German prosecutor suggested Panama Papers link to Caruana Galizia murder, former AG testifies
The public inquiry into the murder of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia continues with the testimony of former attorney general Peter Grech
German prosecutors believed the Daphne Caruana Galizia murder may have been linked to the Panama Papers in an email to then attorney general Peter Grech.
Testifying in the Caruana Galizia public inquiry this morning, Grech said that shortly after the assassination in October 2017, he had received an email from the German prosecutor's office.
The email suggested the crime could have been linked to the Panama Papers leak and the German authorities were willing to co-operate on the matter, Grech said.
The former AG said he had passed on the information to then-inquiring Magistrate Anthony Vella.
Magistrate Aaron Bugeja, who was leading the Egrant inquiry, had also travelled to Germany to check out the Panama Papers information, Grech added.
He also testified about advice he had given the police against the seizure of servers from accountancy firm Nexia BT unless they had strong grounds for reasonable suspicion.
When prompted by the inquiry board that his advice led police to do nothing for two years, Grech defended his position back in 2016 when the Panama Papers scandal erupted.
He told the inquiry that the police had then raided the Nexia BT premises but they requested advice about the legal consequences of collecting the servers.
“I had advised them, which was spun and did me a lot of harm, that going to an accountancy firm and taking the servers is a very intrusive measure. The advice says this is a drastic measure and you must have a strong ground of reasonable suspicion,” Grech said.
The former AG said he did not know what evidence the police had at hand but many details emerged a year or two afterwards.
“I am ready to explain the circumstances of every advice I gave… This was a particular request for the seizing of servers. I didn't say it couldn't be done,” Grech testified. He added that it was not the AG’s remit to investigate.
In the previous sitting, police Assistant Commissioner Alexandra Mamo told the court that an investigation into the Panama Papers, codenamed Operation Green, was at magisterial inquiry stage and one of two judicial probes was at “a crucial stage”.
READ MORE: Magisterial inquiry linked to police Panama Papers investigation Operation Green at crucial stage
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.