[WATCH] Daphne inquiry | Schembri told Muscat who 17 Black belonged to: 'I did nothing behind his back'
Keith Schembri testifies | Passports inquiry did not have 'a single line' claiming he took kickbacks • Schembri denies ever meeting the Gasans, Fenechs and Apap Bolognas before 2013 on energy project • Denies 'kitchen cabinet' existed
Keith Schembri has confirmed that he told Joseph Muscat who owned 17 Black but the timing of this conversation remains unclear, the Caruana Galizia public inquiry heard.
Schembri insisted he did “nothing behind Joseph Muscat’s back” as he defended his actions and denied any wrongdoing.
The former chief of staff in the Office of the Prime Minister chose to answer all questions put to him while testifying in the public inquiry despite being out on police bail.
Schembri insisted that in the magisterial inquiry that probed allegations of kickbacks in the passport scheme, there was “not one line” that implicated him in corruption.
The inquiry was concluded last September and passed on to the police. The findings of the inquiry have not been published but soon after the police called in Schembri for questioning and slapped him with a wide-ranging freezing order. The investigation is ongoing.
However, when questioning turned to Colson Services, a British Virgin Islands company, Schembri’s lawyer Edward Gatt interjected, saying this would impinge on the police investigation involving his client.
Justifying Panama company: No trust in local banks
Schembri justified opening Tillgate, a Panama company, after the 2013 general election, insisting that he wanted to transfer assets held in a Bank of Valletta trust out of the country because of leaks from the bank.
He said the idea was to transfer his assets into a New Zealand trust and the Panama company Tillgate only had to be a temporary measure to get things going fast. He insisted he did not trust local banks any longer.
On 17 Black’s inclusion as a target company of Tillgate, Schembri reiterated he had made business plans with Yorgen Fenech for when he finished from his job in the public sector.
Schembri had already testified as much in the compilation of evidence against Fenech.
But he repeatedly denied that the second company identified as a target client - Macbridge - was suggested by himself. He insisted that he had no knowledge of the company and it was inserted in the documentation by his auditors.
17 Black
Schembri told the inquiry that he had informed then prime minister Joseph Muscat of the ultimate beneficial owner of 17 Black but could not recall the date when this conversation took place.
In March 2018, the media had flagged 17 Black as a target client of Schembri’s Panama company. In November 2018, Yorgen Fenech’s name was identified as the owner by Reuters.
Schembri denied any connection between 17 Black and the Electrogas power station tender. Fenech was a shareholder and director in Electrogas.
Schembri was appointed chief of staff at the OPM in March 2013 after Labour was elected to government. He resigned from the role in November 2019, five days after Fenech was arrested and implicated as the mastermind of Caruana Galizia's assassination.
Resignation
Schembri confirmed that he had gone to Muscat's home at night and handed in his resignation. A few hours later, Schembri was arrested by the police and interrogated after Fenech implicated him in the murder. Schembri was released and no charges have been pressed against him.
He told the inquiry board that since then, the police have never spoken to him again about the murder. He also denied being tipped off about his pending arrest when submitting his resignation.
Schembri insisted that over the past few years, despite a lot of talk of corruption, no evidence has been brought forward to implicate him in wrongdoing.
He said that he had wanted to resign when he was receiving treatment for cancer towards the end of 2016 but started getting involved again after the prime minister asked him to help out when an Afriqiya Airways plane was hijacked and landed in Malta in December that year.
Early general election: 'I never said Daphne wasn't right'
Asked about a blogpost in which Daphne Caruana Galizia had indicated that the date for the 2017 general election had already been pencilled in before the Egrant allegations became public, Schembri replied: "I never said Daphne Caruana Galizia wasn't right."
"You are a politician and you work on numbers. We had a sizeable lead over the Opposition and then Egrant came out and destabilised the country. At the end of the day the people are always sovereign," Schembri replied.
Asked about the phone call he was asked to make by Muscat on the evening before Fenech was arrested to persuade the businessman from leaving Malta, Schembri denied he was tipping him off. "Fenech already knew. I didn’t need to tip him off. He had spent a year abroad... Fenech did not ask me how I knew he was leaving. He's no fool," Schembri replied.
The inquiry is drawing to a close and a sitting for 29 January has been pencilled in by which time the parties will be expected to submit their notes and any other relevant documents.
Background
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.