Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1191190
maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 11 DECEMBER 2019 3 NEWS Fenech lawyers rapped for wasting Constutional Court's time Cardona mobile data CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 PN MP Jason Azzopardi, also a lawyer for the Caruana Gali- zia family, had told the board that obtaining the TAP3 files was an urgent matter, because if the location information contained within them con- firmed Cardona was where Caruana Galizia had claimed he was at the time, this would mean the economy minister had perjured himself, since he had sworn under oath that he had not been at a brothel. In yesterday's sitting, the board said it had decided to uphold the lawyers' request, and would be preserving the files, which would remain in its custody. In October last year, Car- dona's aide Joe Gerada – whom Caruana Galizia had claimed was with the minister at the brothel – had dropped libel proceedings he institut- ed against the slain journal- ist over the allegations. Ear- lier that year, Cardona's libel cases were expunged by the court. The TAP3 data for both Car- dona's and Gerada's mobile phones had been in the cus- tody of the magistrate hearing the libel cases. The ceding of the libel suits effectively meant that the op- portunity, to verify whether the minister and Gerada were at the brothel, appeared to have disappeared for good. The decision by the inquiry board to obtain and preserve the case however reopens the possibility that the location of Cardona at the time he was al- leged to be at a brothel could come to light. Whether or not the infor- mation within the TAP3 files becomes part of the inquiry board's final report will likely depend on whether the board deems this relevant to the probe's scope. Moreover, while the in- quiry's terms of reference specify that the report has to be published, they allow for parts of it to be redacted if "strictly necessary" to safe- guard public safety, data pro- tection, national security, on- going or future investigations or when publication of the information could endanger a person's life. The terms also stipulate that the Caruana Galizia family has to be given access to the full report, including redac- tions. MATTHEW AGIUS YORGEN Fenech's constitu- tional case to remove the lead investigator in the Daphne Caruana Galizia murder inves- tigation only lasted a few min- utes yesterday. This was the second sitting of the case, which is being heard by Judge Lawrence Mintoff. Fenech, who stands accused of having masterminded Caru- ana Galizia's assassination, filed the constitutional case last month, after he was arrested by the police in connection with the murder. His legal bid seeks to remove Inspector Keith Arnaud from the investigation. Fenech has ar- gued that Arnaud has a close re- lationship with the Prime Min- ister's former chief of staff Keith Schembri. Fenech has claimed that Schembri used to pass on sensitive information about the murder investigation which he obtained from Arnaud. Yesterday's sitting saw Fene- ch arrive in court amid tight security. But the session was to be a very brief one, since Fene- ch's lawyers had summoned only a single witness. Defence lawyer Marion Camilleri called a Jobplus representative to the witness stand, who presented docu- mentation relating to a woman whose name was banned from publication by court order. Camilleri informed the court that she had no more evidence to present at that point, earn- ing her an admonition from the presiding judge for wasting the court's time and that of secu- rity providers and the press. Assistant Attorney General Victoria Buttigieg told the court she had not been pre- pared for cross-examination as she was not expecting it to hap- pen that day. The case was therefore put off to 17 December for cross- examination and evidence. In the first sitting of the case, held last week, Fenech had told the court that his relationship with the Prime Minister's for- mer chief of staff Keith Schem- bri had been fraternal in nature and dated back to childhood. He had claimed Schembri had kept him continuously in- formed on the progress of the investigations into Caruana Galizia's murder, including tip- ping him off before the potato shed raid which led to the ar- rests of Alfred and George De- giorgio and Vince Muscat, the men accused of being the ma- terial executors of the crime. The information, Fenech al- leged, would be passed on to Schembri by Arnaud. Fenech also said that Arnaud and Schembri's relationship was so close that Schembri had helped find a job for the in- spector's wife. His claims have been dis- missed by the police, who have insisted that Arnaud's work has led to significant results in the investigations which are taking place in collaboration with Eu- ropol. Lawyers Victoria Buttigieg and Maurizio Cordina are rep- resenting the Attorney Gen- eral. Lawyers Marion Camilleri and Gianluca Caruana Curran are appearing for the defence. Yorgen Fenech - accused of being the mastermind of the Caruana Galizia assassination MATTHEW AGIUS AND MASSIMO COSTA TWO days before her assas- sination, Daphne Caruana Galizia appeared "unusually thoughtful", her mother Rose Vella told an inquiry probing her daughter's murder. The journalist had visited her parents but forgot to take a gift she had prepared for them, Vella testified. Daphne had told her par- ents she would bring the pre- sent some other time, Vella recounted as she appeared in front of the three judges tasked with the public inquiry. Daphne's thoughtfulness had made her mother concerned. "I was concerned that my daughter could be the victim of a violent attack," Rose said as she was overcome by emo- tion and broke down in tears. Two days after that visit, Daphne was assassinated in a car bomb just after leaving her house in Bidnija. The public inquiry into Caruana Galizia's assassina- tion continued yesterday, with the family of the murdered journalist testifying on the harassment she and they were subjected to. Caruana Galizia's parents, Rose and Michael Vella, two of her sisters, Helene Asciak and Amanda Mallia, and her nieces Megan Mallia and Amy Mallia took the stand. They told the board on vari- ous events, both before and after the murder, which con- stituted harassment from gov- ernment officials and others. The witnesses recounted how, after the 2013 election and following the Panama Pa- pers revelations in 2016, the threats against Caruana Gali- zia had intensified. Moreover, with the PN in disarray after its massive loss at the 2017 election, this line of defence had also disap- peared, making the situation worse for her. After the 2017 election, Caruana Galizia had turned her guns on Adrian Delia who was in the running to become the new PN leader. The inquiry board yesterday also decided to uphold a re- quest, made by the Caruana Galizia family lawyers in the previous sitting, to preserve the TAP3 mobile network da- ta concerning Economy Min- ister Chris Cardona's location at the time the journalist had alleged he was at a German brothel while on government duty. The sitting was adjourned and will continue on 27 De- cember, when Daphne Carua- na Galizia's sons Paul and An- drew Caruana Galizia, and her sister Corinne Vella are due to testify. The inquiry's first sitting, held last week, saw one of the murdered journalist's sons, Matthew Caruana Galizia, and her widower, Peter Caruana Galizia, take the witness stand. Former judge Michael Mallia is chairing the inquiry board, while Chief Justice Emeri- tus Joseph Said Pullicino and Judge Abigail Lofaro are the board's other two members. The inquiry's terms of ref- erence stipulate that it must be concluded within nine months. Caruana Galizia public inquiry: journalist was harassed for her work, relatives say