One Thing Leads To Another, The Secret Life Of Secrets

Michael Hedges December 9, 2019 - Follow on Twitter

Secrets are the stock-in-trade of many endeavors, some can’t live without them. Non-disclosure agreements were invented to prevent people from sharing what they know. People paying attention in the normal course of a day adsorb details and, too, secrets. This is not about intellectual property. It’s about true-crime.

A special mission of the European Parliament (EuroParl) this past week visited Malta to gather yet more information about local investigations into the murder of investigative reporter Daphne Caruana Galizia. Malta police have this month interviewed several individuals, some detained and at least one formally charged in search of the criminal mastermind. And, too, the EuroParl MEPs were there to apply pressure, however limited, on Malta Prime Minister Joseph Muscat.

After meeting with PM Muscat and Justice Minister Owen Bonnici, members of the Rule of Law Monitoring Group were “not reassured,” said MEP and chairperson Sophie In’T Veld, quoted by Reuters (December 3). “I think everybody recognizes, including the prime minister himself, that he has made some serious errors of judgment and I would say that staying on longer than necessary is another error of judgment.” Afterward, PM Muscat flew to the Vatican for counselling from Pope Francis and is expected to resign in January.

The European Parliament’s Civil Liberties Committee (LIBE) established the Rule of Law Monitoring Group in June 2018 “to monitor the situation as regards rule of law and fight against corruption within the EU and address specific situations, in particular Malta and Slovakia.” Specific emphasis for the Monitoring Group has been high profile murders of investigative reporters in those EU Member States: Ms Caruana Galizia in October 2017 and Slovak investigative reporter Jan Kuciak in February 2018.

Members visited both countries several times, as well as Bulgaria where television news reporter Viktoria Marinova was brutally murdered in October 2018. She had reported on alleged corruption involving European Union (EU) funds. Her murderer quickly confessed and was sentenced to a 30 year prison term in this past April. In September EuroParl extended the monitoring group’s mandate another 18 months.

The Working Group chastized the government of Malta in a report issued in February. "These findings are very worrying,” it said. “Journalists too often face threats to their safety in the EU. The situation in Malta is particularly worrying. There is an ongoing hate campaign against the family of Daphne Caruana Galizia. The truth about her murder risks being swept under the carpet, while the rule of law is undermined.”

That seems to have turned in recent days with the “cooperation” of a taxi driver given immunity in exchange for missing details. Earlier three persons alleged to have precipitated the car bombing that killed Ms Caruana Galizia were arrested. The missing details led to Yorgen Fenech, considered Malta’s richest person, as, if not the paymaster, at least related to the crime. He was busted trying to leave Malta on his yacht. Mr. Fenech denies involvement but, at a hearing this past weekend, was willing to turn on two members of PM Muscat’s staff. The story gained complexity, diagrammed Times of Malta (December 7), with allegations of PM Muscat’s staff leaking information about the investigations to Mr. Fenech and offering €1 million to the bombers for their silence. Messy.

Investigations into the murders of Jan Kuciak and his fiancée Martina Kusnirová took similar turns. Early on, Slovak authorities seemed reticent to pursue paymasters and ringleaders beyond the quickly arrested gunmen. Details developed by local and investigative reporters, similar to the murder of Ms Caruana Galizia, crept into the public domaine, prompting large scale demonstrations and, eventually, the resignation of PM Robert Fico and two members of his cabinet. In its February report the Working Group acknowledged “progress” in the investigations. Wealthy and politically-connected Slovak Marian Kocner and the two hitmen were formally charged, reported the BBC (October 21). A fourth person admitted the shooting. A trial date has been set for December 19th.

Last week, Mr Fico, who remains leader of the populist Smer-SD party, was indicted for inciting racial hatred, reported Reuters (December 6). He had posted on social media agreement with a statement by a far-right lawmaker. In what is seen as political tit-for-tat, a day later former Slovak President Andrej Kiska was charged with tax fraud. Slovaks head to the polls for elections in February.

Less than half an hour before Ms Caruana Galizia’s automobile exploded, she wrote: "There are crooks everywhere you look now. The situation is desperate.” Murder, corruption and obstruction of justice continue where impunity prevails. Also silence. And secrets.

See also...

• Hot Topics - Investigative Reporting

• Hot Topics - Corruption