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2 maltatoday EXECUTIVE EDITOR Matthew Vella MANAGING EDITOR Saviour Balzan Letters to the Editor, MaltaToday, Vjal ir-Rihan, San Gwann SGN 9016 E-mail: dailynews@mediatoday.com.mt Letters must be concise, no pen names accepted, include full name and address maltatoday | SUNDAY • 26 JULY 2020 The nuts and bolts of Malta's rule of law problem Editorial THE assassination of Daphne Caruana Galizia changed everything for Malta. It was not just the brutal mafia-style killing of a jour- nalist whose work on the Panama Papers – and more importantly, the crucial 17 Black connection – had turned her into the sworn enemy of a clan with busi- ness interests at the heart of Castille. In the years before the arrest of Yorgen Fenech, the owner of 17 Black, Caruana Galizia's murder met a few shoulder shrugs; the prospect of a "mafia state" conspiracy was a bitter pill to swallow for many, so soon after Joseph Muscat had been reconfirmed in power with such force. For others, Caruana Galizia's legacy was a mixed bag – not uncomfortable with her class of muck-racking journalism, but not comfortable with the shrill, an- ti-Labour crusade either. Much of that, however, has been rendered inconse- quential by what happened in November 2019. The nexus between Castille and Fenech, the alleged mastermind in the assassination, but also the elements of Malta's underworld employed to execute the mur- der, as claimed by State's evidence Melvin Theuma, is what makes this the most important criminal case in Maltese history. So the near-death of Theuma, at his own hands, raises the fear of a serious derailment of this case: one which home affairs and justice ministers Byron Camilleri and Edward Zammit Lewis must take personal interest in. It will not suffice for the police to claim that Theuma, a chief witness who is not under arrest, requested for his privacy to be respected. Such a high value 'pentito' makes him an excellent cadaver for many: his presi- dential pardon hinges on revealing a series of crimes as well as the names of organised crime members. And that means he cannot be treated like a normal court witness. He should have been closely protected – even from himself – at all costs. If the Maltese police cannot understand the gravity of this man's condition, his psychiatric care needs as well as personal security needs, but also the prospect that a few people inside Malta's organised crime world want him dead, then this is clearly a serious problem for Malta's prime minister to reflect on. Theuma's testimony mentioned a variety of names that point towards the existence of an organised crime network, and whose lesser-known associates and pas- sive members might also be in intimate contact with high-ranking police officers. Apart from the three men arrested in December 2019, allegedly with advance knowledge of the po- lice raid, Theuma has mentioned the Agius 'Maksar' brothers as alleged procurers of the bomb that killed Caruana Galizia, and a host of names with connec- tions to former police commissioner Lawrence Cuta- jar and former minister Chris Cardona. It is this confluence of names and connections that now raises a more serious spectre of organised crimi- nality and, perhaps, police ineptness. Before Caruana Galizia's assassination, Malta shrugged its shoulders at the countless gangland deaths, disappearances and car bomb killings that seemed to have suggested that a new generation of criminals was carrying out a long-overdue 'spring cleaning'. This newspaper reported on the connections of some of these killings after the arrest of the Degiorgios (but Caruana Galizia had portentously asked the forebod- ing question: "where would it all dovetail?"). The busi- nessman Giovann Camilleri, killed in a car bomb, had close relations with George Degiorgio ic-Ciniz; the gunned-down lawyer Carmel Chircop had loaned the More Supermarket directors an interest-free €750,000 loan – appearing in the contract was Adrian Agius: one of the men first arrested by police in December 2017 in connection with the assassination of Caruana Galizia. The same Agius brothers acquired the shares of a company they jointly owned with Terence Gialan- ze, just four weeks before he disappeared eight years ago. What sort of justice exists for the family relatives of the people who died in these gangland murders? For the lack of deterrence and justice they have been de- nied, is after all the same that has been denied to all those who mourn Caruana Galizia, and the rest of us who realise the fearful prospect of what a police force unable to get a grip on Malta's organised crime prob- lem, would imply for this island. Far from downplaying the crucial importance of Malta's constitutional renewal and judicial reforms (crusading former Nationalist ministers who slept on the reforms before 2013 make the irony irresistible), we need to give ample room to bring forth Malta's urgent problem on police prosecutions, money laun- dering, unexplained wealth, judicial delays, court in- efficiencies (the muddle on the Theuma transcripts is just one of so many sorry details of the week) and the lack of deterrence for the criminal network that has presided over the last years' assassinations and gang- land killings. Ultimately, these are the nuts and bolts of Malta's rule of law problem. 25 July 2010 'I was on a friend's boat': Paul Borg Olivier THE Nationalist Party's secretary general Paul Borg Olivier has just returned to Mal- ta after holidaying in the Mediterranean on board PN donor and construction magnate Nazzareno Vassallo's brand new superyacht, the 'Perla'. In an identical rehash of the 2007 vacation with the former secretary-General Joe Sal- iba, Zaren Vassallo also courted Paul Borg Olivier aboard his luxury superyacht for a much-needed summer break. Borg Olivier was in fact spotted along with his wife lounging on board the Perla, a brand new 75-foot Princess superyacht in Sicily by many Maltese boaters who were berthed in a different parts of Sicilly. This is how Borg Olivier justified his vaca- tion: "The trip you refer to must be seen in its perspective as a short trip, in my personal capacity, on board a boat of a friend. In that context, any other speculation would seem frivolous." The PN secretary-general later called the newsroom and asked: 'what are you going to do to me? (x'se taghmluli?) and added that he intended to add something more to his reply, but he admitted that he decided not to say it. "I better not say more… perhaps you will quote me," Borg Olivier said, hanging up. Moreover, in his reply he asked MaltaToday to reproduce his answer in a box to avoid any right of reply. For the second time running, the presence of a high PN official holidaying with Vassallo confirms the intimate relationship between the party and the magnate, a former PN may- or who has admitted to financing the party. But it also raises the questions on how the Vassallo connection has influenced party, and even government policy: the Vassallo Builders Group is the civil works contractor for Danish firm BWSC, the controversial firm that will build the 200 million extension for the Delimara power station. In the face of serious allegations of corruption — as yet unproven but never criminally investigated – and confirmed irregularities in the tendering, the government has stood by its decision to go ahead with the 144MW extension. ... Quote of the Week "While we have grown accustomed to the MDA and the construction lobby shedding crocodile tears after accidents like these, we're not holding our breath about them even paying lip service to a worker." Moviment Graffitti on the death of a Gambian construction worker at the site of a Cospicua construction accident MaltaToday 10 years ago