Waching daily Apr 25 2018

Being an inconvenience to the powerful is how many journalists understand their job.

This can be dangerous, sometimes, even deadly.

In February this year, Slovak journalist Jan Kuciak was murdered for researching links between the ruling party and organised crime.

Just last week Maxim Borodin died under mysterious circumstances. He had dealt with Russian mercenaries in Ukraine and Syria.

Both colleagues had apparently come too close to the powerful...

Just like Daphne Caruana Galizia, an intrepid journalist from Malta, who was blown up six months ago, on a country road, in her car.

"You killed a journalist, not her research".

With this commitment we want to set an example at Monitor. Together with 45 journalists from 18 international media agencies; from Germany: WDR, NDR, SZ and Die Zeit.

For months we have jointly evaluated and continued the research of Daphne Caruana Galizia.

Research that might also lead to clues to her killers and the ones responsible for her murder.

Achim Pollmeier, Jan Schmitt, Lena Kampf and Andreas Spinnrath were part of the research team of Forbidden Stories.

Early morning in the village of Bidnija in Malta, the last day in the life of the journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia.

She doesn't know the perpetrators planted a bomb under her car seat the night before... Silently.

The boundry wall stands a couple of meters away from the house. If someone moves around behind these walls you wouldn't hear them.

- Reconstructed Scene -

According to the investigation, one of the suspects is watching the house, another one leaves the port of Valletta on a boat around 8:00 a.m..

This can be seen on surveillance footage. Both are in contact with each other via mobile phone.

- Reconstructed Scene -

In the early afternoon Galizia leaves the house, gets in her car and starts driving to the city.

The observer informs his accomplice on the boat, who then triggers the bomb via SMS.

I knew it was a car bomb right away. I jumped up and ran to the door. I saw the clouds of smoke, a fireball.

I thought, please God, please be another car.

I couldn't see the license plate, nor the color, nor the make. I ran around and I could just make out one of the hubcaps. I saw the logo Peugeot.

And at that moment I thought, shit!

The murder of Malta's most famous investigative journalist, a scene of horror.

It causes an uproar all over the world and the question, did she come too close to the powerful?

Who had an interest in killing her?

Who are the ones pulling the strings?

Malta, about 400,000 inhabitants, member of the EU.

Also known as being a tax haven.

But Daphne Caruana Galizia's research is about much more.

Organized crime, money laundering, corruption... she takes on the most powerful, and also members of the government, especially in recent years.

In 2013, a triumphant election victory brings 39-year-old Social Democrat Joseph Muscat to power.

The new Prime Minister promises prosperity for his country.

But some will profit more than others.

A network emerges around head of government Muscat, people who are probably not only concerned about the welfare of the country.

Part of the network: A specialist for offshore companies,

an Iranian financial juggler, a founder of a controversial bank,

and a businessman who earns money by selling passports.

Galizia is outraged! The government is launching a programme to sell Maltese passports.

For €650,000, Russian oligarchs or businessmen from the Middle East, can buy an EU citizenship. This makes it easier for them to do business inside the EU.

The government insists applicants are thoroughly checked, but MEPs see it as a gateway for criminals.

This means that criminals can simply buy European citizenship and do business worldwide with less control.

This then becomes a means to promote international financial and economic crimes.

But not only that. During her research Galizia encounters unusual money transfers sent directly to members of the government.

She blogs "Bribes from the sale of Maltese citizenship".

Bribe money that allegedly went directly to a member of the government? Could this be true?

At the time, Jonathan Ferris worked at the Maltese Financial Intelligence Analysis Unit (FIAU).

The authority had investigated suspicious money flows in passport trading and came across suspicious money transfers.

Three passport buyers from Russia had transferred a total of €166,000 to the account of a Panamanian shell company, allegedly as fees.

The company belongs to a confidante of Prime Minister Muscat.

€100,000 went into another account belonging to the chief of staff, Keith Schembri.

Keith Schembri insists that it was only a repayment of a private loan.

But the money laundering authority find this hard to believe.

They state: "It could potentially be a bogus loan, which is a well-known method used to camouflage kickback when politically exposed persons are involved".

The consequences of the report? None.

The police decides then - No reason for an investigation.

How can the police chief and his team set themselves up as judges and decide not to investigate? One must first investigate.

Why won't the police investigate? Who controls the police in Malta? The office of the Prime Minister.

The Prime Minister denies having prevented an investigation, since these are, after all, only wild speculations.

But also, in other dealings, the traces lead directly into his environment.

We meet Galizia's family in mid-March 2018, the first time her husband and sons give interviews since her murder.

