Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1372546
2 KURT SANSONE VINCE Muscat is waiting for his trial appointment for his in- volvement in a daring heist on HSBC headquarters in 2010 that ended in a shootout with police. But the failed hold-up was only the most audacious in a string of high profile hits carried out by the same criminal gang over the span of a few years. In December 2010, lawyer Da- vid Gatt was charged with being the mastermind of this gang and faced accusations of criminal as- sociation in the four cases listed below. However, Gatt was acquitted of all charges in 2017, with Mag- istrate Antonio Micallef Trigo- na casting doubt on the police's star witness – Mario Portelli, a police officer who claimed Gatt headed the mafia-style gang. One of the pieces of informa- tion that Portelli had volun- teered to the police was that Gatt had received "ten" for ad- vising the men who carried out the HSBC Balzan branch hold- up to deposit strands of hair in the getaway car to put investiga- tors off track. Gatt had been kicked out of the police force years back after for- mer police commissioner John Rizzo accused him of cavorting with known criminals. The accusation was made after secret service phone intercepts of criminals involved in a hold- maltatoday | SUNDAY • 16 MAY 2021 NEWS Delivery fee of just €1 per day for orders up to 5 newspapers per address To subscribe 1. Email us your choice of newspapers, recipient's name, address, contact number to production @millermalta.com 2. Forward cheques payable to Miller Distributors Ltd on address: Miller House, Airport Way, Tarxien Road, Luqa LQA1814 Queries on other news- papers and magazines, production@ millermalta.com maltatoday Same-day delivery of your favourite Sunday newspaper Monday-Friday MaltaToday Midweek • €1 BusinessToday • €1.50 Sunday MaltaToday • €1.95 ILLUM • €1.25 Support your favourite newspaper with a subscription https://bit.ly/2X9csmr Cases 30,475 Active 177 Recoveries 29,884 Deaths 417 Vaccines 414,632 LATEST COVID-19 www.maltatoday.com.mt/covid19 A series of daring CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 Mercieca asked for a copy of Abela's deposition so that the police could "continue its inves- tigations on the case". It is unclear why the inspector had to ask the judge for a copy of Abela's testimony since it is included in the acts of the case, which he would normally have access to as prosecutor. In his request, the inspector says "in view of the recent alle- gations against witness Carmelo Abela, the police has opened an investigation anew on the allega- tions raised." The judge informed the At- torney General and Abela of the police's request. Neither the AG nor Abela, through his law- yer Pawlu Lia, objected to the request but the minister asked to be given a copy of the docu- ments that will be passed on to the police. MaltaToday is informed that in his submission with the judge, Abela's lawyer said that his cli- ent did not remember testifying in the compilation of evidence but if that was the case he had no problem with the testimony being handed over. Abela reaction MaltaToday asked Abela whether he should resign pend- ing the police investigation into the allegations. Prosecuting inspector tells court 'new investigation opened' David Gatt: the lawyer, former police inspector, and also associate of former minister Chris Cardona, was acquitted of the 2010 HSBC heist Minister reports Bogdanovic ex, claims 'stalking' MATTHEW AGIUS EDUCATION minister Justyne Caruana has filed a criminal complaint against the ex-wife of footballer Daniel Bogdanovic, as well as her sister, over allega- tions of stalking. Bogdanovic, a close friend of Caruana, was granted a €15,000 direct order to provide a three- month review of sports curricu- la in the national sports college. The contract was repealed by the government upon being re- vealed by MaltaToday. Sources said Bogdanovic's for- mer wife had followed her hus- band to the Gozo ferry where she photographed him in the company of Caruana. A crim- inal complaint was later filed with the police. MaltaToday understands that the police in- spector who issued the charges, Josef Gauci, is also the brother of Caruana's assistant private sec- retary at the education ministry, Steven Gauci, a person of trust. The case will be heard next week, with the woman expect- ed to be charged with stalking, harassment, causing fear of vio- lence, as well as uttering insults and threats. Daniel Bogdanovic was part of an intake of unemployed workers, who obtained a gov- ern-ment job in 2019 through the GWU-managed Community Workers Scheme, with the Gozo ministry. In December 2020, he was reported to be working as a 'sports educator', accord-ing to government records. Then on 21 January 2021, he got a new contract of service to provide an overview of the modus operandi of the Skola Nazzjonali tal-iS- port, at €5,000 a month to assess the standards of academic and sports curriculum at the school. The minister responsible was Justyne Caruana. Justyne Caruana