Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/969423
maltatoday SUNDAY 15 APRIL 2018 2 News Daphne Caruana Galizia assassination CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 In the meantime, Buhagiar authorised the lease of a second vehicle through BICC for his use. MaltaToday is informed that the office of the perma- nent secretary launched the audit in the past ten days and that Buhagiar is expected to turn in the two vehicles by Tuesday. A spokesperson for minister Ian Borg confirmed that the office of the permanent secretary had launched a re- view concerning BICC, one of three reviews currently underway in separate entities falling within the minis- try's purview. An email was sent earlier this week to notify the three entities – which also include Transport Malta – about the review. "Given that such reviews have recently been initiated, at this stage the Ministry would first compile the re- port and send it for the management's comments," the spokesperson said. Permanent Secretary Christopher Cutajar would not comment on ongoing audits and referred the newspaper to the same spokesperson. When contacted, Charles Buhagiar confirmed that the office of the permanent secretary had informed BICC about the review and that this was related to transport. He also confirmed that since late 2013, the BMW 320 had been parked outside his private residence, that his wife had made use of the vehicle and that BICC had leased another vehicle for his use. "Soon after I was assigned the chauffeured car in 2013, the vehicle developed damage in the gearbox and the local agent had quoted around €7,000 to replace it," he said. "I refused to pay so much on repairs and decided to keep the car aside to be used as needed for short trips." Buhagiar told MaltaToday he did not inform the min- istry of the car's damage or the cost. MaltaToday un- derstands that since the vehicle was leased out for of- ficial use, he was not necessarily personally liable for the damages. Buhagiar said that the vehicle was usually parked out- side his personal residence and he confirmed, when pressed, that his wife did make use of the vehicle al- though he said it was probably to drive him around. When reminded that he had a chauffeur to drive the newer car leased, Buhagiar said his wife would have probably used the vehicle mostly in the evenings and for short trips. Buhagiar confirmed that the office of the permanent secretary had notified BICC that they would be visiting their offices on Tuesday to discuss matters related to transport. "There was no way I was going to pay €7,000 in repairs and that is why I decided to keep the vehicle aside," he said. pcocks@mediatoday.com.mt "The vehicle developed damage in the gearbox and the local agent had quoted around €7,000 to replace it. I refused to pay so much on repairs and decided to keep the car aside to be used as needed for short trips." Charles Buhagiar Perm sec leads inquiry into BICC chairman on car leasing CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 "There was a court applica- tion in this sense but I can- not remember for certain. It has been a while and the acts of the inquiry are now part of the compilation of evidence," he said. Vella was appointed to head the murder inquiry instead of Magistrate Consuelo Scerri Herrera after the Caruana Gal- izia family had asked for her removal from the case. The missing laptop may con- tain information that could be crucial to the investigation. In court, last week it emerged that the only laptop analysed by court-appointed expert Al- fred Cardona was an old one last used by the journalist in December 2015. Cardona was testifying in the compilation of evidence against three men accused of murdering Caruana Galizia with a powerful car bomb six months ago. Cardona told the court that the laptop, a maroon Dell mi- ni, did not contain any recent material from the journalist's blog. It was the only laptop given to him for analysis. In another sitting last De- cember, police inspector Kurt Zahra had testified that no sign of Caruana Galizia's lap- top was found at the scene of the explosion and that the vic- tim's son, Matthew, did not know whether she had taken it out with her. Caruana Galizia's last blog- post on the day of the murder was uploaded at 2.35pm and contained the famous words 'There are crooks everywhere you look now. The situation is desperate'. Just 23 minutes after her last blogpost, Caruana Galizia was murdered by a car bomb out- side her house in Bidnija. The blogpost referred to a court sitting that happened in the morning, involving the Prime Minister's chief of staff Keith Schembri and former Opposition leader Simon Bu- suttil. News portals reported the court sitting proceedings at around 12.30pm. This sug- gests that Caruana Galizia's post is unlikely to have been scheduled and that the jour- nalist had been using her lap- top at home just before the as- sassination. MaltaToday asked Carua- na Galizia's husband, Peter, whether the family was in pos- session of the laptop but he re- fused to answer "I am not answering any questions. I am not taking any interview," he said. The three men accused of murdering Caruana Galizia were never mentioned in her blog. However, the journalist had written about Adrian Ag- ius, one of the other seven ar- rested last December but who were later released on police bail. Caruana Galizia had writ- ten four articles about Agius, all dated 12 October 2014. Agius is the son of Raymond Agius, known as Tal-Maksar, who was murdered at the But- terfly Bar in Birkirkara in 2008. Caruana Galizia had also writ- ten about Agius's associate, 23-year-old Terence Gialanze, who went missing in Novem- ber 2012. George Degiorgio, known as Iċ-Ċiniż, his brother Alfred, known as il-Fulu, and Vincent Muscat, known as il-Koħħu, stand charged with the jour- nalist's murder. ksansone@mediatoday.com.mt Journalist's laptop seen by police was last used in 2015 PHOTO JAMES BIANCHI The shrine for Daphne Caruana Galizia at Valletta's Great Siege memorial. MaltaToday has asked her husband Peter whether the family was in possession of the laptop but he refused to answer. "I am not answering any questions. I am not taking any interview." MATTHEW AGIUS PILATUS Bank whistleblower Maria Efi- mova has opened a Twitter account, part of a gradual relaxation of her hitherto heavily guarded privacy. Efimova, who, just two days ago, was freed from custody in Greece following a failed attempt to have her extradited to Malta, is understood to still have safety concerns. This did not stop her from putting up a full face picture on her Twitter account – the first time many have seen the whistle- blower whose name is synonymous with Pilatus bank and murdered journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia, to whom she leaked documents showing Michelle Muscat, the wife of the Prime Minister as having been the owner of a secret Pana- manian company, Egrant, which had been set up after the 2013 elections. Efimova, a former employee at Pilatus Bank, was issued with a European arrest warrant last year after she twice failed to turn up for sittings before a Maltese court to face charges of fraud filed by her former employer. She is also accused in separate proceedings of having made false accu- sations against Superintendent (now As- sistant Commissioner) Denis Theuma, and the police inspectors who had inter- rogated her. This week a Greek court ruled against a European Arrest Warrant issued against Efimova on the grounds that there were concerns as to whether Efimova would be granted a fair trial, as well as risks to her safety if she were to be returned. In her 15 tweets, Efimova has asked why there has been no prosecution of Claude Anne Sant Fournier, Pilatus Bank's Head of Legal, Director and MLRO to date, tweeted her thanks to MEP David Casa who expressed his disappointment at the Greek prosecutor's decision to appeal the refusal of the woman's extradition and spoken of her bereavement at the murder of Caruana Galizia. In one cryptic tweet she said: "I am not Maltese, but I like Malta and its people a lot. If it was not for my family's safety, I wouldn't leave the country. And this fight is not against Malta, but against wretched cowards who threatens the weak and stabs the strong in the back. Together we can win this fight." Pilatus whistleblower tweets