"Panama Papers" Leak

[angelburst29]

Swiss bank Credit Suisse and the CIA-backed data analysis company Palantir are launching a joint surveillance program called Signac
to track and catch bankers engaged in illegal trades.

CIA-Funded Tech Company to Surveil Credit Suisse Employees
http://sputniknews.com/business/20160429/1038802300/palantir-credit-suisse-surveillance.html

The move comes in the wake of revelations that Credit Suisse has accrued some $90 billion in debt after implementing a strategy of pursuing revenue at any cost, including allowing traders to hold high-risk illiquid positions.

Traders are now considered by Credit Suisse executives to be the root of the problem. The bank seeks to use software developed in collaboration with Palantir to detect employees who violate the rules to make unauthorized trades.

Palantir, founded in 2004, is a private software and services firm that focuses on data mining, including searching through and analyzing information. Among its clients are law enforcement and government agencies.

Palantir was partially funded by CIA venture-capital-investment arm In-Q-Tel Inc., which has collaborated with the NSA, the FBI, the DHS, DARPA, as well as the US Marine Corps and the US Air Force. In-Q-Tel is also working with tech start-ups, particularly focusing on those that aim to “advance ‘priority’ technologies of value.”

Credit Suisse is not the first bank that has implemented software to identify rogue traders. Last year JPMorgan launched a program that monitors trader activities, indicating who would be likely to break the rules.

Many have called the validity of the Panama Papers into question. Now, former banker and financial whistleblower Bradley Birkenfeld has added his own doubts, believing that all signs point to a US government involvement.

Banking Whistleblower Believes CIA Behind Panama Papers Leak
http://sputniknews.com/us/20160414/1037969973/cia-panama-papers.html

In 2009 the US Justice Department issued a fine of $780 million against Swiss banking giant UBS. The financial institution was found guilty in a massive fraud investigation after Birkenfeld came forward with insider knowledge of the bank’s role in tax evasion.

Despite his high-profile role in financial whistleblowing, Birkenfeld has strong doubts about the Panama Papers released earlier this month.

"The CIA, I’m sure, is behind this, in my opinion," he said during an interview with CNBC.

"The very fact that we see all these names surface that are the direct quote-unquote enemies of the United States – Russia, China, Pakistan, Argentina – and we don’t see one US name. Why is that?" he added.

Quite frankly, my feeling is that this is certainly an intelligence agency operation."

The largest leak of its kind in history, the Panama Papers refers to over 11.5 million documents taken from law firm Mossack Fonseca.

"If you’ve got NSA and CIA spying on foreign governments they can certainly get into a law firm like this," Birkenfeld said.

But they selectively bring the information to the public domain that doesn’t hurt the US in any shape or form. That’s wrong. And there’s something seriously sinister here behind this."

While the documents also revealed the financial improprieties of Icelandic Prime Minister Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson and British Prime Minister David Cameron, Birkenfeld ascribes that to "collateral damage."

Many question why the Panama Papers seem suspiciously absent of American names and a number of theories have been raised. Some point out that the United States, itself, is a fairly lucrative tax haven, and so Americans have less reason to place money overseas.


Others have pointed the finger at American businessman George Soros.

"WikiLeaks told you the Panama Papers were provided by the United States government, George Soros’ various NGOs, and a host of western journalists," political analyst Phil Butler wrote for New Eastern Outlook.

"Today the proof is irrefutable. A vast network has been established in the last few decades to not only control news, but to influence even the laws under which society operates."

Intelligence agencies from different states were using the services of Mossack Fonseca, a Panama firm selling offshore companies, for years to conceal their activities, a German newspaper stated.

Busted! CIA and Co. Allegedly Used Mossack Fonseca to Hide Activities
http://sputniknews.com/military/20160412/1037861241/panama-papers-cia.html

Back dated April 14, 2016 - Mossack Fonseca is currently in the center of an international tax avoidance scandal. It allegedly helped the rich and powerful evade taxes using offshore companies.

According to the Sueddeutsche Zeitung newspaper, secret agents and informants across the world, including the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) mediators, widely used the services of the firm and opened shell companies to conceal their activities.

