Magisterial inquiry linked to police Panama Papers investigation Operation Green at crucial stage

A police investigation into the Panama Papers, codenamed Operation Green, is at magisterial inquiry stage and one of two judicial probes is at “a crucial stage”.

The information was given by Police Assistant Commissioner Alexandra Mamo on Wednesday while testifying in front of the Daphne Caruana Galizia public inquiry.

Mamo was reluctant to comment on a suggestion made by one of the judges that the division she now heads waste a lot of time in 2016 when the Panama Papers scandal was outed.

However, she insisted the investigations were still ongoing.

Mamo was made head of the police financial crimes unit in June, soon after the appointment of Angelo Gafa as police commissioner.

Operation Green was the codename given to the police probe back in 2016, which failed to gain any traction. Testimony given by Mamo’s predecessor, Assistant Commissioner Ian Abdilla, indicated that the police were given advice by the Attorney General to exercise prudence and go slow when evaluating the possibility of seizing the servers of accountancy firm Nexia BT.

Nexia had helped then minister Konrad Mizzi and former OPM chief of staff Keith Schembri set up companies in Panama. The firm has since had its licence withdrawn and its partners, Brian Tonna, Karl Cini and Manuel Castagna have been subjected to a freezing order by the court following the conclusion of a magisterial inquiry into allegations concerning kickbacks.

Schembri’s assets are also subject to a freezing order.

“I cannot speak for what happened at that time… These investigations are still ongoing. Persons have been arrested and are on police bail… One of the two inquiries that make up the investigation [Operation Green], is at a crucial stage,” Mamo testified.

On the data extracted from Caruana Galizia murder suspect Yorgen Fenech’s electronic devices, the police officer said her unit has a copy and every chat is being analysed.

“If necessary, a police investigation is being launched into the individuals concerned. A number of criminal investigations in this regard are active and underway,” she added.

Mamo told the inquiry that the police commissioner and herself had wanted to set up a meeting with the Caruana Galizia family. “The victim has a right to know what stage the investigations were at,” she said.

Another meeting will be held in the coming weeks, she added.

Mamo then continued her testimony behind closed doors.

In the previous sitting, Mark and Joe Gasan testified about their involvement in the Electrogas consortium.

The public inquiry into the murder of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia is tasked with, amongst other things, determining whether the State did all it could to prevent the murder from happening.

Caruana Galizia was murdered in a car bomb just outside her Bidnija home on 16 October 2017.

Three men, George Degiorgio, Alfred Degiorgio and Vince Muscat, have been charged with carrying out the assassination, while Yorgen Fenech is charged with masterminding the murder.

Melvin Theuma, who acted as a middleman between Fenech and the three killers, was granted a presidential pardon last year to tell all.

The inquiry is led by retired judge Michael Mallia and includes former chief justice Joseph Said Pullicino and Judge Abigail Lofaro.