Malta is vulnerable to “repeated instances of high-level corruption” unless it strengthens the rule of law and protections for journalists, the Labour peer Shami Chakrabarti said at the opening of an inquiry into judicial failures following the death of Daphne Caruana Galizia. Chakrabarti, a member of the House of Lords and former director of the human rights group Liberty, has been named special rapporteur for a Council of Europe investigation into the fallout from the assassination of the anti-corruption journalist, who died in a car bombing in October 2017. Malta is in turmoil after the acquittal of a wealthy and politically influential businessman, Yorgen Fenech, of any involvement in Caruana Galizia’s murder.
Fenech denies paying a middleman €150,000 to have her killed. At the inquiry’s first hearing, on Wednesday, Chakrabarti said the verdict had “staggered many throughout Maltese society and beyond. The first witnesses on Wednesday were the journalist’s eldest son, Matthew Caruana Galizia, and her sister Corinne Vella, who questioned the verdict, which dismissed both charges against Fenech by an 8-1 majority.
Matthew Caruana Galizia told members of the council’s committee on legal affairs and human rights: “The Maltese public have seen all of the evidence against the accused, and the vast majority were convinced of his complicity in the murder. And this is why there is this atmosphere of utter disbelief at how the jury could have reached such a decision.” Malta’s state prosecutor is understood to be preparing an appeal, with the aim of securing a retrial. The Council for Europe, founded in 1949 after the second world war, created the European convention on human rights.
It is led by an assembly drawn from members of the parliaments of its 46 member states. During the hearing, representatives expressed shock and concern about the verdict, calling for the European parliament and the European Commission to intervene. Iulian Bulai, a Romanian centre-right politician, suggested the EU could withhold funds from Malta.
The procedure, known as the rule of law conditionality mechanism, was first used in 2022, against Hungary. He said the procedure had “functioned in other cases … So why shouldn’t it function in Malta’s case?” Malta, the EU’s smallest member state, with a population of 600,000, is a net recipient of EU money. Analysis suggests that since joining the block 22 years ago, the island has received €2.4bn more in subsidies than it has paid in.
Chakrabarti said she would look at why Malta had failed to implement many of the recommendations from a public inquiry held after the murder. It recommended Italian-style anti-mafia laws, and making the hindrance of police investigations and abuse of office a crime for public officials. These measures have yet to be implemented.
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