Gangland murder victim’s wealth stays out of reach for prosecutors chasing money

A money laundering case that saw the acquittal of the lover of a murdered criminal has raised serious questions about how well-equipped the law is to secure convictions on the ‘keepers’ of Malta’s criminal proceeds.

When he was gunned down as he got out of his car on the morning of 12 December, 2012, Joseph Cutajar aka ‘il-Lion’ had been on the dole since 2003. His girlfriend Sharon Camilleri, 46, had been unemployed since 1998 and neither of them ever declared any income since 2004. Every week, the couple would receive €291.22 in unemployment benefits between them.

In such seemingly destitute conditions, Cutajar and Camilleri thrived and amassed a small fortune: Cutajar, known to the police as a member of the criminal underworld, had six bank accounts to his name, Camilleri had three bank accounts and two safety deposit boxes; Cutajar owned three vehicles, one of them a BMW 3-Series as well as a 26-foot yacht, the Twinkle I, registered in the name of Camilleri. Inside those safety deposit boxes in Camilleri’s name were jewels and €82,000 in cash.

How did Camilleri come to amass such wealth without working a day in her life? This was ostensibly the question the police wanted to answer by attributing such gains to the world of criminality inhabited by Joseph Cutajar, a man who at the time of his death was being investigated for the 15 March murder of Kevin Gatt and Stephen Zammit, both 32, in a shootout in the basement garage of Cutajar’s Marsaskala property. Stacks of money totaling some €100,000 had been found by police during a raid on Cutajar’s apartment that week.

In the end, much of this circumstantial evidence amounted to little in value for the prosecution. Not even the fact that, just five days after the slaying of Gatt and Zammit, Camilleri had withdrawn €13,500 from a safety deposit box which Cutajar had allegedly also been using, and which sparked the money laundering investigation.

Camilleri’s defence, led by lawyer Arthur Azzopardi, argued that her wealth was a collection of gifts amassed from various boyfriends: a house that was purchased for her by a certain John Saliba, furnishing paid for by one Kevin Falzon, jewellery gifted to her by several other suitors... “At the end of the day, [Camilleri] was used to being spoiled and treated well by the men she dated,” the defence argued in its submissions.

So why did this seemingly feeble excuse for the lover of a man connected to usury and drugs fail to arouse some form of meaningful suspicion?

The answer lies in the fact that when it comes to money laundering, it was one of the few if not the only, case under Maltese law where the accused is not presumed innocent until proven guilty.

But that only stands if the prosecution produces evidence that the wealth of the accused has been procured by ill-gotten gains, to which the ‘burden of proof’ to argue otherwise then falls on the accused.

And it was this uncertainty, that the prosecution could not nail the exact origin of Camilleri’s and Cutajar’s wealth, that left Magistrate Joe Mifsud grating.

“Is it enough for the prosecution to prove that substantial amounts of cash are found in the accused’s possession without a valid explanation, or must the prosecution also prove the predicate offence?” Mifsud asked in his judgement.

Clearly, it was not enough to parade the wealth of an unemployed woman and consort to a murdered criminal to secure a money laundering charge. 

Magistrate Mifsud said that shifting the burden of proof on Camilleri could only take place once police investigators prove to the court’s satisfaction “other aspects that are connected to money laundering, such as ties to drug trafficking rings... It is only after the adjudicator examines the reasonableness of the money’s provenance, or the lack thereof, that this presumption can apply.” 

Even where the court has allowed the burden of proof to be placed on the defendant, the defence is still only required to show that the funds were “probably” not the proceeds of illegal activities, whereas the prosecution would still have to prove this “beyond reasonable doubt”.

“Not every acquisition or sale of property, whether hidden or not, necessarily amounts to money laundering,” Mifsud said. “Even if the accused is a dyed-in-the-wool criminal.”

Contract killing timeline

April 2008 – Raymond Agius

Car dealer Raymond Agius, 49, murdered at the Butterfly Bar, Birkirkara when two men wearing crash helmets arrived on a motorcycle, one of them firing a pistol in the head

November 2010 – Joe Baldacchino

Businessman Joe Baldacchino, 51, shot in broad daylight near Hastings Garden, Valletta, by a motorcyclist who shot him in the back

March 2012 – Stephen Zammit and Kevin Gatt 

Already under police surveillance in connection with a series of hold-ups, the two men ambushed Joseph Cutajar ‘il-Lion’ in his Marsaskala basement garage. Gatt, 32, died on the scene of the shoot-out; a paralysed Zammit, 32, choked on his food in hospital a month later

December 2012 – Joseph Cutajar  ‘il-Lion’ and Joseph Grech ‘il-Yo Yo’

Now accused of the March double murder, Cutajar, 46, is shot 12 times with a Kalashnikov as he got out of his car in Mosta. Cutajar was then believed to be among the suspects questioned over a daring heist at the Casino di Venezia in 2010, when armed robbers made off with a large sum of money, fleeing the scene in a powerboat.

On the same day, Grech, 41 is found murdered at Qalet Marku, Bahar ic-Caghaq, killed by a gunshot to the head. He was awaiting trial for association in the attempted murder of Patricia Attard, shot dead in her mini-van at Ta’ Qali in 2004

February 2013 – Ronald Galea

Businessman Ronald Galea, 65, shot eight times in the back and head by a hooded man, armed with a 9mm semi-automatic handgun, outside his meat factory in Hal Far

May 2013 – Paul Degabriele ‘is-Suldat’

Degabriele, 48, is shot five times in his car in Marsa by an assailant who appears to have shot from inside a white van. Degabriele was investigated over the 2012 murders of Joseph Cutajar and Josef Grech

July 2013 – Mario Camilleri ‘l-Imniehru’ and Mario Camilleri Jr

The bodies of the notorious drug trafficker and his son are found buried in a shallow grave in Birzebbugia. His brother-in-law, Jason Galea, and Galea’s half-brother George Galea are accused of the murder together with Ronald Urry

January 2014 – Joseph Galea ‘il-Gilda’

Galea’s lifeless body is found on the seat of his Kia Sorento outside his Marsa home. Known in connection with illegal gambling and usury, he was shot 17 times with a 7.62 calibre assault rifle in a drive-by shooting

February 2014 – Pietru Cassar ‘il-Haqqa’ 

A self-taught explosives expert thought to be behind a number of bomb attacks in the 1980s, Cassar was shot in the neck and chest with a 9mm pistol, at his garage in Zejtun. It is believed his murder was linked to a series of bomb attacks targeting people like Paul Degabriele back in 2012

April 2014 – Vince Muscat ‘il-Kohhu’

Shot three times in the head, losing sight in his right eye, while out on bail for the failed HSBC heist of 2010. Jonathan Pace, owner of Tyson Butcher, is subsequently charged with Muscat’s attempted murder 

August 2014 – Jonathan Pace

The Tyson Butcher owner is himself killed in a drive-by shooting in Fgura, shortly after being released on bail. Pace was hit by a burst of automatic fire from an assault rifle, while smoking a cigarette on his balcony.