Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1191190
THE lawyer Pawlu Lia, who has assisted the Prime Min- ister in various cases, has dropped his legal brief for the former chief of staff Keith Schembri. The disgraced former chief of staff withdrew two pend- ing libel cases against slain journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia, while other pending libel law- suits filed against her by the Prime Minister have been put off to March in view of the present situation. The Schembri libels, which were related to about kick- backs from Azerbaijan in 2017, were withdrawn by means of a note filed on De- cember 6. Magistrate Victor Axiaq, having seen the note, announced that he would not be taking further cognisance of the case as it was being withdrawn. ANALYSIS WWW.MALTATODAY.COM.MT WEDNESDAY EDITION €1.00 Newspaper post WEDNESDAY • 11 DECEMBER 2019 • ISSUE 668 • PUBLISHED EVERY WEDNESDAY AND SUNDAY EDITORIAL • PAGE 9 NUMBER-CRUNCHING THE CRISIS Easier to throw eggs than to run a country MATTHEW AGIUS THE man behind an arson at- tack in Ħaż-Żabbar, the footage of which went viral on social media, has been sentenced to four years in prison. The shocking footage emerged on Monday, showing a man dousing a car in petrol and then setting it alight while horrified family screamed at him. The arson attack was captured on video by a member of the family. One of the men shout- ing that he was burning their car because the family have "no respect". Although it was not men- tioned in court today, the inci- dent is believed to have started over an argument over a park- ing spot. Felice Delia, a 54-year-old resident from Marsaskala, ap- peared in court before duty magistrate Simone Grech along with two men who were under 18. All three pleaded guilty. Delia was sentenced to imprisonment for four years, while the other two accused were handed the same sentence, suspended for two years. The victims were placed un- der a protection order, with the accused also being ordered to pay for the damage he caused to their car. Four years' jail for man in Zabbar arson attack Viral video that shocked nation PAGES 6-7 RAPHAEL VASSALLO PAGE 10 Inquiry to preserve Cardona mobile data BROTHELGATE MASSIMO COSTA CHRIS Cardona's mobile phone location data from his infamous trip to Germany in January 2017 will be pre- served by the public inquiry into Daphne Caruana Galizia's murder. The inquiry board will pre- serve the TAP3 mobile net- work files that are crucial to ascertain whether Cardona was actually at a brothel while on official business as report- ed by Daphne Caruana Gali- zia. During the inquiry's sitting last week, Caruana Galizia family lawyer Therese Como- dini Cachia asked the board to obtain copies of the TAP3 files. The files relate to claims published by Caruana Galizia on her blog that Cardona was at a German brothel, the FKK Acapulco, while on govern- ment business in Germany. Comodini Cachia had said that the TAP3 information would be necessary when the public inquiry came to dis- cuss whether the police had done their job properly. PAGE 3 PM's lawyer drops brief for Keith Schembri Don't know and won't vote: young and grads An educational divide: why oppositon to Muscat is greater among university graduates