Everyone involved in the 2017 murder of anti-corruption journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia has been arrested, said the head of Malta’s national police.
Commissioner Angelo Gafa spoke before a hearing on Wednesday night, in which two new suspects were reported.
So far, seven men have admitted or been accused of complicity in killing Caruana Galizia. They include property and energy mogul Yorgen Fenech, who pleads not guilty to the crime mastermind, and a taxi driver who has already confessed to being the intermediary in the alleged assassination by order of one of Malta’s most prominent journalists.
“With the evidence at our disposal, we can say that all the people involved, whether a principal or an accomplice, are under arrest or facing charges,” Gafa announced at a news conference.
The comments may cause some controversy, as Fenech has given evidence to the police that accuses high-ranking political figures of having prior knowledge of the plot.
At 11 pm in the courts of justice in the capital of Malta, Valletta, Robert Agius and his associate Jamie Vella pleaded not guilty to the complicity in the murder of Caruana Galizia. Vella, who tested positive for Covid-19, appeared in a hazardous materials suit in the heavily guarded court. Vella and Robert’s brother Adrian Agius were also charged with involvement in a second murder, the 2015 murder of a lawyer named Carmel Chircop. They pleaded not guilty.
George Degiorgio, who is already on trial as one of the murderers suspected of carrying out the murder of Caruana Galizia, was also charged and denied having committed the murder of Chircop.
The raids on houses and vehicles by the brothers Agius and Vella, arrested on Tuesday, revealed cash worth € 70,000, firearms, 350g of heroin and two sachets of cocaine. In one of the residences, the police found 10 cars, which are to be confiscated.
Europol, which has been assisting since the start of the murder investigation, was tasked with extracting data from 25 cell phones and two laptops seized during the assault.
Fenech was arrested in 2019 while trying to leave Malta on board his yacht. He is in custody awaiting a decision on whether to stand trial. A taxi driver obtained a presidential pardon in exchange for his evidence against Fenech. A former friend of the tycoon, Melvin Theuma, now lives in a safe house, under police protection.
The latest events came after a key witness got a court settlement, which was approved by the Prime Minister of Malta and his cabinet on Monday. Three years after presenting crucial evidence on the case, Vincent Muscat secured a measure of leniency in exchange for his testimony.
After pleading guilty to his involvement in the murder of Caruana Galizia, he was immediately sentenced to 15 years, although his jail term could be commuted to allow his release in 2027. Muscat also received a presidential pardon for admitting his involvement in the murder of Chircop, in exchange for evidence against his alleged accomplices.
Caruana Galizia, a columnist and researcher whose blog on political corruption in Malta earned her the reputation of “a woman on WikiLeaks”, was almost as well known in her home country as those she exposed in her scoops. His violent murder, which occurred near his home in the village of Bidnija, involved the Maltese government party in a political scandal.
The country’s prime minister, Joseph Muscat (unrelated to Vincent Muscat), was forced to resign in 2019 after allegations that members of his government tried to sabotage the police investigation.