Was 17 Black the motive behind Caruana Galizia assassination?
Daphne Caruana Galizia was killed because 17 Black owner Yorgen Fenech feared information she was about to publish, according to self-confessed murder middleman Melvin Theuma. Jacob Borg looks back at her writings about 17 Black in the weeks leading up to the commissioning of her murder in April 2017.
February 22, 2017: Daphne teases knowledge about 17 Black
Ms Caruana Galizia’s first post about 17 Black came out of the blue in February 2017. Though cryptic in nature, the post linked 17 Black to Prime Minister Joseph Muscat, his chief of staff Keith Schembri, tourism minister Konrad Mizzi and former EU commissioner John Dalli.
The post appeared to draw an immediate response from Yorgen Fenech. By March, 17 Black’s name was changed to the innocuous sounding Wings Development Ltd.
*****The name change would make it even harder for those on 17 Black’s trail to figure out who ultimately owned the company registered in the United Arab Emirates.
Ms Caruana Galizia alluded to Mr Fenech in a comment underneath the post.
“A couple of the owners of their magic new corruption power station: and it’s Yorgen Fenech. So thanks for this, because it really figures.”
The comment she was replying to has since been deleted.
By that time, the Financial Intelligence Analysis Unit (FIAU) already had a Panama Papers e-mail in its possession showing how Keith Schembri and Konrad Mizzi planned to receive $2 million in a single year from 17 Black and another company of unknown ownership called Macbridge.
These payments were to be received through secretive offshore structures set up by the two government officials.
The FIAU had sent a request to the police for Mr Schembri and Dr Mizzi to be investigated a year earlier.
February 23, 2017: Dubai used by ‘high-profile criminals’
Ms Caruana Galizia followed up on her blogpost the day after, with an explainer about financial secrecy in Dubai, where 17 Black was originally thought to be registered.
“Dubai has a strong culture of an ask-no-questions, see-no-evil approach to commercial or financial regulation or foreign financial crimes.
Ms Caruana Galizia emphasised how Dubai was often used for financial crime.*****“It has consequently attracted large financial flows and some of the world’s most high-profile criminals. A significant slice of the inbound money comes in the form of cash or gold,” she wrote in a post based on a Tax Justice Network report.
February 27, 2017: Journalist zeroes in on Muscat
The prime minister was first questioned about 17 Black five days after Ms Caruana Galizia’s blogpost.
Ms Caruana Galizia ripped apart Dr Muscat’s response in a blogpost that same day.
In the post, she refers to 17 Black as a company “those crooks use to move money in and out of Dubai”.
*****“He has no idea about it, he said, wearing the exact same expression he did back in February last year when challenged about Keith Schembri and Panama.
“And after claiming unconvincingly to know nothing, his eyes shift immediately to the right and he looks embarrassed and awkward,” she wrote of Dr Muscat’s reply to the 17 Black question.
She went on to suggest that Dr Muscat could easily ring up the FIAU or police to get an answer about the question posed.....MUCH MORE
March 29, 2017: Electrogas deal is ‘corrupt’
Ms Caruana Galizia did not publish anything else about 17 Black, or the power station project, for a whole month.
The last post prior to the timeframe when her assassination was likely commissioned was actually an anonymous guest post slamming the “corrupt” Electrogas deal.....
Previously:
After Reporter's Murder: "Malta's Pilatus Bank has European licence withdrawn"
Who Killed Investigative Journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia?
Malta, A Modern Smugglers’ Hideout"
"Death in a Smugglers’ Paradise"
