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maltatoday WEDNESDAY 18 APRIL 2018 News 2 TIA RELJIC PARTS of the government may be protecting the mas- termind behind the assassi- nation of Daphne Caruana Galizia, her husband said, as he believes that police investigations are tainted by political interests. Peter Caruana Galizia was speaking during an in- terview with the Guardian when he said that he does not see a full commitment to solving the crime. "My sons and I are not convinced that our govern- ment really wants to estab- lish who sent them, for fear such persons are in fact very close to our govern- ment. For this reason we may never know the truth," he said. The Guardian reported that officers are still work- ing under the assumption that the mastermind is at large, and that the men who were arrested were tipped off before their arrest. It further claimed that police believed that brother George and Alfred Degior- gio, and Vincent Muscat, were informed and pre- pared for their arrest when officers arrived. In the interview, Caruana Galizia went on to explain that both political parties had turned against his wife. "They found it difficult to attack what she said, so instead they attacked her on a personal level. So she became also very recognis- able because they had pho- tos of her, screenshots," he said. "The more she gave, the more she got. It was a ma- chine against one person really." The interview was part of the Daphne Project led by Forbidden Stories. tia.reljic@mediatoday.com.mt Authorities protecting mastermind behind murder, Daphne's husband claims CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 The court application said Caruana Galizia's relatives had prevented the police, the court-appointed expert and the inquiring magistrate him- self, from getting access to the victim's laptop, the server she used and any other computer device. The police believe the lap- top may contain important information that could lead them to the people behind her murder. On Sunday, Vella confirmed with MaltaToday that the po- lice had filed the court applica- tion but would not say whether he acted on it. It appears he did not. During the compilation of evidence against three men who have been charged with Caruana Galizia's murder, it emerged that the only laptop analysed by the court expert was an old one. The more recent laptop Caru- ana Galizia was using is very likely to have been at the family home on the day of the murder. The journalist had uploaded her last blogpost some 20 min- utes before leaving her house on that fatal afternoon of 16 October. The blogpost referred to a court sitting that took place in the morning and which news portals had reported at around noon. This means that the blogpost could not have been scheduled for upload several hours before. Arnaud asked the magis- trate to collect any documents linked to the victim's journalis- tic work and preserve them un- der his authority for analysis. The police inspector asked the magistrate to protect the iden- tity of the journalist's sources but recover any information that could shed light on the motive of the murder and con- sequently lead to the person or persons who could have been behind the crime to be investi- gated appropriately. Meanwhile, Caruana Galizia's son, Matthew, yesterday hit out at those questioning whether the family had his mother's lap- top in their possession. In a sharp retort, he said the police needed Prime Minis- ter Joseph Muscat's laptop and servers rather than his mother's, to get to those who planned the murder. "I would burn my mother's laptop in front of the police, if I knew where it was," Matthew wrote in a Facebook post yes- terday afternoon. He then asked: "Joseph Mus- cat, where is your laptop? Where is the laptop and the private joseph@josephmus- cat.com email server that you could have used to plan the as- sassination of my mother?" On Monday night, several banners were put up by un- known individuals in differ- ent locations, asking who had Caruana Galizia's laptop. But Matthew's dismissive tone was contradicted by the victim's sister, Corinne Vella. 'We do not trust authorities' Quoted by members of the Daphne Project, an interna- tional consortium of journal- ists, Vella said the family did not trust investigators with the murdered journalist's laptop. She confirmed the family re- fused to hand over the device to the authorities. Vella's comments were re- ported in the Times of Malta, which is part of the Daphne Project. Vella told the newspaper her sister would never have want- ed her laptop to be given to the authorities. "She would always hide her laptop before going out. It was about protecting her sources. And she died protecting her sources. She knew that what- ever information the police got hold of would go straight to the same people in govern- ment she was investigating," Vella said. Vella is quoted as saying that the police were asking the family to make an "impossible choice". "It's like hand over the laptop or we are not going to investi- gate. We can't do that. We just don't trust them," Vella said. ksansone@mediatoday.com.mt Daphne's sister confirms family refused to give laptop to the police Corinne Vella YANNICK PACE & MASSIMO COSTA NATIONALIST Party (PN) Adrian Delia said yesterday evening that he expected the Prime Minister to hand over his laptop and server to the police as part of the investiga- tion into the assassination of Daphne Caruana Galizia. Delia was addressing a press conference in reaction to The Daphne Project – an investi- gation by a consortium of 18 media organisations that is continuing the stories started by Caruana Galizia – where he was asked about admissions by the Caruana Galizia family that they were in possession of the murdered journalist's lap- top. "I know the family of Daph- ne Caruana Galizia said the laptop and server which are pertinent to the investigation are the Prime Minister's and I expect the Prime Minister im- mediately to give the laptop to the police for investigation, if it were me this is what I'd do," said Delia. The PN leader stressed that while the party would not be "speculating or jumping to conclusions" he would con- tinue asking pertinent ques- tions. Delia stopped short of asking for Cardona's resigna- tion. He said, however, that one needed to ask whether it was the case that the suspects knew they were going to be ar- rested, and whether Economy minister Chris Cardona had spoken to any of them, both before and after the assassina- tion. "We must know whether or not the Prime Minister was involved and if so why he remained silent. And if he wasn't, why it is that he was not informed," he said. "Is it or is it not true that the state knew what was going to hap- pen?" Delia said the country de- served to know, while insist- ing that no amount of money or economic growth could erase the fact that Malta was no longer a normal country. He accused the government of remaining silent in the face of pertinent questions on the government's relationship with Pilatus bank and other "shady characters", asked by PN MPs Jason Azzopardi and Simon Busuttil "The government remains silent, and does not answer," he said. "Every now and then it comes up with distractions like laws to kill embryos." The Opposition, he said, would continue asking ques- tions, and "no speaker or par- liament would silence the Op- position". He insisted that Malta's "cul- ture of silence" could not be allowed to continue. "We are not living in a nor- mal country, and no amount of money or surplus – if it exists – will blind the Opposition. "People need to know wheth- er the Prime Minister knew what was going to happen and whether Chris Cardona spoke before and after to those ac- cused with the murder." In a statement, Partit Demokratiku condemned the fact that the government was refusing to give a ministerial statement in Parliament, given the seriousness of the allega- tions published by the interna- tional press. It said, however, that rather than leave the room, it had chosen to remain in the cham- ber, and did not abdicate on its responsibility to act as the voice of the nation. Delia wants Prime Minister to hand laptop to the police