Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1531100
6 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 5 JANUARY 2025 ANALYSIS FROM PREVIOUS PAGE The FIAU investigation, which was not yet completed, had also uncovered money transfers from a company linked to the agent of the floating LNG storage tanker at Delimara, Mario Pullicino, to 17 Black. The TMI story, which came out a week before the 2017 general election, was eclipsed by the allegations made by Caru- ana Galizia that Egrant, another Panama company, belonged to Michelle Muscat, the wife of then prime minister Joseph Muscat. With the Labour Party going on to win the election in spectacular fashion, 17 Black then faded into obscurity. Caruana Galizia was murdered in Oc- tober 2017 and it was after her death that a consortium of investigative journalists preserved her work and started looking into several leads she had been working on. Roll forward to April 2018 and Keith Schembri, in a rare public statement is- sued by the Department of Information, reacted to revelations that his Panama company had listed 17 Black as a target client alongside Macbridge. Schembri confirmed that 17 Black had been in- cluded in a business plan for his Panama company but gave no further details. The revelations made by the Daphne Project were based on email exchanges that happened in 2015 between Nexia BT, the financial advisors for Schembri and Mizzi, and potential banks in foreign jurisdictions where they were trying to open bank accounts. At that point, the unanswered question was who owned the mysterious Dubai company going by a name reminiscent from the gambling world – 17 Black. The Yorgen Fenech link The answer came in November 2018 in a Reuters and Times of Malta report that named Tumas Group shareholder and CEO Yorgen Fenech as the owner of 17 Black. The revelation was damning because it provided a direct link between one of the owners of the new gas power station – Fenech not only owned shares in the Electrogas consortium but was also its primary interlocutor with government – and two of the most powerful men in government – energy minister Kon- rad Mizzi and OPM chief of staff Keith Schembri. The gas power station project had been piloted by Mizzi and was a central plank in the PL's 2013 electoral manifesto be- cause it allowed the government to shift electricity production to cleaner gas and lower electricity prices. While Reuters did not trace any fund transfers between 17 Black and the Pan- ama companies owned by Mizzi and Schembri, the connection on its own raised serious question marks over the intention behind the whole obscure ar- rangement. The implication was that 17 Black would be used as the vehicle for kickbacks to Mizzi and Schembri by one of the power station owners. A UAE bank account The Reuters report quoted unnamed sources saying that Malta's anti-mon- ey laundering watchdog, the FIAU, had identified Fenech as the owner of 17 Black. But Reuters also quoted a source in the United Arab Emirates, who said account records at Noor Bank in Dubai identified Fenech as the owner of 17 Black. Bank- ing correspondence described Fenech as the owner and signatory of a 17 Black account at Noor Bank. A source in the UAE also told Reuters that around €9 million to €10 million went through 17 Black's account at Noor in 2015, after which the account became dormant. Reuters could not confirm the figures. The source told Reuters that most of the money paid into the 17 Black account had "swiftly moved on to other entities", while retaining a balance of about €2 million. The bank appears to have frozen the ac- count in the absence of evidence for the business purpose of these in-out transac- tions. The Maltese FIAU had traced two payments to 17 Black, one from a Sey- chelles-based company fronted by an Azeri national and one from the Mal- ta agent of the gas tanker at Delimara, Mario Pullicino. At the time, Fenech's name was not linked to the assassination of Caruana Galizia. It was a year later, in Novem- ber 2019 that Fenech was arrested and charged with masterminding the journal- ist's murder. He is pleading not guilty and is awaiting trial. Denying wrongdoing Meanwhile, since 2018 all the people linked to the 17 Black saga have denied any wrongdoing. Schembri had denied any involvement in the power station deal, insisting the plans related to 17 Black were intended for when he exited politics. He even said that then prime minster Joseph Muscat was aware of this business arrangement. Indeed, when testifying in front of the The first time 17 Black came to light was in a cryptic blog post on Daphne's Running Commentary in February 2017 Above: Joseph Muscat admitted when testifying in the Daphne Caruana Galizia Public Inquiry that he knew 17 Black was a 'business matter' between his former chief of staff Keith Schembri (right) and Yorgen Fenech