Deborah Schembri jumps to Keith Schembri's defence with legalistic spiel

The former Labour Party MP takes umbrage at calls for Keith Schembri’s dismissal from the party without due process

Deborah Schembri
Deborah Schembri

Keith Schembri has found an ally in former Labour MP Deborah Schembri who came to his defence after senior party exponents called for his dismissal from the party.

In a lengthy post on Facebook, replete with legalistic arguments, Schembri asked on what basis should Schembri be kicked out of the party, whether any such procedures were used in the past, and whether these procedures will be created for him specifically.

She was reacting to former PL secretary general Jason Micallef’s post yesterday calling for the immediate dismissal of Keith Schembri, insisting that “no one is bigger than the party”.

Since Micallef’s post, even deputy leader Chris Cardona came out calling on the party to fire Keith Schembri.

An excerpt of Deborah Schembri's long Facebook post
An excerpt of Deborah Schembri's long Facebook post

But Deborah Schembri insisted that the Prime Minister’s former chief of staff had not yet been charged with wrongdoing, let alone found guilty of anything.

She said the problem was that people were arriving at conclusions based on “four statements made by journalists whose job is to give us sensational headlines”, without a judicial process concluding that the person was guilty of anything.

“Whoever did anything should pay for his misdeeds but if on the basis of the limited information we have, we arrive at premature and wrong judgements, the person who did nothing would pay for things he did not do and who did wrong will go scot free,” she added.

Deborah Schembri warns against 'premature and wrong judgements'
Deborah Schembri warns against 'premature and wrong judgements'

Deborah Schembri’s legalistic approach flies in the face of court testimony yesterday by the lead investigator in the Daphne Caruana Galizia, who said Keith Schembri was being investigated for homicide, tampering with evidence and other crimes.

Keith Schembri has been implicated in the murder with pardoned middleman Melvin Theuma describing him as Yorgen Fenech’s informant. The courts have heard how Fenech was kept abreast of police investigations by Schembri with sensitive information.

Keith Schembri has denied all the claims.