Minister should press criminal charges against Degiorgio over HSBC heist claims, Jason Azzopardi says

Jason Azzopardi asks: ‘If Degiorgio is lying about minister’s involvement in HSBC heist, why has Carmelo Abela not yet sought criminal action against him?’

Jason Azzopardi: 'Why hasn't Minister Carmelo Abela opened criminal proceedings against Degiorgio for calumny?'
Jason Azzopardi: 'Why hasn't Minister Carmelo Abela opened criminal proceedings against Degiorgio for calumny?'

Carmelo Abela should take legal action against one of the Degiorgio brothers linking him to the 2010 HSBC heist if he is innocent, Jason Azzopardi said.

He was latching on to Abela’s statement yesterday that he was questioned by police after one of the Degiorgio brothers accused him of being an accomplice in the failed robbery.

Abela insisted the claim is a lie and continued to deny any involvement. However, he would not say whether police questioned him under caution yesterday.

In a Facebook post on Thursday, Azzopardi said Abela was within his rights to open criminal proceedings against one of the Degiorgio brothers who released the statement to the police.

Azzopardi asked: “Why hasn’t Minister Carmelo Abela opened criminal proceedings against Degiorgio for calumny?”

The lawyer asked his readers whether they would stand idle if someone lied about them, especially if they were a government minister. 

“If he opens these procedures, Minister Abela will be able to appear in court in front of Degiorgio. Or is he bothered about something? This time, in court, Degiorgio will not be wearing a balaclava (for argument’s sake),” Azzopardi concluded his post.

Abela filed an urgent libel case against Azzopardi last month when the Nationalist MP linked the minister to claims made by Daphne Caruana Galizia hitmen Vince Muscat and Alfred Degiorgio that a “sitting minister” was an accomplice in the 2010 heist.

At the time of the failed robbery, Abela worked as a manager in the bank’s department that was also responsible for security.

When testifying in the compilation of evidence against two men charged with carrying out the heist in February 2011, Abela had said he sometimes used the equipment that produced access cards, known as Cotag cards.

The robbers had used security cards to gain access to the bank’s control room at its main office in Qormi, where the cash centre is found. The heist was not successful and ended in a shootout with police.

Abela has insisted that he cannot remember testifying in the court case and it was only after verifying matters that he acknowledged having testified as a bank representative and not in his personal capacity.

Three men are awaiting trial for the heist – Muscat, Daren Debono known as it-Topo, and Fabio Psaila. However, investigators believe that more people were involved, including someone who provided the criminals with access cards and details of how to find their way inside the bank.

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