Among Mossack Fonseca customers were people involved in the Iran–Contra international scandal in 1980s when the US senior officials secretly facilitated the arms sale to Iran.

The newspaper added that the current or former senior officials of the intelligence services from Saudi Arabia, Colombia and Rwanda were also involved with the firm.

The Brussels-Washington Umbrella Agreement is designed to ensure a high level of protection for the personal data used by EU and US law enforcement, including criminal records.

EU Commission Proposes to Sign Data Protection Umbrella Deal With US
http://sputniknews.com/politics/20160429/1038833344/eu-us-umbrella-agreement.html

The European Commission on Friday proposed signing the EU-US data protection Umbrella Agreement, bringing the sides closer to establishing a framework for cross-Atlantic data protection.

"Today, the European Commission proposes to the Council the signature and conclusion of the EU-US data protection Umbrella Agreement…The Council shall now adopt a decision authorising the signing of the Agreement. Once the agreement is signed, the decision concluding the Agreement will be adopted by the Council after obtaining the consent of the European Parliament," the Commission said in a press release.

The agreement was finalized by the European Commission and the United States in September, and is designed to ensure a high level of protection for the personal data used by EU and US law enforcement, including criminal records.

The data protection agreement will provide a high level of security during data exchanges between justice and police authorities, EU Commissioner Vera Jourova was quoted as saying in the statement, adding that when finalized, the agreement would become a historic step in rebuilding trust in transatlantic data flows and strengthening privacy rights.

In February, US President Barack Obama signed the Judicial Redress Act, granting EU citizens the right to enforce data protection rights in US courts and paving the way to finalizing the Umbrella Agreement.

 

[angelburst29]

A member of Israel's Knesset (parliament) has revealed that Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud helped finance the election campaign of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in 2015.

Leaked: Saudi King financed Netanyahu’s 2015 election bid
http://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2016/05/09/464706/Saudi-Arabia-King-Salman-Israel-Prime-Minister-Netanyahu-Isaac-Herzog-Panama-Papers/

Citing a massive leak of confidential documents dubbed the “Panama Papers,” Isaac Herzog, who is the chairman of the Israeli Labor party said, “In March 2015, King Salman has deposited eighty million dollars to support Netanyahu’s campaign via a Syrian-Spanish person named Mohamed Eyad Kayali.”

Panama Papers, which detail the offshore wealth of politicians and public figures across the globe, exposed more than 11.5 million financial and legal records earlier in April.

“The money was deposited to a company’s account in British Virgin Islands owned by Teddy Sagi, an Israeli billionaire and businessman, who has allocated the money to fund the campaign [of] Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu,” the lawmaker said.

In the recent past, Netanyahu has on several occasions talked of a budding relationship between Israel and Arab countries.

In March, Netanyahu said Israel's relations with regional Arab countries are “dramatically warming” in what analysts said was an acknowledgement of behind-the-scenes ties.

Moshe Ya’alon, Israel’s minister of military affairs, in February pointed to open channels between the regime and Arab states.

Ya’alon said he was unable to shake hands with Arab officials in public due to the “sensitive” political realities.

The Israeli minister later publicly shook the hand of Saudi Prince Turki bin Faisal al-Saud, who himself has openly met with a number of Israeli officials in the past.

Israel has covert ties with Arab states despite their claims that they would normalize relations with Tel Aviv only when it reaches a deal with the Palestinians. This is while the two sides “can meet in closed rooms,” according to Ya’alon.

Last month, the Jerusalem Post wrote that “rather than being isolated, Israel is being incorporated into the Saudi-led orbit.”

“Part of this includes the opening of a mission in Abu Dhabi and increasing contacts in the [Persian] Gulf States,” it said.

A former general in the Saudi military has also said recently that the kingdom would open an embassy in Tel Aviv if Israel accepted an Arab initiative to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Riyadh also maintains secret military ties with the Tel Aviv regime.

In April, Sheikh Naim Qassem, the deputy secretary general of Lebanon’s Hezbollah resistance movement, said Israel was training Saudi military forces under the framework of clandestine relations.

