Xhieda ta’ Caroline Muscat – 12 ta’ Frar 2020
Fl-Atti tal-Inkjesta datata 19 ta' Novembru 2019, rigward skont it- Termini ta’ Referenza ta’ l-Inkjesta Pubblika dwar l-Assassinju ta’ Daphne Caruana Galizia.
Seduta miżmuma llum l-Erbgha 12 ta’ Frar, 2020.
Caroline Muscat, bint il-mejjet Joseph Muscat u Lina nee’ Francica, imwielda Attard u residenti Xemxija bil-lingwa Ingliza bil-gurament tghid:
Dr. T. Comodini Cachia: Miss Muscat, anke biex il-bord ikun infurmat, l-iskop li tlabna dan ix-xhud biex tinstema huwa li fil-professjoni taghha ta’ gurnalista tista’ tispjega jew nitolbuha tispjega l-metodi ta’ harassment li soffriet hi bhala gurnalista jew illi ghadha qed issofri pero’ wkoll biex tispjega ricerka illi hi stess kienet ippartecipat fiha li forsi tista’ tindika u taghtina iktar gharfien dwar kif persuni f’ufficcju pubblici u persuni li jirrapprezentaw lill-istat jaffettwa mhux biss l-opinjoni pubblika imma oltre minn hekk ikompli anke jippermetti assassinju tal-karattru ta’ persuni bhal gurnalista’ Daphne Caruana Galizia. U allura my first general question because I am sure you are very much aware of your own research and the information you have . . .
Imh. A. Lofaro: Is she a free-lance journalist?
Dr. T. Comodini Cachia : If you could explain how the license that you hold as a journalist, where you practise as a journalist.
Witness: I am an international correspondent and I hold an international press card. I am the former new editor of the Times of Malta and The Sunday Times of Malta. Three (3) weeks after Daphne Caruana Galizia was assassinated I set up The Shift News in Malta, an online news portal dedicated to investigative journalism and continuing the investigations that Daphne did.
Imh. A. Lofaro : And you correspond internationally as well?
Witness: Yes. We collaborate with other news rooms in Europe. Imh. M. Mallia : Raise your voice so we can hear you.
Witness: We collaborate with other news rooms in Europe on cross border investigations as well as focusing on investigations in local context, mostly involving corruption, human rights, environmental violations.
Imh. A. Lofaro : But did you start this international collaboration after Mrs.
Caruana Galizia’s death? Or even before?
Witness: I have written for international publications before but the idea of cross border investigation of corruption is quite a recent phenomenon because corruption crosses borders and so journalists have also learnt how to cross those borders to keep following the money. What we say follow the money.
Imh. A. Lofaro : Ok. You may go on, thank you.
Dr. T. Comodini Cachia : So, could you start by explaining your research and the work that you have carried out?
Witness: In terms of what is relevant to this public inquiry, one of the first – one of the first things that we did after Daphne Caruana Galizia was assassinated we noticed that there was a pattern – a pattern in the derogatory remarks made about her or about other people, so we saw a certain coordination and it was mostly happening online. And then you see the same narrative happening on for example the state broadcaster or sometimes independent media too. So what we did, we wanted to understand where this was coming from, where was the coordination coming from and what we found were – we monitored for six (6) months, six (6) secret and closed groups online. They totalled sixty thousand (60,000) members. You had to show your membership to the Labour Party before you could gain access to these groups. We managed to gain access with the help of whistle-blowers who felt disgusted by what they were seeing there. So we spent – we spent six (6) months in these groups, just monitoring how things were happening over there and the main findings of this investigation showed . . .
Dr. T. Comodini Cachia : Before you go to the end, could you kindly indicate to us – when you tell us you monitored these groups, could you explain how, what work you undertook to monitor these groups, were you members in those groups so you obtained the information directly or was the information passed on to you and also when you refer to secret and closed groups, could you explain to us what those mean?
Witness: What I mean by secret and closed is that you have to show a membership before you are even accepted as an account that can follow and participate what is going on in these groups. And how we monitored them over six (6) months is first through the help of whistle-blowers who were passing on information to us. Then we understood how we could get access and we managed to gain access to these groups. We were not active participants in these groups. We monitored what was going on. First point of interest was understanding how Daphne Caruana Galizia was being treated in these groups and what we saw was – was, was beyond anything we ever expected. It was quite shocking. To be frank, Daphne Caruana Galizia was presented over there in the most dehumanising ways. She was a witch to be burnt at the steak, she was presented as a monster and these were – these posts were put there by people who were working for the government at the time. They were labour MPs, they were people coming from the OPM, people for example like Neville Gafa’ who would put these meme of her as a monster there with some snide remark and then you get the labour MPs who are liking this post and it continues to be shared.
