Fugitive arrested in Italy ‘allowed to escape from Malta’ despite investigations – Cassola

The independent candidate Arnold Cassola has accused the Maltese police of having ignored for years on end, requests for cooperation from Italian police on gaming consultant Iosif Galea.

Cassola was speaking upon news of the arrest of Iosif Galea, wanted in Malta over an alleged racket involving leaked information from the regulator, in Italy, but for a separate German investigation linked to tax evasion.

Galea is believed to have absconded Maltese justice after this week he was issued with a European Arrest Warrant on the back of money laundering charges issued against former gaming authority employees.

Galea was previously a compliance officer at the Malta Gaming Authority (MGA), which was called the Lotteries and Gaming Authority.

Cassola said Galea had already been identified in a 2015 investigation by an Italian magistrate, Nicola Gratteri, and later in 2021 linked to another investigation on the Bet90 sports betting company.

“Yesterday the Malta police played a dirty game. They said they were issuing an international arrest warrant for Galea. What they did not tell us was that Galea had already escaped from Malta and had already been arrested by the Italian police on a German arrest warrant. He had been already arrested... and that is why the Maltese police were forced to speak up,” Cassola said.

Cassola even accused the police of having allowed Galea to leave Malta despite long-held knowledge of Italian investigators’ interest in Galea’s role for various betting companies.

Cassola said Galea was already well-connected, with his partner working for Michelle Muscat as personal assistant, while his father Francis Galea is a long-time employee of the Labour administration and now works in the secretariat of junior minister Alison Zerafa Civelli, sister-in-law of prime minister Robert Abela.

“The Maltese don’t have to worry about crooks like Iosif Galea, Ryan Schembri or Yorgen Fenech – the Italian, French, German and British police are doing the work for us.”