Caruana Galizia public inquiry: Axed FIAU investigator Jonathan Ferris insists John Dalli told him that Egrant belonged to the Labour Party
Jonathan Ferris, a former official at the Financial Intelligence Analysis Unit, tells the public inquiry into Daphne Caruana Galizia's murder that John Dalli told him that Egrant referred to Election Grant
Jonathan Ferris has stuck to his claim that former European Commissioner John Dalli had told him that Panama company Egrant belonged to the Labour Party and referred to 'Election Grant'.
The former FIAU investigator was testifying in the Daphne Caruana Galizia public inquiry, when he repeated the claim that had been strenuously denied by Dalli last year. Ferris had made the claim about the offshore company and its link to the Labour Party during the Egrant inquiry with Dalli insisting he never made any such insinuation.
Last December, when the Egrant inquiry was published in full, Dalli even asked the police to take action against Ferris for perjury, over the Egrant claim.
Former PN leader Simon Busuttil had suggested a similar link between Egrant and 'Election Grant' before the 2017 general election. The Egrant inquiry found that the offshore company did not belong to Joseph Muscat or his wife, an allegation made by Daphne Caruana Galizia, but did not establish for whom it was created.
Ferris told the public inquiry that at the time of his sacking from the FIAU after the 2017 general election he was working on an investigation into the LNG tanker that was part of the power station project. Ferris said he was looking into the financial structures that belonged to Konrad Mizzi.
An analyst's report had recorded even a 1c transaction on Mizzi's credit card in Montenegro, just after an agreement of sorts was signed in that country.
The last sitting of the inquiry was held on Monday. Former MFSA chairman Joe Bannister claimed under oath that he had no idea of the work carried out by the supervisory council of the financial services watchdog he was head of.
Bannister's statement prompted former chief justice Joseph Said Pullicino, a member of the inquiry board, that he was tired of hearing witnesses passing the buck and claiming they were not responsible for certain actions.
The public inquiry is charged with determining whether any wrongful action or omission by or within any State entity could have facilitated the assassination of Caruana Galizia or failed to prevent it, particularly whether the State knew or should have known of risks to the journalist’s life “at the time” of her murder.