5
ANALYSIS
maltatoday | SUNDAY • 5 JANUARY 2025
KURT
SANSONE
ksansone@mediatoday.com.mt
17 BLACK
FROM DAPHNE'S CRYPTIC
POST TO CRIMINAL CHARGES
NEXT month marks eight years
since Daphne Caruana Galizia put
up a cryptic message on her blog
flagging, for the first time, 17 Black.
The February 2017 blogpost con-
sisted of a title, '17 Black – the name
of a company incorporated in Du-
bai', and a photo montage of Keith
Schembri, John Dalli, Joseph Muscat
and Konrad Mizzi with the words
'17 Black – Dubai' emblazoned be-
neath them.
It was later in the comments sec-
tion of the same blog post that Caru-
ana Galizia also mentioned Yorgen
Fenech when replying to an obser-
vation made by one of her readers.
Today, the comment that trig-
gered Caruana Galizia to mention
Fenech is no longer available since
it was deleted. What we are left with
is her reply: "A couple of the owners
of their magic new corruption pow-
er station: and it's Yorgen Fenech.
So thanks for this, because it really
figures."
When Caruana Galizia put up
that blogpost, she ostensibly did
not have the full picture of what 17
Black really was and its purpose.
But five days later she described 17
Black as "the company which those
crooks use to move money in and
out of Dubai".
She also said that the Financial In-
telligence Analysis Unit (FIAU) and
the Police Commissioner "know all
about 17 Black".
A fuller picture emerged three
months later when The Malta Inde-
pendent revealed that an investiga-
tion by the FIAU had found that 17
Black was created for the purpose
of transferring money to the Pana-
ma companies of Konrad Mizzi and
Keith Schembri called Hearnville
and Tillgate respectively.
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