Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/993482
maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 13 JUNE 2018 5 NEWS following all relevant leads in the murder. Excuses to justify this range from a lack of resources, to the impossibility of investi- gating all those who might have had motive to silence her, the report said. The MEPs said that, "shock- ingly", the police had not thoroughly investigated wit- ness accounts that Economy Minister Chris Cardona had been seen drinking with one of the suspects in the jour- nalist's murder, prior to his arrest. Noting that the police had denied that someone in the force working on the murder investigation had tipped-off the suspects prior to their ar- rest, they said that nonethe- less a police officer – named by PN MP Jason Azzopardi as Sergeant Aldo Cassar – had been transferred from the investigations brigade. They went on to allege a link between the offer of a promotion to the post of judge for Magistrate Vella, and efforts to "delay and stall the investigation." They said that the murder investigation was stalling in a way which indicated a plan to ensure the blame rest- ed on the three suspected bombers, who would then eventually be allowed to go free after 20 months of de- tention. Police should partner with Guardia di Finanza on mur- der investigation The MEPs recommended that the Maltese police fos- ter a partnership with Italy's Guardia di Finanza, and oth- er Italian anti-terrorism and organised crime authorities, on the Caruana Galizia's murder investigation, with the aim of fighting oil smug- gling. They said the new Euro- pean Parliament's civil lib- erties, justice and home af- fairs committee, LIBE, and its financial crimes commit- tee TAX3 should soon send a delegation to Malta to take stock of developments in the journalist murder's investi- gations, including through a meeting with the Caruana Galizia family, the Police Commissioner, magistrates, the Attorney General and the Financial Intelligence Analy- sis Unit. EUROPOL and FBI coopera- tion "excellent" Magistrate Antony Vella confirmed to the MEPs that cooperation with EUROPOL and the FBI with his inves- tigation team had been "ex- cellent" and had proved very useful in identifying the de- tained suspects and mapping communications involving them. Asked by Gomes whether the magistrate had the re- cords of the Malta Secret Services, in relation to re- ports that one of the arrested suspects had been under sur- veillance for months before the assassination, and also several weeks after it, Vella stressed he could not com- ment on the substance of his findings. PN MPs highlight sense of impunity In their meeting with the MEPs, Nationalist MPs said their major concern was that the AG and Police Commis- sioner had failed to act, in- sisting that there was a "sense of impunity" in Malta. The PN also stressed with the MEPs that anti-SLAPP legislation had to be taken up at EU level for it to be effec- tive, as they complained that a proposal for such legisla- tion, which they had present- ed in the national parliament, had been "categorically re- jected" by the government". Giegold told the MPs that the Daphne Project rev- elations, which were causing Malta reputational damage, had not triggered any police investigations – something which would have been the case "in any other EU coun- try". The MEP said that some of the problems in the country are not only caused by the wrong people in government, but also helped by the consti- tutional set up "that allows misuse of power too easily." PD claims poverty on the rise, despite sense of pros- perity Democratic Party MPs told the MEPs that despite the sense of prosperity in Malta, things on the ground were "different" and poverty is "on the rise". PD said that "whole PL par- liamentary representation has been, de facto, bought, since there is no division be- tween the Cabinet and the backbenchers, who are rep- resenting the government on a board or have other roles within government…" Labour MPs throw cold wa- ter on murder suspects' tip- off Labour Party MPs told the three MEPs that the allega- tions made by Azzopardi, that someone in the police had tipped off the Caruana Galizia murder suspects, "lacked credibility", as they argued Azzopardi had "not dared repeat the allegation outside Parliament". PL MP Robert Abela main- tained it was not factual that the officer transferred from the investigation team had been given the transfer be- cause he had given the sus- pects a tip-off. PL MPs justified Cardona's alleged meeting with one of the suspects by claiming that "in Malta's social context, parliamentarians, ministers and public figures speak to hundreds of people daily." "This is the reality in a small country," they said. Abela insisted that the ma- jority of the "topics" dealt with in the Daphne Project were already covered by the ongoing magisterial inquir- ies. In response, Giegold noted that Malta's "peculiar cul- ture" placed it "in a different basket than the rest of the EU when it comes to investiga- tions by the police, judiciary and political accountability." mcosta@mediatoday.com.mt inquiry magistrate has 'no one brainstorm with', MEPs' report says The MEPs said that, "shockingly", the police had not thoroughly investigated witness accounts that Economy Minister Chris Cardona had been seen drinking with one of the suspects in the journalist's murder, prior to his arrest MEPs Ana Gomes, Sven Giegold and David Casa have issued a report on their visit to Malta on 1 June