You’re not extraneous

“I am completely extraneous to this trial. The government I lead is extraneous”, Robert Abela commented about the Caruana Galizia case.

“It’s a very hot political potato”, the reporter replied. “I completely disagree that it is very political…..at least my government has nothing to do with this trial”, Abela insisted.

Abela isn’t extraneous to this trial.

Robert Abela actively defended deputy police Commissioner Silvio Valletta, a close friend of Yorgen Fenech, when the journalist’s family requested Valletta’s removal from leading that investigation. If it were up to Abela, Valletta would have remained lead investigator. And if Abela had his way, Yorgen Fenech would probably never have been brought to trial.

Deputy Commissioner Silvio Valletta, then married to Labour minister Justyne Caruana, wasn’t merely a peripheral police officer in the Caruana Galizia investigation. He occupied a central supervisory role. Then inspector Keith Arnaud answered to him. Valletta also sat on the FIAU board which handled corruption and money-laundering intelligence which Daphne Caruana Galizia uncovered.

Shortly after the journalist’s murder, her family raised concerns about Valletta’s potential conflicts of interests. But Valletta, Yorgen Fenech’s close friend, refused to recuse himself.

On 22nd November 2017, Daphne’s family was compelled to institute court proceedings to remove Valletta. But Valletta still refused to go. While the court case against Valletta proceeded, in May 2018 Valletta travelled with Yorgen Fenech to Kyiv for the Champions League final.

A month later, in June 2018 the court upheld the family’s challenge and ordered Valletta off the case. Instead of accepting the court decision, Valletta, the AG and the police commissioner appealed insisting that Valletta should remain at the helm of the Caruana Galizia investigation.

By September 2018, according to lead investigator Keith Arnaud’s testimony, Yorgen Fenech was already a suspect and police already believed he’d commissioned the murder. Valletta, was still leading the investigation, and must have known this. Yet Valletta and Fenech travelled business class to London to attend a Chelsea football match at Stamford Bridge. Yorgen Fenech “paid for everything”.

Meanwhile International human rights lawyers advised the Caruana Galizia family that Valletta’s involvement was incompatible with Article 2 of the European Convention of Human Rights because “investigators had to be institutionally and practically independent from anyone who might be implicated or whose conduct might have to be investigated”.

In September 2018 while the Constitutional court was deliberating Valletta’s appeal to remain on the case, Valletta was with Yorgen Fenech watching Chelsea and Robert Abela was busy attempting to influence the Court’s decision and defending Valletta’s role. Abela wrote on social media “Advice given by a private British law firm, dancing to the tune of their clients, Caruana Galizia’s children. I reply that we do not need any prejudiced advice from them, and those who paid for that advice should keep it for themselves. It would have been better had they told us about the mission of Caruana Galizia’s children to hinder the investigation”.

The “we” Abela was referring to was the Labour government led by his friend Joseph Muscat. Abela was an integral part of that cabinet. Abela served as Muscat’s legal advisor since 2017. He attended and advised the Cabinet on legal matters right up until he became prime-minister including matters relating to the Caruana Galizia investigation.

On 5^th October 2018, Malta’s constitutional court finally confirmed that Valletta could no longer be part of the investigation. It took the Caruana Galizia family 11 months of legal wrangling to get Valletta off the case.

Recordings made by Melvin Theuma subsequently exposed Yorgen Fenech reassuring middleman Theuma that Valletta would not be removed from the murder case. According to Theuma one such recording was made shortly before Valletta was due to visit Fenech “for whisky”. Despite the Court decision Valletta kept protecting Yorgen Fenech, ordering Economic Crimes Unit chief Ian Abdilla to call off the interrogation of Fenech in 2019 over 17-Black.

If it were up to Robert Abela, that same Silvio Valletta, seen on a video fooling around in Yorgen Fenech’s Rolls-Royce, would still be leading that investigation. And we can all guess what the outcome would have been. Robert Abela isn’t extraneous to the trial. Quite the contrary.

Neither is Abela’s government extraneous to the trial. Abela appointed Glenn Bedingfield Minister of Home Affairs and Security. While plans were being hatched to eliminate Caruana Galizia, Bedingfield uploaded on his blogpost photos of Caruana Galizia’s car including its number plate. Bedingfield uploaded more than 1000 posts about Caruana Galizia, some of them from the Office of the Prime-minister in Castille. His ONE TV programme Tanatnejn depicted her as a witch.

“Why did you do that”, the inquiry board asked Bedingfield over his broadcasting of her car’s make, colour and number plate. “It was a warning to the people to be careful”, Bedingfield retorted. In a separate post, Bedingfield warned Daphne “the time is coming”. Bedingfield is far from extraneous to the trial.

Neither is Abela’s Minister of Accommodation and Lands, Owen Bonnici, extraneous. Bonnici, gave his approval to Henley and Partners to sue Caruana Galizia in an attempt to destroy her financially. After her assassination Bonnici ordered the Cleansing department to clear Daphne’s memorial repeatedly. Malta’s First Hall of the Civil Court found that Bonnici’s orders breached Article 10 of the European convention of Human Rights and the Maltese constitution. The court found that Bonnici’s orders were intended to hinder the protesters’ call for justice for Caruana Galizia. Bonnici’s instructions were intended to block protesters’ demands for the perpetrators to be brought to trial.

Meanwhile major international news organisations reported that “Caruana Galizia was one of Malta’s best-known journalists, but attacks from the ruling party had made her a target…. They used to describe her as a witch”. That was Bedingfield. And the ruling party is Labour, the very same party Robert Abela leads. He is the Prime-minister who obstinately refuses to implement any of the recommendations of the Caruana Galizia inquiry.

The “state” captured by Labour created the “atmosphere of impunity” that made powerful individuals believe they could act above the law. The Labour government “isolated, dehumanised and targeted Caruana Galizia, effectively legitimising her as a target for those who sought to silence her”.

And Robert Abela played his part in preventing her family from getting justice. He still is, defiantly refusing to fulfill his promise to implement the recommendations of the inquiry. Instead he appointed Owen Bonnici and Glenn Bedingfield, two key players in the dehumanisation and targeting of Caruana Galizia, to his cabinet.

Robert Abela is not extraneous to this trial. His government is not extraneous. His party is not extraneous. They’re a core part of it. And justice still needs to be done. And justice will be done.