Imh. A. Lofaro : But was this at the time – the timeframe, when you said you found these posts, were they posted before her death?
Witness: Both. They were posted before . . . Imh. A. Lofaro : Both. Even after her death.
Witness: The dehumanisation campaign continued even after her death. Imh. A. Lofaro : And when you said membership . . .
Witness: Sorry?
Imh. A. Lofaro : And when you said membership, was it of the Labour Party?
Membership in the Labour Party?
Witness: Yes, of the Labour Party. Imh. A. Lofaro : Ok.
Witness: You had to show your . . . Imh. A. Lofaro : It-tessera.
Witness: It-tessera. What we – the main – you asked me if it was before or after . . .
Imh. A. Lofaro : Yes.
Witness: The tools and the groups remain there, they remain active. After her death, they spread to more people. So it was a wider net, so it was more journalists, more government critics. If you allow me to go through the research, then I can possibly explain some more details.
Imh. V. Said Pullicino : I was asking only, you said that these groups existed before her death.
Witness: Yes.
Imh. V. Said Pullicino : You are certain about that? Have you got proof that they existed before?
Witness: Yes, they were there for seven (7) years before. They were built while the Labour Party was still in opposition.
Imh. V. Said Pullicino : And then you started monitoring after her death. Witness: Yes.
Imh. V. Said Pullicino : You went backwards to see . . . Witness: Yes.
Imh. V. Said Pullicino : To try to rebuild what was happening? Witness: Yes.
Imh. V. Said Pullicino : Ok.
Witness: I am going to start with the main findings and then the dossier has a number of examples in terms of – which I will leave this behind.
Imh. V. Said Pullicino : . . . a copy of it?
Witness: Yes, yes. I will just go through but essentially the main findings show that online discors was becoming . . . .
Dr. T. Comodini Cachia : Just give me one second. Are you going to refer to the dossier in your testimony?
Witness: Yes.
Dr. T. Comodini Cachia : And you have one (1) copy only? Witness: No, there is another one there.
Dr. T. Comodini Cachia : So could you give one (1) copy to . . . . Witness: Sure.
Dr. T. Comodini Cachia : . . . the board so they can follow on the dossier while you refer to your copy. Thank you.
Witness: The notes at the top are what I am going to be going through . . . Imh. A. Lofaro : The notes at the top?
Witness: That is what I am going through right now. So you have every copy of what I am going through.
Imh. A. Lofaro : Ok.
Imh. V. Said Pullicino : Ok.
Witness: So the main findings from this research was that online discors in Malta was becoming increasingly polarised and abrasive. There was significant involvement by government officials. Instances of mass trolling or outright threats online and important fact here is that there was a high degree of control and coordination. Why is this important in Facebook? Facebook and most social media, Facebook will show you what it thinks you want to see and what you react to most. Now once you put these into groups, the impact of that is amplified. So you can within a very short space of time, within a period of hours, create either a cycle of support for a particular candidate or a cycle of hate against a critic. And this we found was used extensively, particularly against Daphne Caruana Galizia. In terms of the active main government accounts that we found within the groups, they included Josef Caruana who works at the OPM communications, Tony Zarb who is a government consultant, Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando former member of parliament, now the executive chairman of the Malta Council for Science and Technology, Mark Farrugia Deputy Chief of Staff at OPM, Robert Musumeci government consultant, Rosianne Cutajar labour MP, Neville Gafa’ – it took us a while to figure out where he worked but he was working at the OPM, Glenn Beddingfield through his blog that tried to counter Daphne Caruana Galizia’s
blog. We are off course – all this was happening while Kurt Farrugia was heading the communications department at OPM and when obviously – this is not comprehensive, this is only a slice of what is going on. People like Karl Stagno Navarra who has a programme on the Labour Party station is also an active member in terms of discriminating this misinformation against government critics. The government always denied even when we exposed the story. The government always denied that these were hate groups, defended the information there as freedom of expression. When we published – when we published the research, a post immediately by Rosianne Cutajar said: yesterday The Shift News uploaded an article about labour’s hate machines. Ironically the only hate machine which people immediately recall is Daphne Caruana Galizia’s blog. So what we see in these groups is constant counter narratives. The spread of blatantly untrue information.