Dozens of Saudi military officers were being trained following secret contacts that led to military cooperation, he said.

“The Saudis are currently fulfilling the cycle of the Israeli project in public and secret meetings,” he added.

The United States, despite claims by its government officials, is not really looking to resolve the Syrian conflict and instead is seeking a way to boost the Saudi and Israeli-backed “mercenaries” that have been fighting to topple the legitimate Damascus government, says a former US army member.

US seeking to help Israeli-Saudi mercenary war in Syria: Analyst
http://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2016/05/01/463497/Saudi-Israel-Syria-Daesh-Assad-US-Bennett

Scott Bennett, a former US Army psychological warfare officer and counter terrorism analyst, called Kerry’s recent calls on the Syrian government to stop its attacks in the city of Aleppo as “the essence of hypocrisy,” adding that Washington is exploiting the Syria situation to “slip in” more military forces into the Arab country.

“So this is not about human refugees, tragedies or civilian deaths. This is about giving Saudi Arabia, America and Israel a chance to reestablish the lines that the Syrian Army and the Russian have turned into Swiss cheese,” he told Press TV on Sunday.

 

[angelburst29]

Panama Papers Goes Live with Searchable Database of Tax Evaders
http://www.globalresearch.ca/panama-papers-goes-live-with-searchable-database-of-tax-evaders/5524439

The Panama Papers database went live on Monday, making more than 200,000 offshore account details available to search online at offshoreleaks.icij.org.

More than 11 million documents were leaked by a whistleblower last month to the German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung and the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ). The data, taken from the Panama-based law firm Mossack Fonseca, linked shell companies, foundations, and trusts to 72 former and current global heads of state.

The Telegraph is posting live updates on its discoveries here.

The release comes as more than 300 economic experts sent a letter to world leaders urging them to abolish the veil of secrecy that surrounds offshore banking and close loopholes that allow the wealthy to avoid paying taxes.

It also follows the publication of a manifesto last week written by the whistleblower, who still goes by the anonymous name John Doe, which slammed “America’s broken campaign finance system” and denounced capitalism as “financial slavery.”

“In this system—our system—the slaves are unaware both of their status and of their masters, who exist in a world apart where the intangible shackles are carefully hidden amongst reams of unreachable legalese,” Doe wrote. “When it takes a whistleblower to sound the alarm, it is cause for even greater concern. It signals that democracy’s checks and balances have all failed, that the breakdown is systemic, and that severe instability could be just around the corner.”

“Income inequality is the defining issue of our time,” Doe wrote.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 License

 

[Niall]

Panama Papers Goes Live with Searchable Database of Tax Evaders
http://www.globalresearch.ca/panama-papers-goes-live-with-searchable-database-of-tax-evaders/5524439

The Panama Papers database went live on Monday, making more than 200,000 offshore account details available to search online at offshoreleaks.icij.org

No surprises here!

 

[angelburst29]

An IT employee of the Geneva branch of the Mossack Fonseca, a Panamanian firm selling offshore companies, was detained on suspicion of removing large amounts of data, local media reported Wednesday.

Mossack Fonseca Employee Detained in Geneva on Suspicion of Removing Data
http://sputniknews.com/business/20160615/1041378507/mossack-fonteca-detention.html

In April, the German newspaper Sueddeutsche Zeitung exposed the alleged involvement of the world's wealthy and influential people, including a number of former and current leaders, in offshore schemes by publishing so-caled Panama Papers it claimed came from Mossack Fonseca.

According to Le Temps newspaper, the IT technician has been in custody for several days on suspicion of "having removed large amounts of confidential data" recently.

The media outlet also claimed that the Geneva public prosecutor had confirmed a procedure was initiated "following a complaint lodged by Mossack Fonseca."

 

[angelburst29]

Was the ‘Panama Papers’ scandal - an orchestrated diversion tactic - to cover any possible leaks of "closed door negotiations" with Mr. Khodorkovsy's offer to sell Gazprom, Russia’s largest natural gas producer, to the American's, in which, Putin and the Russian government intervened?

