Police yet to act on Keith Schembri’s Official Secrets’ breach complaint – David Casa

Nationalist MEP David Casa has warned that a five-year prescription period on a criminal complaint for breach of the Official Secrets and Security Services Acts, risks allowing former chief of staff Keith Schembri unprosecuted.

Casa told European Commission President Ursula Von der Leyen during a meeting with the EPP’s heads of national delegations in Strasbourg, that an impending prescriptive period in relation to Schembri’s alleged breaches of the laws could lead to him not being prosecuted.

The prescriptive period is due to lapse in December 2024, which would effectively make any prosecution time-barred.

“The then chief of staff to Joseph Muscat was not only handing over details of the investigation to the alleged murder mastermind Yorgen Fenech but he also shared a copy of Melvin Theuma’s pardon – if these alleged blatant breaches of the Official Secrets and Security Services Acts remain unprosecuted the Commission must act,” Casa said.

Casa told Von der Leyen that his constituents demanded stronger action from the EU to address Malta’s rule of law issues. “So many laws on paper are used to prosecute citizens the moment they fall out of line. But when it comes to those exposed by the Panama Papers – nothing. The corruption over which Daphne Caruana Galizia was assassinated to stop her from exposing – nothing.”

He said that if the authorities allowed the prescriptive period to lapse, it would be the straw that breaks the camel’s back.  “The strong stances taken by the European Parliament and the Council of Europe in defence of the Maltese people did not translate to the necessary concrete action from the Commission,” Casa said.

Von der Leyen stated that she would take stock and hold further bilateral exchanges with Casa on the matter.

The Daphne Caruana Galizia Foundation had warned back in April that the police were yet to take action on the criminal complaint filed by the family on 16 December 2019 to file charges against Keith Schembri for breaching both the Official Secrets Act and Secret Services Act. 

An audio recording of Fenech describing how, when Yorgen Fenech had told Schembri, after Daphne’s assassination, that he had commissioned her murder, Schembri “went cold” (“kesaħ”) and told Fenech “you should have come to me before you did what you did,” was amongst the many exhibits seized by the police, and referred to in decrees issued by four different magistrates. 

Using his position as the Prime Minister’s chief of staff to acquire confidential information from the murder investigation, the Foundation said Schembri “began leaking the information to Fenech within a week of Daphne’s death, doing so continually and in real time for more than two years, according to Fenech’s sworn testimony.”

Schembri’s leaks to Fenech, which included information about the progress of the investigation against the hitmen and bomb suppliers, had delayed Fenech’s identification as the prime murder suspect. 

After Fenech was identified, Schembri informed the then suspect that his personal mobile number was being tapped, delaying Fenech’s arrest. “Schembri tried to help Fenech, the man he described in court as a ‘childhood friend’ and who Fenech claimed would ‘step into the fire’ for him, to get away with murder. Fenech had asked Schembri about Melvin Theuma’s presidential pardon before it was granted and had even asked to see its draft terms. It was Fenech himself who drew the attention of the police to a photo of the draft terms of Theuma’s pardon on his mobile phone, claiming that Schembri had sent it to him.” 

The Foundation pointed out that Mr. Justice Lawrence Mintoff had stated in his judgement deciding one of the many cases filed by Fenech, that there were clear indications as to who is responsible for the leaks from the investigation into Daphne’s murder and enough evidence to arraign those responsible for the crime. 

“Each of Schembri’s attempts to help Fenech evade justice represents a criminal breach of Malta’s Official Secrets Act and Secret Services Act that carries a severe prison term. The Police must act on the abundance of evidence in its possession now. The 4-year prescriptive period on the criminal complaint filed by Daphne’s family expires in December this year, “ the statement concludes.