Malta through this research is one of the few countries that has managed to proof state sponsored trolling. Why? Because these groups are administered by people who work in government departments. The people administering these groups worked at the Justice Ministry. So when you have all – there are samples within the folder – if you look at the section online harassment and disinformation, you have samples there of each of these accounts I have just listed and the kind of posts that they were engaging and the public – there are already clear examples there of Daphne as a witch, Daphne as a monster, Glenn Beddingfield on Daphne Caruana Galizia. And then it shifts. It shifts onto other government critics and also opposition MPs.
Imh. V. Said Pullicino : You are insisting that it was or it is an organized group.
Witness: For sure. Definitely I am proofing . . .
Imh. V. Said Pullicino : Is that your conclusion or is that based on something? Witness: The evidence in the groups themselves.
Imh. V. Said Pullicino : The evidence indicates that it must have been organized.
Witness: It is definitely organized because you can’t get that kind of narrative spreading towards very specific targeted channels in such a coherent way and such a short period of time.
Imh. V. Said Pullicino : It can’t be that one (1) person issues a label and that sticks on and everybody would . . .
Witness: It would take – it wouldn’t operate in the same way these have operated. No.
Imh. V. Said Pullicino : You think this is different. Witness: Yes.
Imh. V. Said Pullicino : Something organized. Witness: Yes, for sure.
Imh. V. Said Pullicino : Centralized . . .
Dr. T. Comodini Cachia : Can I ask you a few specific questions in this regard? Witness: Sure.
Dr. T. Comodini Cachia : You referred to requiring a membership and you explained that that means that you required a tessera of the Labour Party. You also said that the administrators worked at the Justice Ministry. Can you explain to us the role of the administrators in those groups?
Imh. V. Said Pullicino : And how you came to know about them. And how you came to know about . . .
Witness: We came to know about them, as I said, through whistle-blowers who felt disgusted by what they were seeing there. This is after Daphne’s death. These groups were celebrating Daphne’s death, calling for street parties, people turning up in red and this kind of thing. It was at that point that people got in touch with us because they were disgusted by what they were seeing. In terms of what the administrators do, they approve people who can access and post on these groups. They also lead the narrative on these groups so for an example when there was a protest in London at a Hanley and Partners conference by Maltese people in London, the photo, the ID card number, the home address of the activist who lead this protest was posted on these groups. Within a few hours the cycle of hate to cough and people were calling for her to be
stopped, to be raped, all this kind of thing. So this is how fast such an effort can . . . . .
Dr. T. Comodini Cachia : So when you indicated that the administrators worked at the Justice Ministry – that is something that you verified yourself? And if you did, are you at – do you have the possibility to indicate some of these administrators by name?
Witness: The administrators are listed in the articles that we have included in the dossier. You have to also keep in mind that the administrators change according to changes in the government and Ministries etcetera. But for example, what you have printed here, Angele Camilleri was a PL candidate at the time for local council elections. So it is a PL candidate, working at the Justice Ministry, running for local council elections and she is the administrator on more than one (1) group. This is just to give you an example.
Dr. T. Comodini Cachia : Ok. So, can . . . Witness: This is where you have . . . .
Dr. T. Comodini Cachia : You lived it, so you know this inside out. We are just trying to catch up with what you know. So which is the document?
Witness: Facebook groups – then you have the part where there are published articles. The yellow section, number one (1), as annex one (1).
Imh. A. Lofaro : Yellow section, din, din.
Dr. T. Comodini Cachia : So, are you saying that administrators are identified on the group itself as administrators?
Witness: On any group you can see who the administrators are, so we just had to verify where they were working and since some of them were political candidates, it was easy to point them out.
Dr. T. Comodini Cachia : Ok.
Imh. V. Said Pullicino : How did you actually decide that she or he was the administrator?
Dr. T. Comodini Cachia : It is listed.
Witness: It is a function you have in the group. It is not a title you give.
When a group is created, it is a function that you have.
Dr. T. Comodini Cachia : Maybe if we find a picture, we can see it. The name would have the title of administrator.
Witness: The platform – the title you give yourself, the role you give yourself, or is given to you, allows you to do or not do things in the group.
Imh. V. Said Pullicino : Ok. That makes sense. Ok.
Dr. T. Comodini Cachia : And then you also mentioned that in Malta, or the Maltese scenario was one specific case where government sponsored or state sponsored mass trolling was identified. One (1), can you explain to us what mass trolling is and then how you concluded or the evidence you used to conclude that this was state sponsored.
