VALLETTA (MALTA) (ITALPRESS/MNA) – The bomb used in the assassination of Maltese journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia in October 2017 was brought to Malta from Italy. This was confirmed this morning in court by convicted hitman Vince Muscat who was testifying against brothers Adrian and Robert Agius, their associate Jamie Vella and suspected hitman George Degiorgio.
Muscat, already testified against his once co-accused brothers Alfred and George Degiorgio. The witness pleaded guilty to the crime and admitted his involvement in the murder of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia. After a bargaining plea deal, Muscat was handed down a reduced jail term of 15 years and granted a presidential pardon over his role in the 2015 murder of lawyer Carmel Chircop.
Vince Muscat confirmed that the bomb was brought to Malta via Sicily onboard the catamaran by Robert and Adrian Agius. The bomb had 500g explosive material. Muscat said that suspected hitman George Degiorgio always wanted a bomb instead of firing a weapon to kill Caruana Galizia. He added that George Degiorgio asked Agius borthers to get a bomb. “They had to bring three from Italy. They had a lot of Italian friends. They would frequently fo to Italy. They would frequently tell us they are going abroad to Italy.” Asked if Agius brothers gave reasons why they were going abroad, Muscat replied: “they would speak in front of me. They would tell George, however, they would go up to Italy on drug deals. Jamie has a lot of Italian friends. Some of them used to come to Malta too”.
It was also emerged that Robert and Adrian Agius used to import AK-47. Muscat testified that on the day of the assassination, they were in possession of an AK-47 which was also brought from Italy for any eventuality and as a means of self defence.
(ITALPRESS).

Source: medNews

ROMA (ITALPRESS) – Keith Schembri, former Chief-of-Staff of former Maltese Prime Minister Joseph Muscat was among 11 individuals who were questioned at the Policès Financial Crimes Unit on Saturday morning before they were escorted and arraigned in court early on Saturday evening.
Among those accused of corruption, money laundering and fraud, there were also Keith Schembri and his wife Josette; Malcolm Scerri, Schembrìs business partner and Brian Tonna together with Karl Cini from the accounting firm Nexia BT. Schembri was also accused of false testimony and forgery. Criminal charges were also issued against 20 companies related to all the accused.
All the accused were denied bail after pleaded not guilty to the accusations. Freezing orders were issued and the accused cannot transfer property and were granted an annual allowance of just over 13,000 euro.
In May 2017, former Nationalist Party leader Simon Busuttil presented evidence to court on alleged money laundering worth some 650,000 euro involving Keith Schembri and Adrian Hillman, former Managing Director of Allied Newspapers, between 2011 and 2015 through the use of offshore accounts in Gibraltar and Switzerland. In March 2016, assassinated Maltese journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia reported on the alleged crimes in March 2016.
Adrian Hillman is expected to be extradited to Malta from the United Kingdom to face justice.
(ITALPRESS).

Source: medNews

LA VALLETTA (MALTA) (ITALPRESS/MNA) – Former Office of the Prime Minister Chief of Staff Keith Schembri has revealed that he expects to be charged in court in the coming days.
In a lengthy Facebook post, the former chief of staff who resigned in 2019 said: “In the coming days, I am expecting to be charged in court. Not because I’ve committed an offence. I’m guilty of my role in Joseph Muscat’s team which led Partit Laburista, a party I love, to several victories.” He added that he is expecting the day, hèd be able to clear his name of any allegations levelled against him.
Keith Schembri is expected to be charged with alleged kickbacks he gave to former Allied Newspapers managing director Adrian Hillman.
Schembri claimed he is being persecuted.
(ITALPRESS).

