I'm 32 years old and grew up in the shadows of Europe. I aspired to work at the
@FT
(and eventually did). I never imagined that they would have to publish a story like this.
Sanctions are non-violent means of stopping war. Swiss inaction is accelerating the risk of escalation, not stopping it. To think how much Switzerland benefited from war, corruption and genocide. And in this moment it continues to choose the side of the oppressor.
My mother was assassinated for reporting on corruption in Malta a year ago today. The people who did it are still free. They sit in parliament and on private jets. It is that simple.
Malta prosecutor resigns yesterday at 5pm and turns up in court this morning representing the man charged with my mother's murder. Undeniable collusion between the prosecutor's office and Fenech's defence team, on the same day they said there was no need for a Europol JIT.
My family and I spent years calling for justice. We were harassed and made out to be enemies of our own country by Muscat. Yet we persisted because we knew that something was deeply, deeply wrong with the investigation. What I heard in court today confirms that we were right:
One of the first things I did after the murder was hand a backup of a disk containing these emails and documents, leaked to my mum from Electrogas, to a journalist we trusted. They picked up where she left off and now here we are. But we still have a long way to go.
The Buzzfeed report on
@carolecadwalla
by
@MarkDiStef
is so absolutely appalling and sexist I had to stop reading after the first few paragraphs. Good journalists are always involved in disputes. In five years at
@ICIJorg
I saw enough for a lifetime—and we won a fucking Pulitzer.
Silvio Valletta is a senior police officer married to a govt MP. He led the investigation into my mum’s murder. When we filed a human rights case to have him removed, our govt called us enemies of the state. Now we find out he was holidaying with the man who murdered my mum.
Imagine if all the energy that went into western democracies persecuting Julian Assange went into prosecuting one corrupt official, oligarch or their enabler.
12 years ago today my mother asked me if I wanted to help her set up her website. I cancelled my plans for the day and installed WordPress on a server in her office. Her work, that website, is still changing our country and changing Europe.
Malta and Council of Europe member states owe a great deal of thanks to rapporteur
@PieterOmtzigt
for his work, which led to the imposition, voted for by MPs from all over Europe, of a deadline to start the public inquiry. His report from two years ago:
My mother denounced the PM of Malta, Joseph Muscat, and was executed with a car bomb months later (he denies any connection). Now he asks us to denounce her work and in return he'll drop his libel suit against her (a dead person). This is our reply.
This photo of my mum taken by Jon Borg, with her notebook and pen, shows her happy doing reporting from a protest against high-level corruption in Malta. The work that led directly to her assassination.
“I am concerned by the recent developments in Malta.
We harshly condemn the murder of Daphne Caruana.
Journalists must feel safe to work in Europe.
I expect a thorough and independent investigation free from any political interference.” − President
@vonderleyen
While Malta’s governing class uses nepotism and corruption to further personal interests, others are doing things that actually matter. Here’s my incredible brother:
Paul Caruana Galizia
@pcaruanagalizia
is named New Journalist of the Year for his work at
@Tortoise
about the death of his mother and Britain’s opioid crisis
#BJA2019
Nine to be prosecuted for money laundering at Pilatus Bank. “The move comes four years after murdered journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia accused the bank of being involved in corruption and money laundering.”
“A massive spotlight called The War in Ukraine has been cast upon the British system: the oligarchs, the donors. We've all been aware of it, we all know what's been going on. We can now see that there'll be change off the back of it.” - caller on
@mrjamesob
He fought the cabal that murdered my mum. His life was made hell because he went after them too, so I'm happy he's now been turned into a positive example. A Europe that rejects the violence and corruption of Muscat and instead accepts his opposite is what we all want.
Le Pen met Vladimir Putin ahead of her last presidential campaign in 2017, received Russian loans for her party and supported his illegal annexation of Crimea. Electing her as President will make her government the Vichy regime of our generation.
I had to read this quote from Kremlin adviser Sergei Markov three times: “Malta must keep selling us their passports, to annoy the U.K and U.S.A.” It’s out in the open.