Witness: There are – there are – there is criteria, first of all there is a distinction between mass trolling which could be done by different organisations, different individuals and then you have state sponsored trolling where you have this criteria that need to be met. Now, state sponsored trolling, the criteria are past instances of threats and harassment of journalists and activists or even critics. Two (2): the involvement of senior government officials. Three (3): unmarked blurring between political propagandists and government functionees, the blurring between state and party. Four (4): Facebook groups involved in trolling, harassment, being administered or moderated by public offices. Five (5): lack of official condemnation and enforcement of appropriate laws. In each – Malta, in this case meets all of these criterias. It is not me saying it. It was an article in Bloomberg published in twenty eighteen (2018). It is also referenced in the dossier that looked at five (5) countries where state sponsored trolling has been proven. So . . .
Dr. T. Comodini Cachia : You also indicated at one point earlier that the membership in these closed groups included members of parliament and groups from Ministries and Parliamentary Secretaries. Can you indicate how you identified this? Is it something – you see the name in the group or . . .
Witness: The members of the groups are visible to other members in the groups and there we saw – when we were looking there, it was the President, the former President of the Republic, the former Prime Minister, most MPs, political candidates aspiring to run the next election and the loyalists of the different – of the different candidates there. So you can see who the members are. When we exposed the story, former President Marie Louise Coleiro Preca left the groups immediately and condemned hate speech generally.
Imh. V. Said Pullicino : . . . could be drawn into the group without knowing it actually?
Witness: You are notified if you are added to the group and you are notified whenever somebody is posting in that group.
Imh. V. Said Pullicino : Then why was it that the former President decided to leave?
Witness: Sorry?
Imh. V. Said Pullicino : What was the reason why the former President . . . .
Witness: When we published the story, soon after a few days later, she announced that she was leaving these groups and she condemned hate speech generally.
Imh. V. Said Pullicino : Fair enough.
Witness: She then – the same question was put to the former Prime Minister, I think in parliament three (3) times, twice (2) he defended these as not being hate groups and refused to acknowledge them as hate groups . . . by the third time – I believe it was the third time, he left the groups but never – never condemned the behaviour in these groups.
Dr. T. Comodini Cachia : Prior to touching on this issue, we were speaking of how do you assess control over these groups, control over the messages. And you indicated to us that your status, your role within the group gives you certain functions, certain rights. And there we spoke of the administrators. But is there any other settings within the group – for example posting settings which were changed at different times or which you could relate a change in posting settings to certain events – national events?
Witness: There are – there are, I wouldn’t say there are changes or tweaks in how things are posted, but the groups are active, there are peaks of activity around particular events, for example an election. So from the time that we studied these groups, we published these I think it was twenty seventeen (2017), twenty eighteen (2018) – between May twenty eighteen (2018) and June twenty nineteen (2019) is when we published this information. The next time we saw activity again is before the last MEP elections. For they kind of go dormant and then – and then when there is political activity, they start to function again.
Imh. V. Said Pullicino : I understand that there is nothing . . . wrong in having a group?
Witness: Sorry?
Imh. V. Said Pullicino : There is nothing wrong in having a group. Witness: No, it is like all technology . . . .
Imh. V. Said Pullicino : It is the nature of the communication . . . Imh. M. Mallia : Content.
Witness: Like all technology, it is how you use it. Imh. V. Said Pullicino : . . . .
Dr. T. Comodini Cachia : I would like you to take us through the documentation that you have presented in the dossier, just for us to understand the documentation, its purpose and also – or rather before you do that, you have given us a document which is titled: online harassment and disinformation. You did refer to disinformation but now I see that you have presented a few screenshots, so I would like you to explain to us what you are referring to by this information and how you got to this.
