Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1264355
4 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 28 JUNE 2020 NEWS European Union Programmes Agency Mtarfa Road Mtarfa, MTF 1140 europass.eupa@gov.mt 2558 6132 www.europass.eu europass.eupa.org.mt Looking or applying for your first job? Take the next step Visit the new Europass platform today CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 Fenech's request was made in the presence of his lawyer, the former Commissioner of Po- lice Lawrence Cutajar, deputy Attorney General Philip Galea Farrugia, and police inspectors Keith Arnaud and Keith Zahra. In his presentation to the Cabinet, lead investigator Keith Arnaud then told ministers that Fenech said he had information on corruption in the Electro- gas deal, in which he was part of through his partnership with SOCAR of Azerbaijan and Sie- mens, and which formed the major policy plank in Labour's election bid of 2013; as well as the Mozura wind energy park in Montenegro; but also about a particular financial transac- tion made through Hong Kong, apart from other potential cas- es of corruption. It was the same day that Jo- seph Muscat had withdrawn from the Cabinet meeting that discussed the pardon. "Fenech told investigators he would reveal names and facts in return for a pardon," one of the people present in that Cabinet meeting said. "The request was made to Muscat, who convened Cabinet and then retired to al- low the rest of the ministers to decide on the request." The Cabinet deliberated until 3am when it decided not to give Fenech a pardon. That same day, Muscat made it publicly known he had received messag- es from people close to Fenech that unless he recommended a pardon, he would also be tar- geted by accusations. But as one witness told Mal- taToday, ministers were faced with a catch-22 on what to do with the suggestion that Fenech held the key to greater corrup- tion cases. "The corruption being alleged hit right at the heart of Mus- cat's administration. At that point, there was no clear idea of what kind of corruption Fenech was alleging and how far it went. Pardoning Fenech days after he had been arrested was unthinkable, and outside the rage in the streets was palpable. To some people inside Cabinet, it would have meant opening a Pandora's box to bring down the government," an eyewitness source said. But since the revelation of the Mozura wind energy scandal only last week, in which it is believed that Fenech's 17 Black loaned millions to an offshore company to acquire the Mon- tenegrin wind farm shares that were later sold at an inflated price to Enemalta, witnesses from the November Cabinet meeting now fear the worst. "At that point in time, the de- tails of the Montenegro scan- dal were unknown to Cabinet ministers," another source who confirmed to MaltaToday de- tails of the Cabinet meeting, said. Yorgen Fenech is one of the shareholders of GEM Hold- ings, a group of investors that includes the Gasan group, which together with SOCAR and Siemens had won the pub- lic tender issued by the Labour government to build a new 200MW liquified natural gas plant at Delimara in 2014. But it is now known that Fenech had deep personal and business ties with Joseph Mus- cat's former chief of staff, Keith Schembri. When the Panama Papers broke in 2016, Schem- bri and energy minister Konrad Mizzi denied any wrongdoing in setting up two secretive off- shore structures in Panama and corresponding trusts in New Zealand. The two men were attempting to search for inter- national bank accounts that would receive millions. In 2018 – a year after the assassination of Daphne Caruana Galizia – it was revealed that the Panama companies had listed a myste- rious Dubai company 17 Black as a target client, and that the owner of that company was Yorgen Fenech. Apart from the proven nexus between Labour's top brass and Fenech's business empire, the revelations of the Montenegro scandal, where Fenech alleged- ly loaned money from 17 Black for the acquisition of shares in a wind farm later resold to state utility Enemalta, now spark fears that yet more con- troversial government projects are tainted by the same level of corruption. The ongoing compilation of evidence against Fenech has so far confirmed that throughout 2018, both Muscat and Schem- bri were aware that the Malta Security Services were consid- ering Fenech as a person of in- terest in the assassination. Telephone conversations recorded by the middleman Melvin Theuma also suggest that Schembri kept a number of individuals, including Yorgen Fenech's own business partner Johann Cremona, abreast of de- velopments in the case. The recordings also reveal that weeks before his arrest, Theuma was aware of a po- lice raid on his property due to a money laundering inves- tigation initiated by the FIAU; and that he could leverage his knowledge of the assassination and his ownership of recorded telephone conversations with Yorgen Fenech, to obtain a presidential pardon. Theuma has also said that a former MSS officer working as security at Castille had been sent by Schembri to inform him that the three men accused with the murder would be granted bail. Schembri has denied under oath having had this involve- ment in the case. "I think that my position made me the per- fect target," he told the court. "I would really go through fire for Yorgen but I never spoke to him about this case. Not even when I was getting close to him, I had to keep a straight face and pretend not to know." Fenech wanted pardon to reveal graft Muscat's 3:30am Cabinet meeting and press conference where the pardon for Yorgen Fenech was denied