities. A shocking development

• Cover