Witness: The part I have explained so far – mostly relates to online harassment. It ties in very closely to this information. What happens there is that – is that online channels are flooded with – through the use of these groups because this is the power how to multiply the message. So channels – online channels are flooded with counter narratives that as I said before are very often blatantly untrue. There are examples that are presented in the dossier but this relates to any subject that is being debated from
immigration to the economy. You can do this with anything. So what I am going to be focusing on is how this relates to Daphne Caruana Galizia’s case and press freedom in the country. For example one clear disinformation campaign that shows also the coordination of the campaign is The Truth Project. The Truth Project which is outlined in the dossier was – a campaign that countered the Daphne Project. The Daphne Project was an international consortium of journalists that took up her stories. And they – it was clear that on the first year anniversary that they were going to publish some revelation. What happened was at the same time – you got The Truth Project coming out which basically the counter narrative were – where is the laptop, shifting blame, blame for – all suggesting that the people behind the assassination actually came from PN, discrediting journalists and critics, all the information The Truth Project is over there. So this is how it works. And what happens is the dominance of the government in the public sphere when you consider that in Malta most of the media is owned or controlled by political parties and then you have the state broadcaster that tends to fall under the arm of government, you have very few independent media in between who can actually bring out the facts and – but what is happening is when those facts are put out there and you get this wave of this information, there is no way that individual journalists or independent newsrooms can work against or counter the strength of that flood of disinformation. So this becomes a real threat to the public’s right – to know essentially. And that – when it gets – when it gets coupled with hate baiting, in particular in the handful of individuals who are working on investigative journalism, who are activists in the country, get targeted and discredited, all of this you know, builds on each other against the public interest. So you get one sided information whether true or false. It is just one side dominates the entire narrative.
Dr. T. Comodini Cachia : You said that your research focused on content which was pre the assassination and post the assassination. I have just
had a look at the documentation and was there a change of the persons being focused on prior to the assassination and post her assassination in the sense post her assassination were the attacks online focused on just Daphne Caruana Galizia or were members of her family also targeted or activists for her cause also targeted?
Witness: Before Daphne Caruana Galizia was killed, she was – she was the main focus of hate. After she was killed, the dehumanisation campaign against her continued, but the discrediting tactics spread to other journalists and other activists who are critical of the government as well as opposition MPs. Families – Daphne Caruana Galizia’s family yes has been targeted repeatedly. Her son Matthew Caruana Galizia especially. The issue of why the car was parked outside or where is the laptop – that was a constant, constant narrative repeated over and over again. And every time, you know there is a particularly new revelation of accusation against the government, not necessarily on this case but in terms of corruption in general, or a new scandal, that these old narratives start to pop up again and start to dominate the discourse again, diverting attention again from what the latest scandal is.
Dr. T. Comodini Cachia : So could you just take us through the dossier that you have presented.
Witness: The Facebook groups here outline essentially what I have been describing with specific examples relating to Daphne Caruana Galizia before and after her assassination. One very interesting thing that keeps popping up is that even after the death, the idea of – that idea that it is ok to insult people, to speak about a certain aggression against people, to speak about bombs and murdering people as a joke has become something that is open and accepted which is quite shocking. You will see a lot of these – you know, rest in peace Daphne – words I can’t repeat here but things like you can’t rest in peace because you are blown up to pieces. And then you know, a meme that shows Daphne saying: one (1) witch disappeared – and then my face next to it – and another witch appeared. And then a government employee, it is here – goes in
and says: then this one deserves a few more bombs. And nothing happens. We report this, we publish this, we speak about this and nothing happens. So when you get – and that is why I mentioned that list of government officials at the very start, when you have people in high positions speaking and acting this way online, it encourages others to do the same. And this – what we have today, is a situation where language online is much more aggressive and there is much less tolerance of diverse views and opinions online.
Imh. A. Lofaro : Excuse me, when you said that you published all this, who did you bring it to the attention of? Which authorities?
Witness: It is public information. We published it on the news portal. Imh. A. Lofaro : Public and everyone can see it. Right?
Dr. T. Comodini Cachia : Published on The Shift . . .
Witness: Not only in Malta. And it is published internationally as well.
Bloomberg has picked up the debate in all this so . . . .
Imh. A. Lofaro : But let us concentrate on Malta. Witness: Yes.
Imh. A. Lofaro : So it’s been – has it been . . . Witness: Repeatedly published. Yes.
Imh. A. Lofaro : Ok.
Witness: It has been published repeatedly over the span of over more than a year.
Imh. A. Lofaro : Over more than a year.
Imh. V. Said Pullicino : Did you make proper complaints to the authorities in Malta?
Witness: Yes.
Imh. A. Lofaro : To whom? Witness: The police.
Imh. V. Said Pullicino : Police.
Imh. A. Lofaro : Only to the police? I am just asking. I need to know. We need to know.
Dr. T. Comodini Cachia : Sure, sure. Imh. A. Lofaro : The police.
Imh. V. Said Pullicino : But can you give us a record of the complaints you made?
Witness: The problem that we were having with the police, there are – there is a series of reports that we tried to file, the stuff that we did like for example the Economic Crimes Unit, there is a record of. But when we turn up at the police station and try to file a report, most of the time that report was never taken. We end up spending two (2) hours having to justify whether we are journalists or not because we do not have the DOI press card and we end up – so it is not your first course – your first course of action really and truly to protect yourself is more and more so is not to go to the police. This has been the reality of it.