They show us her workplace, the large table in the dining room where she wrote her daily blogs.

Informative, relentless, often controversial, sometimes overstepping the mark.

Blogs for which she was attacked more and more often.

"We had to watch her die slowly, right infront of us".

"They wanted to stop her at any cost, but I had no idea to what extent this would go".

She was getting isolated. Several libel charges were filed against her.

The Prime Minister Muscat himself had reached agreement with his Chief of Staff and the passport dealer Christian Kaelin to file charges.

Kaelin and his agency make money on the sale of passports.

And a further lawsuit for damages worth millions against Galizia is filed by the same bank involved in several dubious payments.

In the bay off of Malta's capital, Valletta, are the beautiful offices of Pilatus Bank.

The bank has no company sign, only a few employees, a couple of offices upstairs and a selected few special clients.

Daphne Caruana Galizia expresses her suspicions early on.

"Money Laundering" - this she states in her Blog in February 2016.

A month later, the money laundering authority FIAU become aware of Pilatus Bank.

They spend a week looking at the bank's books & checking procedures.

A report is compiled. The findings are devastating.

The report questions the checks and balances, to ensure the Bank does not lend itself to being misused by criminals.

The bank later states that the errors were corrected, which was then confirmed by the money laundering authority.

However, no police investigation was ever initiated.

Why not?

This is what an EU delegation wants to know.

The Maltese police basically explain to us that they can only open an investigation if they have any evidence and not just suspicions.

That's the exact opposite of the police's job.

The mission of the police is to investigate suspicions in order to gather evidence.

We managed to set up a meeting with a former Pilatus Bank employee.

She would like to remain anonymous in fear of the safety of her family.

Her story puts the Prime Minister's family in a predicament.

She was to fetch documents from a safe.

- Voice dubbed -

"I opened the safe where the files were in. Out of curiosity I leafed through them."

"I came across two documents of a company in Panama."

"The owner of this company: Michelle Muscat."

Michelle Muscat, the wife of the Prime Minister.

The employee says she was alarmed, and decides to meet with Daphne Caruana Galizia.

She not only shows Galizia the documents, but also informs her about a 1 million transfer from Azerbaijan.

Sender: The daughter of the local president.

Recipient: The company allegedly owned by Michelle Muscat.

Immediately after the interview, Galizia makes the payment public and writes: "USD 1.017 million from Azerbaijan".

A million-dollar payment to the prime minister's wife?

Both deny having anything to do with the company.

But what was the reason for the 1 Million dollar transfer?

Galizia suspected the reason for the payment could be here.

Shortly before the transaction a deal was made.

Since then, Azerbaijan has an exclusive right to sell liquefied gas to Malta. Gas for this Maltese power station.

The exact terms having been negotiated by them: The Prime Minister Muscat and Azerbaijan's President Aliyev.

Ilham Aliyev is considered one of the most corrupt state leaders in the world, who relentlessly tries to silence his critics.

His family is involved in numerous companies in Malta and also holds accounts with Pilatus Bank.

Pilatus Bank refused to answer any questions regarding this matter.

The money laundering authority (FIAU) is investigating the energy deal, and a new report on this is being drafted. It includes further accusations, also against members of the government.

We have exclusive access to all 110 pages of the document, which states that there is:

"reasonable suspicion of money laundering or an attempt to launder proceeds of crime"

On June 16, 2017, investigator Ferris arrives at his office.

He wants to investigate the suspicion of the alleged payments to the Prime Minister's wife.

He receives an official letter.

His resignation.

"It came to me as a shock, because being sacked for doing your job is the worst feeling that one can get".

The office says he was fired because he did not perform as expected.

Beginning of December. The three men who are said to have murdered Galizia are arrested.

Decisive support had come from FBI and Europol.

To this day there is no trace of the persons behind the assassination.

The government says the authorities are doing everything they can to find the real culprits.

But the Galizias have long lost trust in the authorities. After all, it was their inaction which put Daphne's life at risk.

"My mother wouldn't have been a target if the justice system had been working."

"If the police had been doing their job, if the magistrates had been doing their job..."

"...then there would have been no reason to kill her."

"There might be reasons to kill a policeman or a magistrate but definitely not a journalist."

Daphne Caruana Galizia was 53 years old.

Minutes before the bomb detonated, she ended her blog

with the words "There are crooks everywhere you look. The situation is desperate."

If you are asking yourself what does this have to do with us.

A whole lot.

After all Malta is a member state of the European Union. Its government therefore also decides on laws that apply here in Germany.

If you want to know more about the work of the research team, you can also read about it on our website at monitor.de or at forbiddenstories.org.