Daphne Caruana Galizia was killed over Electrogas power station deal – Deal investigated by police – Court told
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Police believe that the anti-corruption journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia was killed for what she was about to reveal about a government-sponsored power station deal, a court in Malta has heard.
The Guardian reports that at the start of 2017, Caruana Galizia received a cache of 600,000 emails leaked from an energy company partly owned by Yorgen Fenech, who is now the chief suspect in the murder.
The Guardian reports company, Electrogas, holds a lucrative concession to supply Malta’s state-owned electricity provider. The court heard that the deal was now the subject of an investigation by the Malta police force’s economic crimes unit.
Electrogas is a company which is made up by Siemens Project Venture GMB, GEM group, which includes Gasan Group, Tumas Group and CP Holdings and Azerbaijan’s SOCAR.
Insp Kurt Zahra, one of two homicide detectives leading the investigation into the killing confirmed this in court while testifying during the compilation of evidence against Fenech, who was charged with conspiracy to murder Caruana Galizia in November.
Zahra testified that police were working on the assumption that the crime was motivated by a desire to suppress information about Electrogas.
The report also adds that the court heard that middleman Melvyn Theuma visited Fenech at home the day after the killing. He claims to have seen Fenech sitting with a group of people around a table. Among those said to be present was Turab Musayev, who sat on the board of Electrogas alongside Fenech.
Musayev is a former head of the trading arm of Azerbaijan’s state oil company, Socar, which owns one third of the Electrogas venture. He has not been asked to testify and has previously said he had no reason to suspect Fenech’s alleged involvement in the murder.
