What Is The European Union Defending In Malta? 

Something so evil is happening in Malta that even evil incarnate must be gasping for air. 
 
It’s t as if corruption, loot, political skulduggery and cheating is new in European Union (EU). European majors like France, Germany, Italy and King Kong of it all, United Kingdom (UK) are past masters and I’ll skip patronising rway and tedious Sweden. But here, in one of EU’s smallest countries we are looking at a cover up of a cold-blooded assassination of Daphne Caruana Galizia, Malta’s best kw investigative journalist blown up in her car just outside her home some two years ago.   family did t have a complete body to bury. People jeered at m as y h at Caruana Galizia who h been telling m ir emperor is naked. 
 
w, waves of irrefutable documentary evidence (gared by Caruana Galizia’s sons and family) has washed up around Maltese Prime Minister Joseph Muscat’s office plunging country into a crisis it has t seen since former British colony became an independent country in 1964. 
 
What does EU do? After wasting precious time expressing fidgeting distress and dismay and some feigned version of shock to learn how close assassination is to Muscat’s durbar, it is sending a fact-finding mission on Monday.  For me only question that remains is this: What did Muscat kw about murder and when did he decide he “didn’t” kw anything about it? 
 
EU kws that Muscat wanted to replace Donald Tusk as President of European Council. Brussels has power to withdraw voting rights of EU members if y threaten independence of judiciary in ir countries as happened with Hungary and Poland. Opposition politicians are calling for similar action. Why is Malta being treated with kid gloves? 
 
It cant be for absence of evidence because documentation of money trail is staggering, leing last weekend to charges being framed against Maltese businessman Yorgen Fenech, he of a gambling and real estate empire for participating in a criminal organisation, complicity in causing an explosion and complicity in murder of Caruana Galizia. He has pleased t guilty and claimed he would implicate Muscat’s Chief of Staff Keith Schembri as well as or ministers in labour government. Fenech has been arraigned and his assets have been frozen. penalty for complicity to murder in Malta is a life sentence. 
 
All else has been investigated and documented by Caruana Galizia’s family, in particular her Pulitzer Prize award-winning investigative journalist and software engineer son Maw Caruana Galizia, his bror Paul Caruana Galizia as also her middle son Andrew Caruana Galizia. t a word too soon, t an accusation without evidence. Maw Caruana Galzia has travelled to numerous hearings and committees in EU, crisscrossing its institutions seeking justice for ir mor and clearing for investigative journalism. Watch here 

Caruana Galzia whose was assassinated in 2017. Her blog Running Commentary h reported on links between secret companies in Panama that Schembri and Konr Mizzi (a minister who resigned last week) set up after Muscat’s Labour Party won elections in 2013. Before her murder, she h linked both men to secret payments me by Fenech to a Dubai based company called 17 black. 
 
Since her assassination, her sons have been documenting, studying, investigating document after document, following money trail that finally led to flurry of events last fortnight when a sniffer dog smelt cash at airport in belongings of a many bound for Istanbul. 
 
incident led to arrest of a taxi driver Melvin uma who said he h acted as an intermediary in Caruana Galizia’s contract killing. He was rey to speak and he sought Caruana Galizia’s family lawyer to defend him. 
 
Suddenly everything that brors and ir team h been documenting and ir mor h discovered over years felt into place with such speed that Muscat’s Malta went from being one of Europe’s smallest states to EU’s biggest threat to freedom of expression, free speech and investigative journalism. 
 
world saw ridiculous scenes of journalists being locked up briefly in a room after a presser and reports that ministers were crying in cabinet meetings for fear of being accomplices even as area around government building faced a lockdown. As people poured out in streets demanding justice for Caruana Galizia, Muscat, w longer publicly visible, seemed to be showing little finger to Europe from behind scenes. 
 
 In a statement this week, family has urged Muscat to step down so that a proper investigation can follow. delaying tactics and fact-finding missions are signals that it’s t over. 
 
Europeans call Malta a launderette, a country that sells passports and bank accounts for world’s rich and famous. It is reportedly a get away for dirty money to countries as close as Azerbaijan and as far away as Venezuela. With less than half a million people (population of Bangalore in India is 8.426 million) think of a cross between gangs of Wassypur (India), Mafia (Italy) and Medellin cartel (Colombia) and picture begins to emerge. 
 
Think of Caruana Galizia, fighting this mafia while y were in power. That’s an important distinction. She was writing about m while y were in power. She was alone. 
 
She was blown up for doing her job, twenty five years apart from Italian magistrate Giovanni Falcone who too was blown up as his car travelled in Italy leaving blood on Europe’s conscience. Falcone’s travel plans were kwn only to government of day, every route and movement monitored and “protected.” Re here.
https://www.republicworld.com/opinions/what-gives/daphne-and-giovanni-lessons-for--european-union-from-indian-journalism-and-law.html
 
At time of writing comes news that Chris Cardona who h suspended himself from parliament this week in fall out of murder probe has been reinstated a Minister of Ecomy. Muscat is expected to stay till January 8th 2020. 
 
Till recently, Schembri, Fenech, Mizzi, Cardonna, even Muscat et al were names that meant little people outside Malta. All that has changed in past few weeks. In dition to Malta, EU owes a few explanations to Caruana Galizia family.  Eir Brussels believes in democracy and freedom of democratic institutions in all its member states or it doesn’t.   world is watching.