Magistrate concludes 17 Black inquiry: Keith Schembri, Konrad Mizzi to be charged
Magistrate concludes 17 Black inquiry recommending criminal action against Keith Schembri, Konrad Mizzi, Yorgen Fenech, Paul Apap Bologna and Mario Pullicino
A criminal inquiry has concluded that Keith Schembri and Konrad Mizzi should be charged over plans to receive money from Dubai company 17 Black owned by Yorgen Fenech.
Magistrate Charmaine Galea presented her findings to the Attorney General a few days ago with a recommendation to charge Schembri, Mizzi and at least three other people. The inquiry also recommends criminal action against several companies.
The inquiry was requested in 2018 by former PN leader Simon Busuttil and PN MEP David Casa after journalists revealed how €1.3 million had been transferred into 17 Black. The funds had originated from Azerbaijan and a company associated with the LNG tanker acting a floating storage unit at Delimara.
According to information revealed in the Panama Papers leak, Schembri’s and Mizzi’s Panama companies had to receive money to the tune of €150,000 every month from 17 Black.
Times of Malta and Reuters had in 2018 revealed that 17 Black was owned by Yorgen Fenech, who was a shareholder in the Electrogas consortium that won the multi-million-euro gas power station tender.
MaltaToday is informed that Fenech is also expected to be charged as are Paul Apap Bologna, another Electrogas shareholder, and Mario Pullicino, who was the agent responsible for the LNG tanker.
The nature of the charges are not yet known.
Murdered journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia had revealed in February 2016 that Mizzi held a company in Panama and a trust in New Zealand, both of which he had failed to include in his ministerial assets declaration. Caruana Galizia later revealed that even Schembri held a similar offshore structure.
The information was confirmed a couple of months later when the Panama Papers investigation was published internationally.
At the time, former FIAU director Manfred Galdes had urged investigators to seize the computers of Nexia BT, the financial advisers who set up the offshore structures for Mizzi and Schembri.
However, the police had refrained from doing so on the basis of legal advice by then-Attorney General Peter Grech, who argued seizure of Nexia BT’s servers would be a “drastic” and “highly intrusive” move, that could be counter-productive.
The Caruana Galizia public inquiry had lambasted the police for failing to act on the Panama Papers scandal. A magisterial inquiry into 17 Black and the Panama scandal was only triggered in 2018.
Schembri and Mizzi are already facing charges over corruption in the Vitals hospitals deal. They were charged last year alongside former prime minister Joseph Muscat and several other individuals and companies.
Fenech is awaiting trial over charges that he masterminded the murder of Caruana Galizia in 2017.
PN calls for inquiry publication
Reacting to the news, the Nationalist Party demanded the immediate publication of the inquiry's findings by the Attorney General.
The PN also called on Prime Minister Robert Abela to recover stolen funds and hold those responsible accountable. If he fails, the PN vowed to take the necessary steps if elected to power.
The PN credited its former leader Simon Busuttil, MEP David Casa, the organisation Repubblika, and lawyer Jason Azzopardi for their efforts in initiating the inquiry.
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