Rich Russians Still Buying Passports in Racket Daphne Caruana Galizia Died Exposing - Despite int'l outrage over 2016 murder of journalist investigating the scheme, Malta continues peddling EU citizenship to the rich & infamous, by
@annanemtsova
@BLNadeau
Inspired by the work of Marie Colvin's family and friends, today we filed a civil claim for damages against the five men formally identified as having played a role in the assassination of my mother.
#DaphneCaruanaGalizia
A megalodon tooth costs $40 on eBay. Corruption has cost us billions of euros. I ask my government to prioritise and please get a grip on what's important.
When I first started working for ICIJ seven years ago I thought offshore was intriguing but niche. Within the year I realised that these underground rivers of money feed environmental and human atrocities. If you care about trees in Brazil, wars, or whatever — fight corruption.
Today's my mother's birthday. On this day in August three years ago, I was probably helping my mother with the investigation into Electrogas - a private power monopoly in the EU obtained through corruption by SOCAR, Siemens, Gasol, Yorgen Fenech, Mark Gasan and Paul Apap Bologna.
For years we've known that at least two senior police officers, Raymond Aquilina and Silvio Valletta, were working to sabotage the murder investigation.
#DaphneCaruanaGalizia
How Azerbaijan got its gas pipeline to Malta:
1. Money is stolen from the Baku games and transferred to Pilatus Bank in Malta.
2. From Pilatus, it goes an account in Latvia.
3. From Latvia, it goes to Yorgen Fenech.
4. From Fenech, it is destined to Maltese officials.
Joseph Muscat, the prime minister of Malta, is still pursuing a libel case against my dead mother... who was assassinated in front of me over a year ago. This is what we are dealing with. In the European Union. In 2019.
“Police believe that the anti-corruption journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia was killed for what she was about to reveal about a government-sponsored power station deal, a court in Malta has heard.”
1. My mother was murdered with a car bomb.
2. My brothers and I left our jobs to advocate for justice.
3. Our work triggered a constitutional review of Malta.
4. Joseph Muscat and his minions now claim it was their idea all along.
5. He continues to sue my dead mother.
I cannot overemphasise how shocking this is. The EU is helping someone awaiting trial for the murder of my mother reap massive profits. Does the EU stand for anything all?
The EU is poised to fund a fossil gas pipeline to fuel Malta's Delimara power station, a project part-owned by the businessman currently facing trial for the murder of Malta's leading investigative journalist, Daphne Caruana Galizia.
Yorgen Fenech confessed to murder. He shares a doctor with Keith Schembri, Muscat's chief of staff. That doctor confessed to passing messages from Schembri to Fenech while Fenech was in custody. Despite this damning evidence of criminality, the police released Schembri just now.
IT’S OUTRAGEOUS. The Prime Minister has taken the law into his own hands to protect his best friend and himself from justice. Our democracy has collapsed.
The government of Malta is holding an 'exhibition of celebrated women' for
#WomensDay
. These include the govt's own lawyer and a former govt MP. Not a single mention of my mother, who literally died for her country. Activists corrected this censorship with their own banner.
“Assange’s persecution has been met with shock and dismay by those of us who liked to believe that the days of witch-hunts are over in freedom-loving America and even-more-liberal Europe.”
Today:
- Electrogas shareholder testifies in public inquiry
- complaint in Paris against French banks
- Daphne Caruana Galizia prize approved by European Parliament
- Joseph Muscat resigns his seat in parliament
We now have confirmation that two government officials reporting directly to
@JosephMuscat_JM
played a crucial role in covering up my mother's assassination. No wonder Muscat fought so hard to stop the public inquiry into the state's role in the murder.
Jet privato: partito da Mosca, capatina a Cipro, poi a Malta e ora in Montenegro.
Ovviamente si confida che Malta si stia adoperando con perizia nel rispettare le sanzioni, senza dare la minima possibilità a boss e oligarchi russi di mettere al riparo le proprie cose. (Esatto?)
