Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1497281
13 NEWS maltatoday | SUNDAY • 16 APRIL 2023 • The second, sent by Vella to the same recipients, now with the then Deputy Commissioner Alexandra Mamo and Superin- tendent Frank Tabone - both of whom have since left the force, in CC on August 10 at 05:47am with the subject line "Nolle Prosequi Request (Mehmet Tas- li/Antoniella Jane Gauci) reads: "In relation to the subject in caption, please find attached the nolle prosequi request to the AG. Kindly go through the document, amend, delete and add any information you deem/ not deem fit in the circumstanc- es. Also kindly enclose the re- port with the analysis and the replies received from financial institutions and other govern- ment bodies. Please check me and on the NPG and NPG being referred in the proces verbal on whether the undersigned have referenced them well as I do not have a copy of the proces verbal handy. If you need any clarifica- tions, please let me know." • Replying to all parties to that email at 7am that same morning, Deputy Commission- er Mamo writes: "Good morn- ing - Thank you would be an understatement. Inspectors Bonello and Borg - this report has to reach the Attorney Gen- eral through this office by not later than tomorrow since the Criminal Inquest will be remit- ted to the AG today and there is a lengthy protocol to obtain the nolle prosequi. Supt. Tabone - ensure that this report reaches my desk tomorrow so that I will transmit it to the AG. Wish you a fruitful day - stay safe." European and international arrest warrants The Attorney General had signed off on European and International Arrest warrants against Tasli on 24 February, 2021, according to the docu- ments published in the book. "These warrants were drafted by the Police Force," Aquilina writes. "It is manifestly clear that when they were handed to [Inquiring Magistrate Ian Far- rugia] and approved by him, in February 2021, the intention of the Commissioner of Police and the Attorney General was to charge in court all those whom Magistrate Farrugia had direct- ed the authorities to prosecute. This position is diametrically opposed to the position taken just five months later, in August 2021, by the very same people, vis-a-vis the very same person, Mehmet Tasli." Aquilina says something must have happened between the mo- ment when the arrest warrants were issued and the moment when it was agreed between the police force and the Attorney General to issue nolle prosequi in respect of both Antoniella Jane Gauci and Mehmet Tasli. Aquilina points out that this was not simply an order to de- lay, pending further investiga- tion and collection of further evidence. "They were given a declaration personally signed by the Attorney General that they would not be prosecuted. Why would the Police Commission- er and the Attorney General go so far out of their way and risk exposing themselves to harsh criticism, to effectively give im- munity from prosecution to two persons, in blatant contradic- tion of the clear directions they had received from the Inquiring Magistrate?" Close political connections The book cites an unnamed source as suggesting that the in- tention had been to shield Gau- ci from prosecution "possibly, indeed probably, due to her and her family's close political con- nections." That source goes on to claim that Gauci's father and broth- er were political canvassers for Prime Minister Robert Abela, who had been the Gauci family business' lawyer while he was still in private practice. Aquilina states that the Gau- ci family owns a service station in Qormi, which is part of the Sixth electoral district where Abela was elected to parliament in 2017 and quotes online news portal The Shift, which had published an article stating that court records show Abela to have served as the Gauci fami- ly's lawyer in at least two cases between 2009 and 2015. The car into which NET TV cameras had captured Pilatus Bank Chairman Ali Sadr and Antoniella Gauci leaving the bank offices and loading two large bags on the now infamous night of 21 April, 2017, was also registered to Gauci's father, Aq- uilina adds. Tasli was junior to Gauci in the Bank's management structure, which meant that Gauci could not be absolved if her subaltern was prosecuted alone, the au- thor explains. This meant that any decision to absolve Gauci from prose- cution, necessarily meant that Tasli would also have to be let off the hook. Office of the Prime Minister says allegation is untrue In a statement on Saturday, the Office of the Prime Minister said the country's institutions work independently and with complete autonomy. "The government led by Rob- ert Abela gave citizens new tools to contest decisions taken by institutions, as is happening in the case being referred to in the book by the very same author and which procedures are still pending before the courts," the OPM said. The reference is to the right that was introduced a couple of years ago enabling anybody to challenge the Attorney Gener- al's decision not to charge indi- viduals in what is known in legal terms as nolle prosequi. Aquili- na and Repubblika are challeng- ing the AG's decision to issue a nolle prosequi in the Pilatus Bank case. "This shows government's trust in the institutions, and any allegation that could be intend- ed to condition pending court procedures, is just an untrue al- legation," the OPM said. official shielded from prosecution had to Robert Abela, new book claims Robert Aquilina (Photo: Miguela Xuereb, Newsbook)