Caruana Galizia public inquiry: Parliamentary Secretary saw nothing wrong taking work from Nexia BT

Parliamentary Secretary Alex Muscat saw nothing wrong in taking a €5,000 consultancy from Nexia BT despite the firm having set up the overseas structures for Konrad Mizzi and Keith Schembri.

Muscat, who at the time was an MP and worked as deputy chief of staff at the Office of the Prime Minister under Schembri's wing, told the public inquiry that as far as he knew, Nexia BT had done nothing illegal when it opened the Panama companies.

Asked by lawyer Therese Comodini Cachia whether he knew that Nexia had set up the structures for Mizzi and Schembri, Muscat said he only got to know when the information became public in 2016.

He said the fact did not change his reasoning as to whether to accept work from Nexia BT since the accountants did nothing illegal or wrong “as far as I knew”. Muscat declared the income received from Nexia BT  in his parliamentary declaration of assets.

Muscat said he did not know Yorgen Fenech but saw him on one occasion in the waiting room outside the prime minister's office. He said he never communicated with Fenech, not even with WhatsApp.

Testifying about developments last year when Fenech was arrested and murder middleman Melvin Theuma was given a pardon, Muscat spoke of relief: "I remember that when the middleman and Fenech were arrested and all these things started to come out I felt like 'come on, finally justice is being done in this country'... We had major cases in this country which didn't reach this stage, I think that as a country it was an important development."

The public inquiry also heard Tax Commissioner Marvin Gaerty, who said he had a cordial 15-minute meeting with the police on communication that he had with Yorgen Fenech. Gaerty explained that he had communicated and met Fenech over a VAT issue concerning his companies. He denied the meeting was about 17 Black or that Fenech or his representatives sought to communicate with him over 17 Black.

"My job is to meet with people about tax issues. I met with him and his lawyers about work-related issues. One of these meetings took place in Portomaso. This going to the subject's office happens from time to time if many people are going to be present. The meeting was about a VAT issue... I knew about the issue beforehand, and if I knew they were going to speak to me about that [17 Black] I wouldn't have gone," Gaerty said.

He will have to appear another time to testify on tax issues concerning a list of people passed on to him by the inquiry board. Gaerty will have to seek the Prime Minister's authorisation to be able to do so.

In the previous sitting, Nexia BT's Brian Tonna and Brian Cini testified, both chose not to reply.

READ MORE: Caruana Galizia public inquiry: Brian Tonna, Karl Cini choose silence since they are subject to ongoing investigations

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.