Source: medNews

VALLETTA (MALTA) (ITALPRESS/MNA) – Malta has registered 510 new COVID-19 cases overnight breaking its own previous single day record of 362 infections registered on March, 4. Two patients died of coronavirus in the past 24 hours. The latest victims were a 73-year-old man and 64-year-old man who died at Mater Dei Hospital. 361 patients have been declared free from coronavirus thus 3,182 remain active. Until Tuesday, the health authorities administered 105,416 shots of coronavirus vaccine with 35,093 individuals receiving their second shot.
In a televised message to the nation, the leader of the Nationalist Party and the Opposition, Bernard Grech, said that a state of national emergency in public health needs to be declared in order to give the health authorities additional powers. Grech insisted that this decision must be taken as soon as possible so that no more drastic measures need to be taken, which are increasingly becoming inevitable in order to curb the pandemic, which is currently out of control. He said that today’s number of positive cases confirmed that the Maltese government lost control over the pandemic while the situation is leading to the collapse of the health services.
12 associations representing various medical professions declared their concern and said that one year on, Malta is losing the battle against coronavirus. “The resources for intensive care will become completely exhausted in a matter of days, if not hours,” while the age of patients being admitted to intensive care is getting younger and younge.
Unions representing the teachers and other professions in education said that the list of schools with problems of students and teachers in quarantine is growing, as the number of positive cases in schools is also increasing.
The civil society network and the union representing the nurses are calling for the closure of the airport and a temporary lockdown.
The Malta Employers’ Association appealed to the government to focus on attempting to reach herd immunity within the shortest time possible, together with tangible measures to reduce the daily number of infections, as the current numbers will certainly be a strong deterrent for anyone to visit Malta on holiday, and are causing untold disruptions to the normal functioning of most businesses in Malta.
(ITALPRESS).

Source: medNews

LA VALLETTA (MALTA) (ITALPRESS/MNA) – Malta has recorded 336 new coronavirus cases in the last 24 hours marking its highest single-day count since the start of the outbreak, almost a year ago. Only last Sunday, 263 cases were registered.
The new cases were recorded following 3,572 swab tests by the health authorities.
Meanwhile, the health authorities confirmed that three patients died of coronavirus in the past 24 hours. The latest victims are a 61-year-old woman and 41-year-old man who died at Mater Dei Hospital and a 78-year-old woman who died at her residence. To date, the pandemic has claimed 319 victims.
80 patients have been declared free from coronavirus thus 2,931 remain active.
Until Monday, the health authorities administered 81,883 shots of coronavirus vaccine with 29,021 individuals receiving their second shot.
The union representing the nurses announced that the government has opened a third intensive care ward to address the increase in positive cases of COVID-19. The union expressed concerns about the surge in cases, and said that the situation is having serious negative effects on other medical interventions at Mater Dei hospital.
(ITALPRESS).

Source: medNews

LA VALLETTA (MALTA) (ITALPRESS/MNA) – Malta has registered a new record of COVID-19 cases. According to the local health authorities, 258 new cases were confirmed in the past 24 hours bringing the total of active cases to 2,582.
According to the latest update, two individuals – an 83-year-old woman and a 76-year-old man became the latest victims after they died of coronavirus at Mater Dei Hospital. To date, 313 individuals have died of the virus.
Until Thursday, 73,644 vaccine doses were administered and 23,395 individuals have so far received their second dose.
During the weekly press briefing, Superintendent of Public Health Professor Charmaine Gauci confirmed that there is local transmission of the UK coronavirus variant and so far 61 cases have been confirmed. Only one case of South African variant has been confirmed so far.
On Thursday, the Medical Association of Malta issued a stark warning saying that Mater Dei Hospital will soon not be able to cope with the caseload.
Although a new daily record was reached, Prof. Gauci excluded a partial lockdown. She said measures were already in place adding that bars will remain closed throughout March.
(ITALPRESS).

Source: medNews

LA VALLETTA (ITALPRESS/MNA) – One of the three accused with the assassination of Maltese journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia was sentenced to 15 years in prison after admitting his involvement in the killing which took place three years ago.

 

Vince Muscat pleaded guilty to all the charges. When the Magistrate asked Muscat if he wished to plead guilty, he replied “yes”. He declared that there was no need for the Magistrate to read the charges.

 

Muscat will serve a 15-year sentence and pay €42,000 in court expenses. He reached a plea bargain deal with the prosecutors to provide information about the murder of Daphne Caruana Galizia. The Prosecution said that Muscat’s information could lead to further arraignments.