Imh. V. Said Pullicino : Yourself personally try and do – file the report? Witness: Yes, off course. Yes off course.
Imh. M. Mallia : And you never got any response from the police?
Witness: No, it is not that there is never a response, on different cases there are – but we never really got anywhere to be honest.
Imh. A. Lofaro : Or you check and they actually don’t have a copy of the report right?
Dr. T. Comodini Cachia : I would understand that for you as a journalist this is a bit of . . . but for us it is important to understand your relationship or how your complaints were presented to the police because from what I can understand from your general reply is some reports were taken, some reports weren’t. Can you just give us a least two (2) different compartment of reports where any reports received and registered by the police?
Witness: We had – with the Economic Crimes Unit there was one particular case that involved somebody creating at the time when Henly and Partners were threating us with a slap law suit. Somebody sent an image to Henly and Partners which showed the must head of Maltatoday and what seemed like an advert that The Shift had placed there calling Christian Kaelin a murderer. And Henly and Partners wrote to us demanding an explanation on why we had taken out that advert. And we said this is not something we created. So we reported this to the Cyber Crime Unit and – and
they contacted google etcetera. We found out who the person was who created this image and then it hits a blank – it hits a wall.
Dr. T. Comodini Cachia : So the police informed you that they found out who this person was?
Witness: We helped the police find out who created the image.
Dr. T. Comodini Cachia : So the police were aware of who the person is. Witness: Yes.
Dr. T. Comodini Cachia : Were any proceedings taken against this person? Witness: No.
Dr. T. Comodini Cachia : Were there other reports that were accepted by the police that you presented?
Witness: It is honestly really hard to know because as I said, we go there – for most of the time we are trying to convince them to first of all take the report. Most of the questions we face are: where is your press card? Are you really a journalist? When I show them my international press card, that is not accepted because in Malta we still have this really bad practice where the government gets to decide who is a journalist or not in the country. An international press card is not recognized as much as a DOI press card is. So we are prevented from accessing events, we are prevented from getting information on government appointments and functions, where they are going so we can interview – we do not get access to Ministers to interview them and when you get to a police station you don’t – you get – it all piles up. And we have made it a point, especially after – just this week I was – I am in an e mail conversation with the department of information because I want to receive the calendar of events. The calendar of events they send every evening to newsrooms to say where the Ministers are going to be tomorrow and what they are going to be doing. I have been struggling for this for two (2) weeks. We have a policy to not send this to newsrooms that are not registered with the DOI.
Imh. A. Lofaro : Did you ever try to register with the DOI? Witness: Why should I register with the DOI?
Imh. A. Lofaro : I am not saying you should.
Witness: No. Because that is exactly the point I am making. We worked to change the law, to remove that necessity, so why is it now government policy to prevent us from getting that information?
Dr. T. Comodini Cachia : There was a change in law. Imh. A. Lofaro : But effectively you are prevented. Witness: Sorry?
Imh. A. Lofaro : You are still being prevented, right?
Witness: Yes we don’t get the information. I have been in correspondence for two (2) weeks now just trying to get on to the list. I am still denied.
Dr. T. Comodini Cachia : Caroline, can I slow you down a bit. So you referred to a change in the law. And you said that the law now does not require you to register with DOI. Can you explain what law you are referring to? And when this was changed? The media and defamation act. And was your – or were these incidents or government policy that you were phased with after the coming into effect of that law or before?
Witness: Just two (2) weeks ago.
Dr. T. Comodini Cachia : Just two (2) weeks ago. And how are you aware of that government policy because you claim it as a government policy . . .
Witness: I have it in correspondence from the DOI. Imh. V. Said Pullicino : Can we have it please?
Dr. T. Comodini Cachia : Can we have a copy? Witness: It is not here, but I can send it yes.
Dr. T. Comodini Cachia : We would like to have a copy of that ok? Witness: Sure.
Dr. T. Comodini Cachia : What or how is this government policy impeding you from carrying out your duties as a journalist?
Witness: Very simple. Apart from the fact that we can’t even know where government representatives are, what events they are attending or who they are speaking to etcetera, we are – for example on Republic day – one of that is one of the most recent, on Republic day we were denied access to Republic day events – to report on Republic day events. We even – there was even a message
communication by Reporters without Borders International who drew the authorities attention to the fact that this is not acceptable in a democracy – that you have a filtering or selective people, the journalists are selective in terms of who can attend what – be there was then a government statement that just denied that we were prevented access and we just remained without access.