Putin destroys the 'Panama Papers' scandal [Video]
http://www.fort-russ.com/2016/08/utin-destroys-panama-papers-scandal.html
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cVSvRzRzaUg

In April 2016, the ‘Panama Papers’ scandal hit the Western mainstream press like there was no tomorrow. It "exposed" a number of high profile individuals to tax evasion practices, hiding their money in overseas accounts. However, there was more to it than met the untrained eye. It is still murky waters as to what actually occurred with this fake ‘leak’ project – the most likely circumstance is that US officials purchased certain selections of the information directly from Mossack Fonseca - notice that there is not a single North American businessman named in the ‘scandal.’

Vladimir Putin failed to come up in any direct implication to tax evasion – however Mr Poroshenko did, not that Western media picked up on that. The ‘leaks’ were published via the “International Consortium of Investigative Journalists”, which are, and no surprises here, a Soros linked initiative.

Even though Putin was not linked, his picture in conjunction with the allegations traversed the globe like wildfire. Much like the MH17 “evidence” of “Putin’s missile”, the Guardian and other such fanatically-Russophobic sources continue to feed the feeble minded of the Western world.

Overall, it is the intention of the US to paint Vladimir Putin, an irritant to the hegemony, as self-enriching and pro-oligarch (see “Putin’s $2 billion wealth” type articles) However – as an example, it is little known that the parasite Mr. Khodorkovsy was not only guilty of embezzlement and money laundering, but he was about to sell Gazprom to the Americans.

The Russian government intervened - which explains Khodorkovsky's antipathy towards Putin, and makes much sense than the tall tales he tells on CNN. Gazprom is Russia’s largest natural gas producer, which Khodorkovsky stole from the Russian people for mere pennies, in the early 1990s.

If you have not caught on by now – the Western reader - everything that your media writes in regard to Putin, the opposite is likely true. The spoiled kids are simply throwing their toys out of the cot, while riling up support based on fake premises, toward another world conflict.

 

[Voyageur]

Was the ‘Panama Papers’ scandal - an orchestrated diversion tactic - to cover any possible leaks of "closed door negotiations" with Mr. Khodorkovsy's offer to sell Gazprom, Russia’s largest natural gas producer, to the American's, in which, Putin and the Russian government intervened?

Putin destroys the 'Panama Papers' scandal [Video]
http://www.fort-russ.com/2016/08/utin-destroys-panama-papers-scandal.html
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cVSvRzRzaUg

In April 2016, the ‘Panama Papers’ scandal hit the Western mainstream press like there was no tomorrow. It "exposed" a number of high profile individuals to tax evasion practices, hiding their money in overseas accounts. However, there was more to it than met the untrained eye. It is still murky waters as to what actually occurred with this fake ‘leak’ project – the most likely circumstance is that US officials purchased certain selections of the information directly from Mossack Fonseca - notice that there is not a single North American businessman named in the ‘scandal.’

Vladimir Putin failed to come up in any direct implication to tax evasion – however Mr Poroshenko did, not that Western media picked up on that. The ‘leaks’ were published via the “International Consortium of Investigative Journalists”, which are, and no surprises here, a Soros linked initiative.

Even though Putin was not linked, his picture in conjunction with the allegations traversed the globe like wildfire. Much like the MH17 “evidence” of “Putin’s missile”, the Guardian and other such fanatically-Russophobic sources continue to feed the feeble minded of the Western world.

Overall, it is the intention of the US to paint Vladimir Putin, an irritant to the hegemony, as self-enriching and pro-oligarch (see “Putin’s $2 billion wealth” type articles) However – as an example, it is little known that the parasite Mr. Khodorkovsy was not only guilty of embezzlement and money laundering, but he was about to sell Gazprom to the Americans.

The Russian government intervened - which explains Khodorkovsky's antipathy towards Putin, and makes much sense than the tall tales he tells on CNN. Gazprom is Russia’s largest natural gas producer, which Khodorkovsky stole from the Russian people for mere pennies, in the early 1990s.