Two other accomplices, brothers Alfred and George Degiorgio are still facing court procedures, both accused with assassination of Daphne Caruana Galizia. The are expected to face a trial following their declarations in court that they are innocent. Muscat together with Alfred and George Degiorgio were arraingned in December 2017 with the killing of the Maltese journalist.

Recordings taken by middleman Melvin Theuma show that businessman Yorgen Fenech paid 150,000 euros for the assassination of Daphne Caruana Galizia. The amount was distributed between the three suspects to explode Caruana Galizia. Theuma was given a presidential pardon while Fenech is under criminal proceedings for contracting the assassination of the Maltese journalist.

In another development, the police arrested three Maltese citizens suspected in supplying the bomb used to kill Caruana Galizia. Brothers Adrian and Robert Agius and their accomplice Jamie Vella were arrested during a police operation early today. They were already arrested in December 2017 together with other eight suspects but were released by the police.
On 16th October 2017, Daphne Caruana Galizia died close to her private residence in Bidnija when a car bomb was detonated inside her vehicle.
(ITALPRESS).

Source: medNews

LA VALLETTA (ITALPRESS/MNA) – Malta will seek to secure European funds for a hrydrogen pipeline after the European Commission turned down the Labour’s government application to get €400 million for a gas pipe which would connect Malta to the European grid through Sicily.
The European Commission has reduced the priority in the use of gas for energy supply. The demand for gas energy is expected to decrease following the European Green Deal Objectives which focus on cleaner forms of energy.
Miriam Dalli, the Minister for Energy said that “the government’s plan is to present a hydrogen-ready pipeline which connects the island to the rest of Europe,” while insisting on a mix of clean energy sources.
Meanwhile, the Opposition in Malta has unveiled in its energy plan for the coming 30 years and said that a future Nationalist government will revive an EU-funding application for a hydrogen-ready pipeline and build a second interconnector electricity link to a different site in Italy.
(ITALPRESS).

Source: medNews

LA VALLETTA (MALTA) (ITALPRESS/MNA) – The Maltese government is planning to legalize the “responsible use” and the right to grow cannabis altough there will be a limit. This was confirmed by the Maltese Prime Minister Robert Abela who said that it is time to take action about this issue.
The new law will eliminate completely the police arrest and prosecution in cases of cannabis for personal use. At the moment, only those caught with 3.5 grams of cannabis will not be prosecuted, and according to the Maltese Prime Minister, that amount is expected to increase.
On Valentinès day, two teenagers were arrested after being caught smoking cannabis in a hotel room. Maltese politicians have appealed for better use of police resources and for laws to be amended.
However, in relation to the use of cannabis and the legal implications, a group of organisations working in the drug rehabilitation sector said that while it is true that not all cannabis smokers end up addicted to it, adolescents may use cannabis as gateway drug to other narcotics.
(ITALPRESS).

Source: medNews

LA VALLETTA (MALTA) (ITALPRESS/MNA) – The Maltese Government is holding talks with the European Commission to grant state aid to the national airline, Air Malta. Clyde Caruana, the Minister of Finance confirmed that negotiations are taking place and added that Air Malta is making a loss of €170,000 every day just to operate its aircrafts, and without the state aid, the Maltese national airline will go into bankrupcy in few weeks.

Minister Caruana said that the present administration needa to present the European Commission an “honest and credible” plan to save the national airline. The Nationalist Opposition is accusing the Labour government that over the years, the European Commission was told false information about the state of the national airline.

The Executive Chairman of Air Malta, David Curmi confirmed that the airline will stop operating to unprofitable destinations and further pay cuts will come into effect. While the present payroll amounts to €50 million, Air Malta has already cut salaries and made hundreds of pilots and cabin crew redundant. He also added that Air Malta will focus on “core destinations” like the United Kingdom, Italy, France and Germany.

Air Malta was hit very hard due to the travelling restrictions as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
(ITALPRESS).

Source: medNews