What’s next in the Egrant and Macbridge mystery?

The Maltese can be quick to capture a moment in time with unforgiving ridicule. For the last few days it has been the collective disbelief at the declaration by Keith Schembri that when the police asked for his mobile phone, he told them that he had lost it. And the police continued with their business.

No one, not one person can believe that Schembri simply ‘lost’ his phone. And certainly enough, no one can understand that the police allowed him to get away with this.

The perception seems to be that the police are treating Schembri with kid gloves. And that is not helping the police’s image, if they ever had one.

Everyone is, of course, conveniently firing off salvoes at Lawrence Cutajar, the Commissioner of Police, even if the malaise is not the Commissioner himself but the deference the police corps has historically shown the political class.

Out there most people believe that Yorgen Fenech did not act alone. So far, the police are acting as if he did. And that is the problem.

On that fateful day when Fenech was arrested and he requested a pardon, and when Inspector Keith Arnaud presented the Cabinet with a copy of a printed letter that had been passed on to Fenech, the insinuation was that the contents of the letter were written by Keith Schembri.

That letter contained clear instructions to apportion all the blame of Daphne Caruana Galizia’s murder on minister Chris Cardona and his minions. No one could believe their eyes.

And at that moment, Joseph Muscat ceased being the leader of the Labour Party in the eyes of his ministers.

They saw in him a weak person, manipulated and controlled by his closest friend.

But what is more damning is that the intimate friendship between Schembri and Fenech went unnoticed. It went beyond friendship, more so, when it was clear in November 2018 that the secret Dubai company 17 Black belonged to Yorgen Fenech and had been the target company for Schembri’s Panamanian offshore company. At that point we should have seen a clear decision.

The perception seems to be that the police are treating Schembri with kid gloves. And that is not helping the police’s image

The writing was on the wall but what we did not know then was that already in May 2018, the Malta Security Services had briefed Muscat and Schembri that Yorgen Fenech was a prime suspect in the assassination.

So the next question is very simple to ask: why did the Prime Minister not do anything? I cannot understand this.

Keith Schembri was a manipulative and cunning man but surely one can see through monsters too – especially if you work with them day in and day out.

Inspector Arnaud and his team have a difficult time but if their goal is to nail the bastards who organised the murder of Caruana Galizia, they cannot treat one person differently from another. Just because the person worked with the executive, does not mean that he is protected.

This edition of MaltaToday reveals the very close relationship between Fenech and Schembri.

Fenech not only supported him as a friend throughout his cancer treatment in the US but also paid for some of his expensive medical bills. That says a lot.

And one must remember that Schembri’s illness came after the revelations of Schembri’s Panama accounts and 17 Black (then unknown to belong to Fenech) followed by Caruana Galizia’s unnecessary and often spiteful speculation about the state of health of Schembri.

The gratuitous and personal references angered both men. But was that enough of a motive?

Perhaps not, to normal people at least – for if that was the case, Caruana Galizia hurt many more people with her unkind comments. But normal people do not resort to murder or violence in such cases.

Yorgen Fenech has asked for a presidential pardon which was naturally shot down.

But I will ask a very compelling question: if the man offers some insight into Egrant and Macbridge and into the other elements that allowed for this heinous murder to take place, would this be useful?

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When 20 years ago I set out to start MaltaToday, the then-editor of The Sunday Times, Lawrence Grech, had told me this newspaper project would die.

Well, I guess that God-given right to feel like you’re the top dog in news comes with the territory down at Allied Newspapers.

As it happens, this month they closed their printing press after having invested millions in a new office block and printing line that was acquired, needless to say, through the good services of one Keith Schembri, erstwhile chief-of-staff to the outgoing Prime Minister.

As newspaper owners we now have to print and distribute with another company at a considerably higher expense.

That’s something to do with the “existence of the press”, something not talked about by those prima donnas posing as hardened journalists when they visit dignitaries to chat about the freedom of the press.

But back to The Times. In October they got their editors together to shoot down a MaltaToday story on their prized newshound Ivan Camilleri, for being full of “malicious innuendo” and even “misleading” to boot, apart from all the very patronising commentary about what I should do with my energy from those who could not believe that Camilleri had indeed been confronted about a serious shoplifting incident.

The crucial difference between myself and the directors who carry Mabel Strickland’s legacy, is that I have invested my own money and sacrificed my life for this dream: which is why I work daily to pay for good journalism.

Belatedly, they realised what sort of rodent Ivan Camilleri is. They retracted their editorial after they realised that Ray Mintoff – the director of Valyou Supermarket – was, in fact, not telling the truth when he rubbished a story which had been partly based on what he confirmed with me personally!

But had Ivan Camilleri not been outed as the journalist who somehow gave Yorgen Fenech some heads-up about, ostensibly, The Times’s own investigation into the story, I’m sure he would not have been removed from his post.

Despite the ‘credibility matters’ slogan, it is always when it comes to MaltaToday that they would rather cut their nose to spite their face, even in the face of what was manifestly true.

Despite all the talk about standards, there is still no sign of that private inquiry into former director Adrian Hillman (one of Camilleri’s favourite bête-noires), for it would no doubt attract some attention to those other directors who were too close to Keith Schembri and his companies. I could help out with some names.

They probably too know about the details of the contractual agreement with Schembri’s companies, details privy to one lawyer who also happens to run the foundation that owns the paper – the Nationalist MP Mario de Marco.

I cannot surely profess to be some holier-than-thou journalist.

I drink, swear, growl, I’m rough, I’ve made mistakes… but I have never been in the league of the loathsome Ivan Camilleri, whose journalism has only been motivated by ulterior motives.

If we want to preach to others on how transparency and accountability works, we too have to start living the life we preach.

I raise a glass to all our readers, wishing them a smashing Christmas in what has so far been the most stupendous, riveting Netflix series of them all!