Thread by @bugdavem

People really need to focus because there is a scheme underway in #Malta to bury two crimes. These crimes go all the way to Castille. Ignore the noise that @MaltaGov & @PL_Malta have become so adept at creating & focus.

Naturally these relate to @keithaschembri 1/

Besides the high profile #17Black & #Egrant, there are 2 magisterial inquiries meant to be underway. They have been underway now for just under 2 years & there is no reason why they should be taking so long other than due to interference & behind the scenes efforts @ burying 2/

Which inquiries & crimes are these?

- Kickbacks in relation to the sale of #GoldenPassports from Brian Tonna to Keith Schembri via Pilatus Bank
- Kickbacks & laundering of proceeds paid to Adrian Hillman by Schembri the disgraced & planted ex-head of Times of Malta 3/

The background on the Passports kickbacks case is here: independent.com.mt/file.aspx?f=16… An FIAU report in 2016 concluding that both should be investigated for money laundering. The Police did nothing & buried the report. 4/

The report was (despite the Police & AG's best efforts to suppress it) leaked including to #DaphneCaruanaGalizia. The then leader of the Opposition filed the report & other supporting evidence incl from #PanamaPapers in court asking for an inquiry & one was opened 5/

The inquiry started back in May 2017 against a backdrop of a snap election called by @JosephMuscat_JM before the news could get absorbed & explained -timesofmalta.com/articles/view/…. 6/

Tonna had claimed that the "payment" to Schembri was the repayment of a loan to him (even though he is Schembri's companies' auditor so this would be prohibited by the code of ethics) which was recently busted: timesofmalta.com/articles/view/… 7/

There has been no news on this inquiry. 8/

The background on the Hillman kickbacks case is here: independent.com.mt/file.aspx?f=14… Another FIAU report in 2016 concluding that both Schembri & Hillman should be investigated for money laundering. The Police also did nothing & buried the report. 9/

The report was also (despite the Police & AG's best efforts to suppress it) leaked including to #DaphneCaruanaGalizia. The then leader of the Opposition filed the report & other supporting evidence incl from #PanamaPapers in court asking for an inquiry & one was opened too 10/

The inquiry also started back in May 2017 -timesofmalta.com/articles/view/… 11/

Again no news about this inquiry even though both this inquiry & the Tonna inquiry involved local banks & people even if operating through BVI companies. 12/

But here is where matters become even more disturbing. We know that each inquiry is backed up by a detailed FIAU report which highlights that the evidence shows that there is the suspicion of money laundering. 13/

In money laundering cases, the threshold of evidence for the prosecution is actually extremely low. 14/

Which brings this statement by the Police Commissioner as to why the police never acted into question: timesofmalta.com/articles/view/… 15/

But let's ignore this. 16/

Why are these cases so sensitive? The persons implicated in each are essentially the #Malta PM's right hand man & the power behind the throne so to say as well as his advisers & henchmen. If Keith falls, Muscat crumbles. 17/

Who is @KeithaSchembri's lawyer in these cases? Pawlu Lia. Who is Pawlu Lia? Muscat's personal lawyer & hired gun, lawyer to myriad government depts (essentially de facto AG) & even a member of the Board that disciplines judges & magistrates: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commissio… 18/

What is happening to these inquiries? Let's take a look. 19/

A. Interference from within - Pawlu Lia's partner in his 3 man law firm is appointed as a judicial assistant on the inquiry. timesofmalta.com/articles/view/… 20/

The appointment is sufficiently recent & sudden to not even be included on the Courts of Malta's website's list of judicial assistants: judiciarymalta.gov.mt/judical-assist…. Handy to have a person on the inside. 21/

B. Perception - Government linked news sites and PL activists have been repeatedly using a particular image when claiming "victory" in relation to some inquiry that has been torpedoed through state-capture or legal sophistry: 22/

Ever wondered why that particular photo keeps being used? That photo is actually from the Schembri / Hillman inquiry which was in fact opened & is meant to be underway. You can find the footage here: timesofmalta.com/articles/view/… 23/

So why use that particular photo if that instance was in fact successful? Simple in the public's eye the government wishes to link that episode with failure & lack of evidence. It makes it all the more easy to forget once the thing is buried altogether 24/

Dictating the terms - Just 2 days ago Robert Abela, an MP, the husband of the governing party's executive secretary, legal advisor to half of @MaltaGov & person billed as next PL leader issued a veiled threat. 25/

In between accusing the ex-leader of the opposition of being "a threat to the rule of law" (bizarre & deceptive), he also slipped this in:

independent.com.mt/articles/2019-… 26/

What is this about? A few weeks ago, a judge in a particularly bizarre judgement that many suspect may be tainted (at the least with ignorance) concluded (a) that the evidence required for an inquiry needs to be higher than that required for prosecution (eh?) and... 27/

(b) that conveniently & despite the fact that copies have been lawfully procured through judicial channels, the #PanamaPapers are inadmissible as evidence since they arise from a data breach or theft.

Convenient if you're on the wrong side of the law. 28/

So Robert Abela basically said:

"what was more important was the decree laid down on 8 January, wherein the principles laid out there also touch on the subject matters of the remaining pending investigations"

which pending investigations would these be? These two. 29/

He went on. "He said that as a result and as he sees things, every magistrate leading investigations should do so according to the principles that the Criminal Court had established. "

Convenient. Maltese law does not follow the law of precedent so this is codswallop. 30/

What is he really doing then? He's setting the scene. Why? Because the next step will be to conclude (if we even get to hear about it - see the next one) that there was nothing to see at all. The final act in the play called Bury the dirt with the journalist. 31/

Publish nothing at all - Lastly, the Maltese public won't even hear that these inquiries have been completed at all. They could even be ready & just be sitting on a shelf or bouncing between the AG (is he even back to work yet?) & the magistrate. 32/

Why? Because @JosephMuscat_JM already set the scene. The AG noted that #Egrant was the exception where the results of an inquiry (or the fact that it was concluded) were published (albeit in heavily redacted form). Here's the first mention: independent.com.mt/articles/2018-… 33/

You can realise this from the farce that is #Egrant too: "the rule of law", "wait for the court": maltatoday.com.mt/news/national/…

Can you imagine what arguments will be brought for non-publication of a "lesser" inquiry? 34/

Make no mistake. The 2 inquiries to really hound @MaltaGov about are these 2 b4 they get manipulated & buried

- A full copy of the Egrant proces verbal? Hell yeah. Quite sure there's a lot of interesting stuff
- 17 Black? Sure, that's Keith & Konrad.

But these are underway

35/