Family of murdered Maltese journalist file lawsuit against police

The family of the murdered Maltese journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia, who was a relentless critic of corruption in the country, are taking legal action against the police force for allegedly failing to ensure the investigation into her killing is impartial and independent.

Caruana Galizia was killed on 16 October after her rental car was blown apart by a powerful explosive device.

Her family are suing Malta’s chief of police on the grounds that the investigation is being overseen by a senior officer who is married to a top government minister, and who was himself the subject of a critical report by Caruana Galizia.

Lawyers acting for the family wrote to the police commissioner at the weekend demanding that his deputy, Silvio Valletta, be removed from the case within three days. After receiving no response, they filed a lawsuit on Wednesday at Malta’s constitutional court calling for his removal.

Valletta is married to Justyne Caruana (no relation to the journalist), who was promoted by the prime minister, Joseph Muscat, to minister for the island of Gozo in June.

Under the European convention on human rights, states are obliged to run independent and objective investigations into any murder.

“The involvement of the deputy commissioner, Silvio Valletta, violates the independence and impartiality of any investigation into the loss of life,” the family claimed in their court filing.

They alleged the police were not keeping them informed of progress, while stories were being “fed to newspapers”.

The court filing claims Caruana Galizia’s murder was a “targeted killing” of a journalist whose work focused on politicians who are members of the same cabinet as the wife of the deputy commissioner.

It alleges the journalist had uncovered “corruption, criminality, conflicts of interest and ethical failures in decision making” by politicians and their associates.

She had also been critical of the failure of Malta’s anti-money-laundering agency, the Financial Intelligence Analysis Unit, to take action on allegations, the filing states. Valletta serves on the board of the FIAU, a fact highlighted by Caruana Galizia in May.

The police department did not respond to questions about the merits of the legal claim or whether Valletta’s work on the case threatened the independence of the investigation.

Caruana said in a statement emailed to the Guardian that she would not comment on the family’s legal claim or who ought to investigate the case: “What matters is that there is total commitment from everyone involved to see this case solved in the shortest time possible.”

Caruana said she had been an MP since 2003 and her husband had been a police inspector since 1993.

“Both of us have always acted professionally in our respective roles and our integrity was never put in doubt or question. We always kept work separate and distinct from our private and married life.

“My husband has worked under different administrations and his loyalty was always to the police force and the state.”

The most significant investigations by the murdered journalist stemmed from the Panama Papers, a leak of documents from the archives of the offshore law firm Mossack Fonseca.

She used the data to uncover a number of offshore companies apparently linked to Muscat’s energy minister and his chief of staff. She also claimed Muscat’s wife was the beneficial owner of the offshore company Egrant. On her blog, she alleged that a series of payments, in the form of loans, had been routed to Egrant, and that the money had come from an account ultimately belonging to the daughter of Azerbaijan’s president, Ilham Aliyev. Azerbaijan has a valuable contract to supply gas to Malta.

All those named deny any suggestion of wrongdoing, and Muscat has described the allegation against his wife as “fabricated”. He has pointed out that no document proving the allegations has been published or handed to a magistrate.

Muscat and his associates filed libel suits against Caruana Galizia before her murder. They are cooperating with two separate judicial inquiries into the Panama Papers allegations, which have yet to conclude.

Valletta’s marital relationship with a serving minister has been the subject of scrutiny in the past, but the current police commissioner, Lawrence Cutajar, has denied the existence of a conflict of interest. There is no evidence that Valletta’s political connections have interfered in the current investigation.

Valletta, who has been an officer for more than 20 years, has oversight of the criminal investigations department, the drug squad, counter-terrorism, and the financial crimes unit, among others.

Opposition politicians asked in the Maltese parliament earlier this month whether it was appropriate that a minister’s husband was leading the investigation into the murder of a harsh critic of the government. Simon Busuttil, who was leader of the opposition Nationalist party until June, told the parliament he was not questioning Valletta’s professionalism, but that in view of the sensitivity of the case justice had to be done, and be seen to be done.

Malta’s government is offering a €1m reward for information relating to the killing, and the inquiry is being assisted by agents from the FBI and forensics experts from the Netherlands.

The family have raised a number of concerns about the investigation, saying inquiries appear to be focusing only on forensic evidence, rather than examining financial transactions that could uncover vital evidence.

They also suggest leaks from within the police are potentially intimidating those who might come forward with information. These include news that Caruana Galizia’s phone had been recovered from the scene of the explosion.

Politicians across Europe have questioned the rule of law in Malta, the smallest of the European Union’s member states.

This month Frans Timmermans, the first vice-president of the European commission, issued a strongly worded warning.
Responding to a public letter from eight of the world’s largest media organisations, including the New York Times, the BBC and the Guardian, he said: “The eyes of Europe are on the Maltese authorities … We want those directly and indirectly responsible for this horrible murder to be brought to justice.

“And we want the investigations to run their full course, so that any other related wrongdoings that may emerge can also be prosecuted and potential structural problems be resolved.”