Disbelief as inquiry hears how Keith Schembri and Konrad Mizzi were never summoned by police
Judge in Caruana Galizia public inquiry chides former head of police economic crimes unit for not summoning Keith Schembri, Konrad Mizzi: ‘We seem to be living in a parallel universe’
A judge expressed disbelief that Keith Schembri and Konrad Mizzi were never summoned by police for questioning despite being linked to various cases of alleged money laundering.
Judge Abigail Lofaro, a member on the public inquiry board looking into the murder of Daphne Caruana Galizia, had a go at Assistant Police Commissioner Ian Abdilla when he took the witness this morning.
Abdilla headed the Economic Crimes Unit until last week when he was replaced by the new police commissioner.
Testifying in the inquiry, Abdilla said he never sent for Schembri, resting on the fact that the former chief of staff to prime minister Joseph Muscat had been summoned to testify in the Egrant magisterial inquiry.
Abdilla was being questioned about the police investigation into Pilatus Bank and the fact that Schembri had an account there.
But Lofaro would have nothing of his testimony: “Did a magistrate tell you not to summon Keith Schembri? Yes or no?”
Abdilla replied in the negative, insisting that because of the rules of disclosure, the instructions he always gave were for people not to be summoned for questioning unless there was enough evidence.
At another point in his testimony, while answering about police investigations into 17 Black and the fact that the media had arrived at certain facts before the police, Abdilla said the police had to follow protocols and procedures.
He was again asked by Lofaro why he hadn't sent for Schembri and Mizzi, whose Panama companies had 17 Black listed as a target client.
The judge shook her head and the following exchange happened:
Judge: “We seem to be living in a parallel universe.”
Abdilla: “Ma tifhimx sinjura… (You don’t understand, madam)”
Judge: “Ma nifhimx... imma m’inix injoranta u m’intix ser tgħallimni int. (I don’t understand… but I am not ignorant and you are not going to teach me things).”
Karl Cini investigation almost concluded
Abdilla testified that an investigation for perjury against Nexia BT’s Karl Cini, requested by Magistrate Aaron Bugeja, who led the Egrant inquiry, was almost concluded.
He also testified that investigations into the allegation that money from Azerbaijan had passed through Pilatus Bank for Egrant were never proven.
“The Egrant inquiry involved, among other things, gathering all the journalist's writings on the issue. We didn't find the transaction and couldn't trace it at all... there was nothing that was close to this allegation. At the time, Azerbaijan did not even have a functional FIAU. We tried to investigate any truth in that report and analysed everything. But we found nothing at all,” Abdilla said.
The public inquiry into the murder of Daphne Caruana Galizia is tasked, among other things, with determining whether the State did all it could to prevent the murder from happening.
In the last sitting Inspector Kurt Zahra, who formed part of the murder investigation, testified that during his arrest at police depot, suspect Yorgen Fenech had said he knew about the June 2017 election seven months earlier.
In the sitting before that, a technical analysis of the geolocation data for Chris Cardona's mobile phone could not conclude with precision whether the former minister was at a conference or a brothel, while in Germany in January 2017.
The expert only had information from one cell tower which was close to the German city of Essen, where the conference had taken place.
The inquiry is led by retired judge Michael Mallia, former chief justice Joseph Said Pullicino and Judge Abigail Lofaro.