EP Special Committee on Financial Crimes to focus on Malta

Justice Minister Owen Bonnici will appear before the European Parliament’s Special Committee on Financial Crimes at a public hearing on Monday that will focus on Malta and also hear the views of the son of assassinated journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia, Matthew, as well as Reuters journalist Stephen Grey.

MEP Sven Geigold announced the hearing on his blog: “For more than two years a corruption scandal has been smouldering in Malta, centred around two of Prime Minister Joseph Muscat’s closest confidants: His Chief of Staff Keith Schembri and Tourism Minister Konrad Mizzi”.

“Several leaks and the Daphne Project of investigative journalists revealed that Schembri’s secret shell company was to receive a million-dollar sum from a company called 17 Black. To date, Schembri has not been able to refute this suspicion,” he said.

Matthew Caruana Galizia and Grey – who is part of the Daphne Project – will also be testifying before the committee. Caruana Galizia said: “The Azerbaijani corruption that Joseph Muscat smuggled into our home is now a European problem”.

On Monday at 8pm in Strasbourg, @StephenGrey and I will be testifying before the European Parliament's Special Committee on Financial Crimes. The meeting is open to the public. The Azerbaijani corruption that Joseph Muscat smuggled into our home is now a European problem.

— Matthew Caruana Galizia (@mcaruanagalizia) February 8, 2019

The hearing in the European Parliament in Strasbourg is open to the public. It can be followed on Geigold’s Facebook profile: https://www.facebook.com/sven.giegold