Protest for 'truth and justice' to be held outside Parliament on Monday

A protest will be held tomorrow outside Parliament, with civil society demonstrators calling for "trust and justice" in connection with Daphne Caruana Galizia's assassination and the government corruption linked to it.

The protest will be the first since a series of mass protests in November and December 2019 lead to the resignations, under a dark cloud, of former prime minister Joseph Muscat, his chief of staff Keith Schembri, former tourism minister Konrad Mizzi and former economy minister Chris Cardona.

Organised by Repubblika, #occupyjustice and manueldelia.com, the protest will be driving calls for the setting up of a joint investigation by Europol and Malta's police into Caruana Galizia's murder and related corruption.

In the past weeks, testimony heard in court during the compilation of evidence against Yorgen Fenech, the man charged with ordering the murder, has continued to cast a shadow over the country's highest officials, including ex-police chief Lawrence Cutajar.

Cutajar was alleged to have tipped off Melvin Theuma, the self-confessed middleman in the journalist's slaying, about his impending arrest, claims which he denied.

He has since been placed under formal investigation.

The protest also comes after reports about corruption in the sale of a wind farm in Montenegro to Enemalta.

A story by Reuters and Times of Malta revealed that Dubai-based company 17 Black, which was owned by Fenech, was revealed to have made a previously undisclosed profit of €4.6 million when Enemalta bought the wind farm in Montenegro. 

The wind farm was acquired by Enemalta in a lucrative deal for Fenech during the tenure of Mizzi, who was then energy minister.

The Montenegrin project, backed strongly by both Muscat and Mizzi, could implicate not just Fenech but potentially Muscat’s former chief of staff, Schembri. Both Mizzi and Schembri’s secret offshore companies in Panama had named Fenech’s 17 Black as their target client.

Following the media report, the police said they had been investigating the Montenegro deal for some time.

Monday's protest will also be calling for politicians involved in corruption to shoulder their respnsibility and resign or else be removed.

It will also call for Enemalta's director to take responsibility as officials who are meant to safeguard the interest of the Maltese people, and to give a full account of the negotiations concerning the Montenegro deal.

The protest is scheduled for 6pm.