In a press conference given by Joseph Muscat he said that we have to respect the verdict on Yorgen Fenech and the course of justice but said that this does not mean we should scrutinise the verdict and these don’t contradict each other.
He said he was baffled by the verdict. He said he is also baffled by what happened after the verdict.
The evidence that was presented to the jury was also presented to him by the authorities to give advice to the President over Melvin Theuma’s Presidential pardon.
He said however there are those who preach rule of law but don’t respect the rule of law and the mob ends up to decide in this situation. He defended the jury system and said that this part of our institutions.
He said that the verdict does not reflect the views of society and civil society but defended the jury and said that he regretted they were crticised including by the Archbishop.
He added that the verdict’s decision was nearly unanimous.
He then said that the media and organised civil-society needs to do some soul-searching. He then condemned the media and said that there are members of the Judiciary who are afraid of taking certain decisions due to the media.
Then Joseph Muscat turned on the public inquiry into the murder of Daphne Caruana Galizia which he commissioned. He said that it was a mistake to commission this inquiry so early and that the public inquiry has provided a totally opposed conclusion to the verdict – that the murder of Daphne was commissioned because of Electrogas. He criticised Joe Said-Pullicino, one of the Judges in the public inquiry, accusing him of political bias and mentioned that he worked with the legal office of Guido De Marco. He added that Judge Said-Pullicino was chosen by the Caruana Galizia family.
On the Police investigation into Daphne’s murder Muscat insisted that it was him who asked the FBI to aid the investigation and he did so through the US Chargé d’Affaires Mark Shapiro whom he contacted via Keith Schembri. He said that the mobile-interceptor equipment that the FBI brought with them, was crucial for discovering the tracks and eventually identyfing the hitmen.
Muscat also said that he never requested a meeting by the Police and that all the meetings with the Police on the investigation were called by Police Inspector Keith Arnaud. He then denied that he and Owen Bonnici ever attended these meetings and defended Yorgen Fenech.
Joseph Muscat also belied Keith Schembri’s story about Kenneth Camilleri’s gun going off. However he also denied that he knew about the dates of the Police’s operation of the potatoes shed where the Degiorgio brothers were arrested. He denied that leaks about the operations ever took place and said that neither he nor Keith Schembri knew about the dates in advance.
He said that he advised in favour of the Presidential pardon of Melvin Theuma on the recommandation of the Caruana Galizia family and he did this alone and without the cabinet because he feared a lobbying campaign against the pardon. He said that Adrian Delia, then Opposition Leader, wanted a pardon for Yorgen Fenech.
At the end Joseph Muscat said that the leaks about Yorgen Fenech’s case undermined the case.
You can watch the press conference here.
This article will be updated.
Newsroom
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