Imh. A. Lofaro : Do you have this denial in writing? Witness: Yes, it is also reported . . .
Imh. A. Lofaro : Ok, ok.
Dr. T. Comodini Cachia : We will get a copy of that please as well. Witness: Which one?
Dr. T. Comodini Cachia : The report, ok. Imh. A. Lofaro : About the denial.
Imh. V. Said Pullicino : We are following these questions because part of our remit . . .
Imh. M. Mallia : Is to suggest.
Imh. V. Said Pullicino : . . . journalism and how far it is protected and it should be protected and therefore anything that could help lead more in this direction would be helpful, including report amendments . . . .
Imh. A. Lofaro : There are amendments.
Imh. V. Said Pullicino : It is true that our remit is limited perhaps to the criminal aspect but I think we will be able to extent to the whole area of journalism.
Imh. A. Lofaro : I suppose you pointed out to them that the law has changed.
Witness: In the DOI? Imh. A. Lofaro : Yes. Witness: Yes.
Imh. A. Lofaro : And what was the reaction?
Witness: They changed some of the information that was available online which then obviously the next question clearly being: but if you prepare to put this online, why are you still refusing to add us to
your newsroom list? And then I get: your e mail has been acknowledged. And it ends there.
Dr. T. Comodini Cachia : So what I understand is following your complaint, they placed information online but have you verified whether the information put online is identical to the information sent by usual practice to other newsrooms?
Witness: What we did on the day that they put the additional information online we checked obviously with colleagues and asked them to send to us what they had received and no, the information was different.
Dr. T. Comodini Cachia : Ok.
Imh. A. Lofaro : Was it misleading or was it just different? Witness: It was just some of it.
Imh. A. Lofaro : Selective. Witness: Yes.
Dr. T. Comodini Cachia : So now that we have moved on your experience as a journalist, has there been experiences or incidents of cyber attacks on your online journal?
Witness: We have experienced several attacks on our site. A couple of them, one (1) or two (2) of them have been reported to the Council of Europe platform. It is one of the five (5) cases that remain unresolved by the Maltese government and raised with European Commission only last week. We have had to completely over haul where our site is held. We have had to invest in mirroring it onto three (3) different servers so if they take one (1) down, the other one . . . .
Imh. A. Lofaro : So servers have been taken down? Witness: Yes, yes. We have been attacked several times. Imh. A. Lofaro : How often have they been taken down?
Witness: We have weekly attacks. But they peak, they peak when we have particular investigations – so the last major attack was – the last two (2) – was one was on the vitals global healthcare investigation and the other one was on the stream cast investigation. They are both referred to deals negotiated by Conrad Mizzi and with a lot of questions surrounding them.
Imh. V. Said Pullicino : You were close to Mrs. Caruana Galizia. You were? Witness: We were friends in the few months before she died yes.
Imh. V. Said Pullicino : Have you any experience from her whether has her site – whatever subject . . .
Witness: No, I wouldn’t have that information. Imh. V. Said Pullicino : No.
Witness: We spoke about border things, I mean more about what she faced in her day to day life.
Imh. V. Said Pullicino : You have no information on that. Witness: Not on the attacks on her site. No.
Imh. A. Lofaro : Did she tell you that she was being threatened? Dr. Andrew Borg Cardona: . . . (speaking off microphone) Imh. V. Said Pullicino : Imbaghad fil-kaz jghidulna.
Imh. A. Lofaro : Did she ever tell you she was being threatened?
Imh. M. Mallia : Did you manage to find the source of these cyber attacks?
Witness: They – we, we traced them – there are hubs you can find, so you can say for example they are coming from a certain IP address in the Ukraine for example. Ukraine is one of these places where you have factories of hackers just paid to take sites down.
Dr. Andrew Borg Cardona: . . . (speaking off microphone)
Dr. T. Comodini Cachia : One last question from my end. You – and I take you back to the report that you presented to the cyber crime unit and you said that person who played that advert deceitfully was actually identified but no action was taken. Are you at liberty, or are you comfortable at identifying that person?
Witness: The name of the person was Tom Lippiett. Tom Lippiett. He has an account online, he claims to be a lawyer in Malta, claims to work for an i gaming company. He is active at different points in time, particularly targeting government critics and the last point where we – our last correspondence with the Economic Crimes – with the Cyber Crime Unit, was we gave this information. They wrote to Google and Google – we got the reply back from Google saying there is not much as – we need more information, at which point I asked the Inspector involved whether he had actually called Top
Lippiett to speak to him and I go a no. And that is where it all ended.