Almost five years too late. We had to remove three police commissioners, one attorney general, one prime minister, several ministers and many other officials. And my mother was murdered in the process.
#DaphneCaruanaGalizia
Judge Edwina Grima today, on Malta's independence day, signed a freezing order on the assets of Keith Schembri, his wife and parents, Nexia BT and its partners and 100 other defendants. Our PM and AG had to resign for this to happen, and new PM had to be stopped from interfering.
“When I attempted to interview the prime minister, Joseph Muscat, his press secretary told me it could only happen on two conditions: I could not ask about financial corruption or about Caruana Galizia.”
Will Europe listen the next time journalists expose high-level corruption? Will
@vonderleyen
create mechanisms that kick into place automatically, preventing the murder of a mum, when the head of a government begins to protect criminals? This is our fight now.
Confirmed: Yorgen Fenech was on the boat and tried to escape Malta. This is the man whose role was to remit bribe payments to Muscat’s chief of staff. Who is still his chief of staff.
Huge European Parliament majority votes for a ban on citizenship-by-investment schemes in the European Union, calling on the Commission to adopt new legislation.
It's easy for people who see crime as entertainment to celebrate a request for pardon. They're not the ones mourning victims and who have to live with cold-blooded murderers walking around them. We are fighting for justice, not to give you thrills or keep you entertained.
Breaking news from Latvia: One of the most extensive searches in the country’s history is currently being carried out at ABLV Bank. 300 police officers, 46 addresses linked to ABLV Bank. Several persons detained. (currently only in Latvian)
Joseph Muscat sold Malta's public hospitals to a secret offshore company. For two years, journalists have been fighting in court to uncover the names of the puppets on the committee that oversaw this corrupted process. Today they won.
Russian embassy officials in Malta clearing the Navalny memorial, on a public pavement which the embassy has no title over, minutes after protestors left last night.
This person, along with Muscat, took the decision to grant a pardon TO THE VERY PERSON HE COMMISSIONED TO MURDER MY MUM. Even now, as everything is falling, they’re corrupting the entire justice process, using the most powerful tool in the land.
@mcaruanagalizia
@ignaziocassis
He said today "it is probable that (the increase of measures) will be the case but I cannot foresee decisions that have not yet been taken". The Swiss government has announced an extraordinary meeting for tomorrow Monday.
The line from our PM that anyone calling for golden passports to end, let alone be revoked, is anti-Russian, comes straight from passport merchants. Our foreign policy is literally being dictated by a handful of estate agents and lawyers.
This is personal. Our dogs were killed by the people my mother wrote about, the first a collie called Sam with its throat slit when I was a child. Our house was firebombed twice. No one was ever charged and the investigations were designed to fail. Then she was assassinated.
This is my personal response to the new attack we recieved at home. Thank you for your solidarity. We must focus on facts and evidence regarding the extent of impunity and how it empowers the mafias.
#WeWillNorSurrenderToSilence
#JournalismIsAlive
@OxfordDiplomat
The lack of professionalism is astounding. "They started this." There's absolutely no effort to present any logical case or proper argument, it's obfuscation and an appeal to authority throughout.
“Moscow right now. Noviy Abat street.”
Video just sent to me. Looks like this office block supporting Russian invasion by switching on lights in a big Z shape.
@emilybell
@skirchy
@jane__bradley
@guardian
Journalist is the right word. It's unfair on people in extreme situations like that in Belarus to say, "they're political activists not journalists". They're in a context where journalism is activism, because journalism is banned, so they have no choice.
Oligarchs are transferring mega-assets to family members to avoid sanctions. This attempt, by Alisher Usmanov, did not work. Important that EU governments allow both authorities and anti-corruption CSOs the resources they need to stay on the ball.
My mum loved British cop shows and I can imagine coming home to find her watching Line of Duty. The lighting in British TV is terrible I used to tell her. She liked that they always cracked the case.
@jed_mercurio
been wondering, is
#LOD6
somewhat inspired from the unresolved murder case of
#DaphneCaruanaGalizia
? My first hunch was the use of the Maltese surname
#Vella
. Also, same car model, similar journalism and similar potential motive!
