news

Police question Lino Cauchi’s wife and neighbour

Home Affairs minister Tonio Borg, speaking in Parliament on Monday 11 March, confirmed reports appearing in MaltaToday that police investigators have arrested and interrogated a number of people in connection with the Lino Cauchi murder after fresh information received in recent months shed new light on the case.

MaltaToday can reveal that last week the police also summoned Lino Cauchi’s wife, Anna, for questioning, as part of the ongoing investigations. A neighbour, who in 1982 had testified that she saw Lino Cauchi park his car outside the house where it was found and later changed her story, is also expected to be questioned by the police.

Lino Cauchi’s car had been mysteriously found parked a short distance away from his house with no sign of a break-in. The car was reported to have been there at a time when Lino Cauchi was at work in Valletta. Nobody knows who parked the car or how it got there.

As yet, no one has been charged and the case still remains a mystery, but among the people interrogated by police investigators over recent months was former public works manager and Lorry Sant acolyte, Piju Camilleri.

Dr Borg confirmed that the police are pursuing their investigations in earnest but would not divulge the contents of the inquiry because the case is still open. He also confirmed that some of Lino Cauchi’s remains were not given to Cauchi’s family for burial in 1989, but were kept by the police on court order.

Dr Borg was answering questions put to him by Nationalist MPs Jean Pierre Farrugia and Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando following the renewed media interest in the case.

Meanwhile, Dr Pullicino Orlando asked Justice Minister Austin Gatt why no magisterial inquiry into Lino Cauchi’s murder was launched in 1986 when it was amply clear that the remains found in Buskett a year earlier were Lino Cauchi’s. Dr Gatt said that a reply will be given in another sitting.

The inquiry to identify the remains found in Buskett was concluded by Magistrate David Scicluna in 1989 when it was certified that the corpse was Lino Cauchi’s. It was only after that date that Magistrate David Scicluna continued the inquiry to establish a motive for who could have murdered the Santa Venera accountant.

The Lino Cauchi case took a fresh twist late last year when land speculators involved in shady land deals in the eighties broke their silence. They gave evidence in front of the inquiring magistrate about scandals involving land transfers for building permits.

The new evidence revolves around a number of stormy meetings that occurred before the 1981 election between Piju Camilleri and the developers. Lino Cauchi, who was identified as Camilleri’s accountant, was also present for these meetings. During these meetings large tracts of land were transferred to companies belonging to Piju Camilleri and Joe Pace of the Magic Kiosk, in exchange for favours related to building permits and schemes. At the time, building schemes fell under the direct responsibility of the public works minister, Lorry Sant.