Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1498713
4 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 7 MAY 2023 NEWS CONTNUED FROM PAGE 1 In it, the incarcerated broth- ers say their claims had already been brought to the attention of the Prime Minister and the Commissioner of Police as well as other high-ranking police officers, but that no action had been taken. And they claim the justice system had been being abused to mislead and accuse people who "as far as we know had no part in these crimes" – they said. 2017 Daphne Caruana Galizia murder Regarding the murder of Daphne Caruana Galizia, the Degiorgio brothers are claim- ing to know first-hand that the truth of what actually hap- pened was different to that be- ing "depicted and projected by the investigating police officers and politicians." The hitmen said they now believed that there was a con- certed effort to cover up for the "real criminals who commis- sioned these crimes." "We can testify about the involvement of several per- sons, amongst them ex-min- ister Chris Cardona and Keith Schembri. We can testify about the involvement of former Commissioner of Police Law- rence Cutajar and the Secret Services," reads the declara- tion, making the never-before heard claim that before the 2017 general election, MSS agents had been tailing Carua- na Galizia and reporting on her movements. "The police were given in- structions not to pass through the area where Caruana Galizia lived. We can confirm this our- selves," they said. They accused Police Hom- icide Squad Superintendent Keith Arnaud of having acted on direct instructions from prominent persons in order to protect them and charge peo- ple who the brothers say they "believe had never been in- volved in the case." The €1 million bounty for in- formation that was offered by the government in the imme- diate aftermath of the murder was a "game meant to make the persons actually involved look like virgins." "But we make it clear that the person promised and given a pardon is twisting the facts and we believe that he is saying what someone else is dictating to him," the statement reads. 2010 HSBC Heist Alfred and George Degiorgio allege that they have already given the police information about the 2010 HSBC heist, and another hold-up on a cash van in Santa Venera, in which they allege that then-Labour MPs (and former ministers) Chris Cardona and Carmelo Abela, and the lawyer David Gatt, to have been involved, to- gether with co-accused Vince Muscat 'il-Koħħu' and "several other well-known criminals." Those allegations are not new, but the brothers are now alleging the involvement of a police officer who had been in the Special Assignment Group at the time and who was now part of the Rapid Intervention Unit. The Degiorgios say they had already provided information about three unsolved bomb- ings which occurred between 2013 and 2017, but no further action had been taken. "The authorities do not want them to be solved," the state- ment reads. "We are mention- ing these cases amongst others because we have already given information about them to the authorities, but evidently there is no interest in this informa- tion coming out into the open. Besides these, we have and know of other very serious cas- es which, for the time being, we do not wish to reveal." 'We are not the monsters we are being depicted as' The brothers said that they were now going public "so that everyone can be informed of the truth about certain crimes which happened and the truth about which is being twisted in order to protect certain promi- nent persons." "We are being depicted as so- ciety's monsters, but without taking anything away from the gravity of these crimes, we want to make it clear that we are also victims of the same prominent figures in Maltese society." "We are not the monsters of society as the people who were involved are depicting us. We were under the yoke of and completely manipulated by prominent people, like Minis- ters, the Commissioner of Po- lice and high-ranking officials of that time, as well as by Of- ficers in the Armed Forces. We had passed on a lot of sensitive information to Inspector Keith Arnaud, which was supposed to be passed on to the Commis- sioner of Police, the Attorney General, the Cabinet and the President of Malta," the broth- er said. The Degiorgios say they had been used by several people, "amongst them ex-ministers like Carmelo Abela and Chris Cardona, lawyers amongst them David Gatt… and high-ranking officers in the po- lice as well as the army." It was clear, they said, that be- cause of "internal pacts which must be honoured," not every party involved in the crimes will bear their share of respon- sibility. Despite having passed on "sensitive and useful informa- tion" to the police about sever- al unsolved crimes, the police did not take any action, "per- haps on the instructions of cer- tain important persons." The Degiorgio brothers de- clared that they were prepared to once again pass on this in- formation today, "but to some- one who truly wants to solve these cases and not who, as has happened so far, uses it to dirty us more and protect third par- ties in their positions and in so doing ensure his position and that of his family. The oil must come to the surface of the wa- ter." The statement ends with a plea to the President of the Re- public, who the convicted mur- derers say they know to be a correct and honest person, "oc- cupying a serious office, that is above political and adminis- trative manipulation… We ask you to intervene on the basis of these facts…let the people who you represent know the truth because they are being misled by those who hold sway over them and [by] certain individ- uals who are furthermore pro- jecting themselves as virgins while being in reality demoni- cally possessed." Repeating a statement, they had made in previous years, the jailed assassins said they "truly wished that their victims' fam- ilies be told the whole truth, so that they can find comfort in the justice that must be done with who truly was behind the crimes which we have offered to testify about." 'We can testify about Cardona and Schembri, Cutajar and MSS' "We are being depicted as society's monsters... we're also victims of the same prominent figures in Maltese society" George Degiorgio smiles during his prison leave, attending a baptisimal party for his grandchild