HSBC heist: Who’s who in the trial by jury of Vince Muscat ‘il-Koħħu’

The trial by jury of Vincent Muscat ‘il-Koħħu’ is underway today, as the man implicated in the 2010 shootout outside the HSBC headquarters, is tried for his role in the failed heist.

The police has always believed that insider information must have been provided to the robbers, to enter the first security doors inside the building that led to the vaults.

An SAG police officer on duty inside the building was held hostage for some time, before a mobile squad police car arrived on site and foiled the heist, prompting the robbers to abandon their plans and flee with their guns blazing.

A lawyer, David Gatt, was charged in court accused of masterminding the HSBC heist as well as another €1 million armed robbery on the Balzan branch in 2007, a hold-up on a security van in Mriehel and a hold-up on an Attard jeweller. He was acquitted of the charges.

Gatt had been previously dismissed from the police force in 1998 by the Commissioner of Police, on suspicion of having had contact with criminals. He subsequently won a constitutional case for redress over unfair dismissal.

Vincent Muscat, “il-Koħħu”: the defendant

Vincent Muscat “il-Koħħu” is today known as one of three men accused of having assassinated the journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia.

Also separately accused for involvement in the heist are Fabio Psaila “il-Ġeneral” and Daren Debono “it-Topo”.

Some 65 shots were fire at police who turned up on site and foiled the daring robbery, which had taken full advantage of the general absence of police on duty due to the State visit of the Italian President and an Isle of MTV event.

A police witness, former constable Mario Portelli, would later allege that the lawyer and sacked police inspector David Gatt, had masterminded the heist. The case was never proven in court and Gatt was acquitted. At the time he shared his legal office with former Labour minister Chris Cardona.

Gatt himself had represented Vincent Muscat in court when the latter was granted bail in November 2010 for a botched hold-up on the jeweller Michael Mizzi. Also implicated in the crime was Daren Debono “it-Topo”, who was seriously injured in both his legs when Mizzi”s son confronted him and fires a gun at him.

In February 2021, Muscat changed his plea in the Caruana Galizia case and admitted guilt, settling for a 15-year jail term. Muscat”s admission set in motion a chain of events, including the arrests of Żebbuġ brothers Adrian and Robert Agius, known as Tal-Maksar, and their associate Jamie Vella.

Muscat was also given a presidential pardon to tell all on the murder of lawyer Carmel Chircop in Birkirkara six years ago.

Muscat says it was him who pointed the finger at middleman Melvin Theuma back in April 2018, leading police to the middleman in the Caruana Galizia assassination.

Vince Muscat had claimed in a court application filed by former lawyer Marc Sant, that “prominent individuals” – now widely known to be former economy minister Chris Cardona and OPM minister Carmelo Abela – were linked to the failed HSBC heist.

The Degiorgio brothers, Alfred “il-Fulu” and George “iċ-Ċiniż”, had claimed in a letter to the European Commission that they had evidence showing in detail the names and details about both Cardona and Carmelo Abela, and even members of the Malta Police Force, in connection with the attempted heist on HSBC in 2010.

Franco Debono and Robert Montalto: the defence lawyers

Criminal defence lawyer Franco Debono, 47, needs little by way of introduction: he was the Nationalist MP who rocked the last years of Lawrence Gonzi”s administration, scorned at being left on the backbench and becoming a vocal critic of forgotten reforms on justice.

With his vote in a December 2012 money bill forcing an election (and the longest-ever election campaign over three months), Debono was suspended by the PN”s executive committee.

After 2013, the Labour administration appointed him Commissioner for Laws, as well as being tasked with presiding a steering committee for constitutional reform, which was however prevented from picking up steam after the Nationalist Party under Simon Busuttil refused to take part in it. He was also the author of a volume of proposed reforms dealing with the separation of justice and home affairs.

In 2017 he toyed with a Labour candidature but two years later broke ranks once again, making headlines with an inflammatory blogpost accusing Joseph Muscat of being “the most corrupt politician in Maltese history”, ostensibly following Muscat”s decision to have Coleiro Preca steer the convention on Constitutional reform which he had been entrusted with in 2013. “Since I refused to contest the election with Labour in 2017, Muscat has changed,” Debono had said.

Both Franco Debono and Robert Montalto, 44, are among the bar”s top criminal defence lawyers.

As a lawyer in private practice for 20 years, Montalto has represented a multitude of clients often in high profile cases. He entered the scene with a bang in 2003, successfully defending Jamal Badawi, a Greek man on trial for rape. His long list of clients include Noel Mizzi, who was acquitted of attempted murder by a jury in 2005 and more recently the trial of Antonel Dobre who was jailed for 7 years in 2015 for grievously injuring a man in Paceville, who had later died of his injuries.

Giovanni Grixti: the Judge

Mr Justice Grixti was made judge in 2015, upon which he called for a rethink of the way criminal justice was administered, proposing that criminal inquiries be entrusted to a dedicated magistrate and prosecutions be conducted by the Office of the Attorney General, instead of by the police.

“With an inquiring magistrate who is legally and technically adept, together with a dedicated team...I am certain that we would achieve quicker and less costly results.”

“We must be realistic and understand that today, prosecuting inspectors are loaded with an exaggerated amount of cases, together with their other duties.”

Currently, in most criminal cases, the compilation of evidence in court is carried out by the police, but after a bill of indictment is issued, the duty of conducting the prosecution falls to the office of the Attorney General.

Grixti graduated in law from the University of Malta in 1989 and obtained his Master of Laws degree in International Maritime Law from the International Maritime Law Institute of the same university, having worked mainly in commerce and shipping. He was for a time legal adviser to the ministry for the environment, and later joined Air Malta as chief legal adviser. In 1996 he was appointed to the Court of Magistrates and has presided over the Rural Leases Control Board, the Rent Regulation Board and the Land Arbitration Board.

Others: Gianella Busuttil and Francesco Refalo, prosecution