Xhieda ta’ Michael Vella – 10 ta’ Diċembru 2019
l-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 it-Tlieta 10 ta’ Diċembru, 2019.
Michael Vella, iben il-mejtin Louis u Helen nee’ Rizzo Meric, imwieled il-Belt u residenti Tas-Sliema bl-Ingliz bil-gurament jghid :
Michael Vella: I focus my statement on my perception of the
escalation of the levels of threats to Daphne and the lead up to her assassination. My daughter Daphne had a strong sense of duty and a clear commitment to do what is right. Daphne could never have been able to live with herself had she failed to investigate and report onwards on instances of corruption in government that she had come to know of. As media and public records show, and through my direct experience through having lived through those years, ever since the mid 1950s and through to this day, successive Labour led governments have always been characterised by the suppression of free speech and the denial of the people’s right to know, as also by the use of the police as also the regulatory structure in general to harass and to wear down any individual or organisation the party perceived as being in conflict with the attainment of its objectives. In that context, those weapons – all those weapons were directed against my daughter Daphne, at different times, in a bid to stop her from holding government under scrutiny.
In that context, while the reactions to her writings over the years, including the killing of her dogs and the arson attacks on her home, she had always been constant source of worry to my wife and myself. My perception of the level of threat against Daphne became more acute when Labour came to power in 2013 and proceeded to remove Police Commissioner John Rizzo who had been knowing to do his job, replacing them with a succession of Commissioners increasingly prone to put the interest of those in power over that of the people they are there to serve.
The level of threat escalated further when she published her findings resulting from the Panama Papers naming high ranking government officials as owners of textbook money laundering structures of shell companies in Panama and in New Zealand. Emails also published by Daphne showed exchanges between Chris Kaelin of Henley and Partners, Prime Minister Joseph Muscat and Minister of Justice Owen Bonnici in which the latter two (2) agreed to initiation of slap action by Hanley and Partners in a bid to silence Daphne. That action however was vetoed by Hanley and Partners board because of the adverse public reaction such action would cause. Then aside to that, The Daphne Project subsequently revealed that Ali Sadr of Pilatus Bank had, in fact, commenced slap proceedings in Arizona against Daphne, but she had not yet been notified of that before her assassination as her home address was said to have been unknown. At that stage, the only protection afforded to Daphne was the support and loyalty of her wide readership, both local and international and the existence at the time of an opposition worthy of
its name that was also able to rally public awareness and support as to the seriousness of her revelations.
With the general election brought forward by one year and the opposition Nationalist Party left in disarray, even that line of protection was neutralised. My worry for Daphne’s safety became increasingly a matter of concern. As an aside to that, recent evidence presented in court proceedings shows that a bomb plot had already been initiated in April and was suspended over the time the election was being held to be reactivated on the day the Labour Party was confirmed in power. On publication of the general election results, people who had supported Daphne and her writings took to the social media to unjustifiably blaming her for their party failing to win the general election. Some of those posts also called for Daphne’s elimination, bil-Malti ‘ntajruha’.
Mid September 2017 saw the election of a Nationalist Party leader, subsequently leader of the Opposition, who in his campaign for leadership had publicly denigrated Daphne and sought to … her revelations – even seeking to have the court open at dead of night so as to enable him to register no less than five libel proceedings against her. The new leader of the Opposition was not – policy was not to speak out on corruption. That development effectively left Daphne alone and defenceless, in a climate of impunity and in the face of a hostile state. At that stage the possibility of more drastic efforts to silence Daphne became far more real.
Despite all these happenings, and in defiance of the law, the state authorities failed to act upon Daphne’s reports on corruption, consistently failed to acknowledge the consequent escalating level of threat to Daphne and completely failed to take any action to ensure her safety. On the sixteenth (16th)
October 2017 my daughter was killed by a car bomb. Had the authorities concerned done their job on time, Daphne would still be alive today.
Imh. J. Said Pullicino: Thank you very much, thank you. Imh. A. Lofaro: Thank you. Thank you.