We call on Malta's Attorney General to initiate a Europol JIT with urgency

Evidence continues to build that Daphne Caruana Galizia’s assassination was motivated by her investigation of a kickback scheme involving senior Maltese government officials, Maltese and other state-owned enterprises, and private businesses.

Today’s joint Reuters and Times of Malta report shows that prime murder suspect Yorgen Fenech made millions of euros through his once secret company 17 Black Ltd in a corrupt wind-energy deal in Montenegro, orchestrated by Malta’s former energy minister Konrad Mizzi and the former prime minister’s chief of staff Keith Schembri. It involves Montenegro’s government, Malta’s state-owned electricity company Enemalta, China’s Shanghai Electric, and several offshore companies including one owned by Azerbaijani-British national Turab Musayev, who was SOCAR Trading’s representative on the board of Electrogas.

We welcome Prime Minister Robert Abela’s statement that Malta’s police force will be given more resources “if needed”. It has never been clearer that Maltese law enforcement, which collapsed under the weight of Fenech, Mizzi and Schembri’s international corruption during Joseph Muscat’s government, needs assistance. The scale and extent of the transnational crime exposed by Daphne Caruana Galizia and the journalists continuing her work can only be properly investigated by an international team unrestricted by national borders.

We reiterate our call on Malta’s Attorney General to initiate a Europol Joint Investigation Team with urgency. Malta’s European partners are ready and willing to help our country stand up to the violence of this corruption.