Each one of these tweets is really hard to type, because it means you have to face reality. Here it is: Daphne Caruana Galizia given the Anna Politkovskaya Award by
@PK_Stockholm
.
“Some people died for it. Daphne Caruana Galizia, who was investigating someone at the top of the government in Malta, and his connection to the Panama Papers, was blown up in her car, in front of her home.” Thank you Meryl Streep for articulating how I feel about this film.
Streep on
#TheLaundromat
: "This is a funny way of telling a joke that’s being played on all of us. It’s a crime, not without victims. And many of them are journalists"
Dear
@Snowden
You called it wrong.
But you have 5 million followers and direct a press freedom organisation with significant resources. You yourself have benefited from incredible advocacy and support.
Any chance you could now speak up and take action?
No law in Malta: “People stared in amazement in Republic Street on Friday as Daphne Caruana Galizia murder suspect Yorgen Fenech calmly came out of the court house, lit a cigarette and walked along the street.“
.
@Nigel_Farage
never explained why he took money from the people who made the bomb used to assassinate my mum. Why did he accept the money? Why did they offer it to him? What was promised in return? No one's saying Farage was involved in a murder, but answers are needed.
A Russian citizen who came out of nowhere to buy a Maltese passport for $650k cash and use it to acquire geopolitically important Finnish island territories in the Baltic sea. What could possibly go wrong?
A hint to the international media: this massive police operation in Finland (assisted by the military) is likely about much more than just money laundering. The company in question (Airiston Helmi) has been linked to Russia.
4.5 years late. 4.5 years of EU politicians forced to shake hands with this criminal. 4.5 years of harassment and propaganda against us. And then an assassination that could have been prevented had this come sooner. Everyone should be extremely angry about this.
The PM’s job is to prevent violence and corruption. When those crimes are perpetrated by his office, he has not only failed to prevent them. He has instigated them. For him to try to take credit for arrests, is like a rapist expecting to be congratulated for becoming a father.
I'm sorry that int'l news crews who made the trip to Malta for the swearing in of our new PM were kept corralled in a courtyard and prevented from doing any filming. Abela, like Muscat, is an arrogant man with no respect for people he sees as his subjects. Our fight continues.
My position will always be that political parties must not own broadcast media. Today, Malta's governing party media did a TV piece about me. These are comments below the piece that they encourage and have allowed:
BREAKING:
@MaltaGov
has suspended
#Russians
from the island's
#goldenpassports
scheme, saying the 'current situation' made due diligence checks too difficult.
#Malta
has been facing pressure to stop
#oligarchs
using it as a backdoor into Europe.
“The only thing that Malta did in the aftermath of Panama Papers was to kill the journalist investigating government corruption. Calls for a Public Inquiry into Daphne Caruana Galizia's murder were met with arrogant dismissal.”
Last year protestors blocked roads to stop our govt chopping down 500 ancient pine trees. Some even tied themselves to the trees. The protest was successful. But today, 12 hours after banning gatherings of more than 3 people, our PM sent in the chainsaws and chopped them down.
BREAKING: Constitutional court declares Government of Malta breached human rights of thousands of activists by sending workers to destroy my mother’s protest memorial in Valletta every night for two years. A key piece of video evidence RTed below. Case brought by
@repubblikaMT
.
As many pointed out cleaners collected and placed memorial items in the cab, rather than back of their truck. At 00:06 (5mins before clearing) the memorial was photographed to prove which items had been placed there. I guess everything will later be made available for collection.
Quando la disperazione sembra aver toccato il fondo e non si vede via d'uscita, ricordiamoci che l'indomita
#DaphneCaruanaGalizia
non si è tirata indietro e ha proseguito la sua battaglia. Fino in fondo. Onore a lei e a quanti vogliono credere nella
#verit
à e nella
#giustizia
🌿
When you stay at Hilton Malta, you're financing the person being prosecuted for my mother's murder, and you're also financing his family, whom a judge declared are "willing to help" him escape from Malta. Avoid this hotel.