Police probe into Yorgen Fenechs secret meetings at prison strategy heads office continues
Ministry denies suggestion that it is attempting to keep the issue quiet.
Police are currently still investigating allegations of illicit secret meetings between the man indicted for the murder of Daphne Caruana Galizia and third parties, held inside the office of a top prison official, over a month after the matter first emerged in the news.
Visits to inmates at CCF are normally subject to strict controls and always take place in designated halls, under the watchful eyes of prison warders.
MaltaToday wrote to the Minister for Home Affairs, Security and Employment, Byron Camilleri, on Saturday requesting an update on the investigation into the Correctional Services Agency’s Head of Strategy, Svetlana Muscat.
Muscat remains on forced leave, a month after being called in for questioning by the police over allegations that she had allowed her private office at Corradino Correctional Facility to be used for meetings between individuals, described as “businesspeople,” and inmate Yorgen Fenech, who is awaiting trial, accused of masterminding the murder of Daphne Caruana Galizia.
Given the extensive CCTV coverage inside the facility, establishing whether or not an individual was in a particular place at a particular time would not appear to be a complex matter to investigate, yet the police investigation is still ongoing, more than a month after the issue came to light. No charges have yet been filed, either.
In reply to MaltaToday’s questions, an advisor from the Ministry For Home Affairs, Security And Employment said that the CSA had done what was expected of it, by reporting the claims to the police and suspending Muscat from her duties. “Upon the initial discovery of the situation, the matter was immediately flagged to the police for their investigation, and this was before any reports in the media. Since then, the person in question has been on forced leave from her job at the Correctional Services Agency.”
The advisor denied the suggestion that the matter had been swept under the carpet in the hope that the issue would be forgotten or superseded by other events.
“If someone wanted to sweep anything ‘under the carpet,’ a report would not have been filed in the first place,” he said, adding that “the Permanent Secretary within the Ministry shall be provided with the relevant outcome of the investigations from the Malta Police Force once the investigations are concluded from their end, as per standard practice.”
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