Imh. M. Mallia : Can you spell the name? Witness: Lippiett. L I P P I E T T
Imh. M. Mallia : Lippiett. So he is not a Maltese national. Witness: I do not think so.
Imh. A. Lofaro : No, no, no. Witness: But he lives here. Imh. M. Mallia : He lives here. Witness: Yes.
Imh. V. Said Pullicino : Let me ask you one (1) question. You mentioned . . . misinformation – during your investigation, did you encounter any attempts at diverting attention on who might have been possible person who was involved in the murder?
Witness: There were several attempts at that.
Imh. V. Said Pullicino : And what sort of attempts were there?
Witness: They – in the very beginning, there was the very clear attempt to shift this on to the fuel smugglers. And then . . . .
Imh. V. Said Pullicino : One moment. . . . could you identify the source of the . . . .
Witness: The source came from the OPM. Dr. T. Comodini Cachia : The source.
Imh. V. Said Pullicino : You think so? Witness: The source came from the OPM. Imh. V. Said Pullicino : How do you know?
Witness: I know because this was the first week after her death, I remember there was a lot of international media in Malta. I was working with the BBC at the time and I left home in the morning because we had a number of interviews to do and by two o’clock (02:00) in the afternoon we were interviewing members of the Maltese press and they were speaking in terms of fact and absolute certainty that this was tied to fuel smuggling. And in the conversation that I had with the general staff there, the calls were from the OPM.
Imh. V. Said Pullicino : Would you attribute this to Kurt Farrugia or somebody else?
Witness: Whether it is Kurt Farrugia, whether it is Keith Schembri, whether it is Josef Caruana – no, I do not have a name.
Imh. V. Said Pullicino : I am asking you this because we have obviously some other evidence on this.
Witness: No, I do not have a name from . . .
Imh. V. Said Pullicino : You can’t identify what source but you can definitely say that it was done.
Witness: OPM yes.
Imh. V. Said Pullicino : Ok.
Witness: That is one of the instances. There were several other. There were attempts to blame Adrian Delia. Even the example I gave you of the Truth Project, you have a lot of examples there in the dossier.
Imh. V. Said Pullicino : But I was particularly interested in the fuel smuggling. Witness: Ehe.
Imh. A. Lofaro : Did she ever tell you that she was being threatened? Before her death.
Witness: She did not have to tell me. It was very clear. Daphne suffered a dehumanization campaign that lasted some thirty (30) years. But what I noticed – we weren’t friends over those thirty (30) years. I working for The Times, she was doing her blog and she was working for The Independent but our paths crossed time to time because of some of the investigations we were working on. Daphne and I became friends in the last year before she was killed and because I fell ill and she was there so we became friends over that period but what I noticed is that after the twenty seventeen (2017) election, something changed. Something changed there. There was obviously – we were all – we well all I guess a bit in shock – there were all the leaks with all the anti corruption, FIAU, leaks going on. It was such a moment of turmoil and then suddenly her tone had changed. She was even doubting – sometimes she was in doubt whether she would continue or not – whether it was even worth it. Something changed there. And then in the days, in the days before she was killed, we were having a
conversation, it was over Wattsup, it was late at night and in her typical way she would go: Carol, let’s have lunch next week. Ok. And then she told me something that I didn’t think too much of at the time but now I can’t ever wipe from my mind and it was : she said, I have a sense of time running out. And it was something we were going to discuss. I never knew exactly what she meant by that. But we never got to meet and have that lunch, so I do not know.
Imh. V. Said Pullicino : Did you ever speak to her on circumstances that surround her private life? Whether she was being followed? It is not something that she would have discussed?
Witness: Not in detail no. It was something – for her, it was something ongoing. It that was what we spoke about, probably wouldn’t speak of anything else. She learnt – I can’t even say learnt, but she didn’t have much choice. She was living that – it was part of her life. You take that into your life and you keep on going.
Imh. V. Said Pullicino : But you got the impression that she had some sort of pressure on her?
Witness: Yes, especially that is why I mentioned that last message of I have a sense of time running out. Because it was not something that she would normally say.
Imh. A. Lofaro : Because she was a positive person?
Witness: She was relentless. She wasn’t somebody who would be you know, taken down by – the more you challenge her, the further she would go. So.
Imh. A. Lofaro : Ok from my end.
Imh. M. Mallia : Ok. Thank you very much.