Yesterday evening, I contacted Mario Camilleri and asked him some questions. He strongly denied ever paying any bribes to Joseph Muscat. I will post his full replies below.
My various sources inform me that Joseph Muscat pocketed €2 million from a list of contacts and associates of Mario Camilleri. One of these associates named was Neville Curmi who doesn’t have a good reputation in the local financial sector. Mario Camilleri denied this and said that would have been impossible because he and Neville Curmi didn’t have a good relationship and Mario Camilleri wanted to divest his relationship from Neville Curmi. Mario Camilleri also denied any links or association with Tumas Group who were also mentioned to me in the list that were involved in sending payments to Joseph Muscat over the deal. More specifically, Matthew Fenech was mentioned to me who was involved in helping to broker the deal. Mario Camilleri denied any links or that this happened.
Mario Camilleri had incurred up to €4.2 million in debts with his Café Premier operation. €2.5 million of this debt was with BANIF Bank and another €400,000 was with the Lands Department. Other debts included suppliers. The government bailed out the operation with a €4.2 million payment that saw the reacquisitions of the Cafe Premier premises which had a lease of around 60 years.
Mario Camilleri also claimed that the independent valuation of his deal was actually estimated higher at €5.2 million. Mario Camilleri was also offered to have his operation bought out by Anġlu Xuereb who offered up to €5.2 million and the Hili Group which offered up to €7 million to turn Café Premier into a McDonald’s. I asked Mario Camilleri why he refused these offers given they were more generous than the government’s offer.
Mario Camilleri replied that he wanted to divest his operation and his links with Neville Curmi as fast as possible. He had health issues following a brain surgery he undertook in the UK and was reluctant to enter into lengthy negotiations.
He also denied having any new business interests in Malta and denied he had interests in buying a new property. He also denied being a member of a Freemasonry group but said he was a member of the Order of Saint John and the Rotary Club in the United Kingdom.
He also said that he was no longer interested in any business ventures in Malta.
You can read the articles about this issue by Daphne Caruana Galizia in the inks below.
Cafe Premier: in a Panama hat outside Corruption HQ
So the money they gave Mario G. Camilleri of Café Premier could have paid for half a hospital wing
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