If you have not caught on by now – the Western reader - everything that your media writes in regard to Putin, the opposite is likely true. The spoiled kids are simply throwing their toys out of the cot, while riling up support based on fake premises, toward another world conflict.

It's interesting, and there was likely many other contributing factors, including the timing.

One thing about listening to Putin discuss things with people (video above as example) is his genuine ability to tell people about the mechanisms (i.e. like planting seeds of decent from the outside within the government) and how manipulations work in respect to things like the Panama Papers. You can watch many politicians try and connect with their people and rarely does it seem sincere. Putin indeed connects with his people, and examples are endless for this.

What has (since Kennedy) or will the biggest empire in the world get in November, sadly nothing like him.

 

[angelburst29]

Jurgen Mossack and Ramon Fonseca, the founders of the eponymous Panamanian law firm that was vaulted to notoriety after a massive leak of their files exposed money laundering schemes all over the world, have been detained in connection with a corruption scandal in Brazil.

Mossack, Fonseca Under Arrest Over Corruption Case
https://sputniknews.com/latam/201702131050606534-mossack-fonseca-arrested-corruption/

The two founders of the Mossack Fonseca firm have been detained in Panama, according to the country's attorney general's office. They were taken into custody because they were deemed to be a flight risk. The men are being held to answer questions about their role in a huge and ongoing corruption scandal in Brazil.

According to Attorney General Kenia Porcell, the information currently collected by investigators has revealed the law firm to be "a criminal organization that is dedicated to hiding assets or money from suspicious origins."

The attorney general also said that the investigation is a joint effort by prosecutors in several countries: Brazil, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, Switzerland and the United States.

While Fonseca has denied any connection to the ongoing scandal involving Brazilian construction firm Odebrecht, Porcell disclosed that "this investigation in principle is not related to Odebrecht, but to the Lava Jato case." Lava Jato is the Portuguese name for the Operation Car Wash probe revolving around Brazilian oil company Petrobras, which has resulted in criminal charges against businessmen and members of the ruling Workers Party of Brazil, including impeached President Dilma Rousseff, who chaired the board of Petrobras from 2003 to 2010.

Scandal has dogged Mossack Fonseca since the massive leak of private information, which exposed money laundering schemes using offshore companies at the behest of politicians and businesses all around the world. The leak, known as the "Panama Papers," has led to multiple investigations in many countries. Among other things, the Panama Papers have shone a light on Brazilian construction company Odebrecht's practice of bribing government officials all around Latin America in exchange for government contracts.

Mossack Fonseca's office and the houses of the firm's founders were searched days before the arrest.

At least one more lawyer in the firm has also been arrested and one more company employee is facing an arrest warrant, but her whereabouts are unknown. Their names have not been disclosed.

Mossack Fonseca defense lawyer Elias Solano claims the allegations against the firm are "weak" and that he will challenge the evidence presented against his clients.

Panama's prosecutors raided the offices of Mossack Fonseca law firm, trying to find any connection to Brazilian construction company Odebrecht, media reported Friday.

Mossack Fonseca Law Firm Offices Raided Over Odebrecht Corruption Scandal
https://sputniknews.com/europe/201702101050537696-mossack-fonseca-raid/

According to TeleSUR media outlet, the raid took place on Thursday. The local authorities considered the law firm to be involved in concealing Odebrecht bribes.

The attorney general’s office said that 17 people were facing money laundering charges in connection with Odebrecht, though no arrests were made and no names were released.

On Thursday, law's founder Ramon Fonseca Mora wrote on Twitter that he had "nothing to do with Odebrecht." He also accused President of Panama Juan Carlos Varela of directly receiving money from Odebrecht.

On December 21, the US Department of Justice said that from beginning of 2001 Odebrecht has paid approximately $788 million in bribes to foreign government officials to win contracts in 12 countries. The conspiracy was facilitated through off-shore bank accounts, shell companies and secret transactions, while the scheme resulted in corrupt payments and profits of around $3.3 billion in total.

 

[angelburst29]

For a long time TruePublica has consistently reported that Britain is the centre of the global money laundering business with its London Headquarters and network of off-shore tax havens. We have challenged reports and studies that have protected ‘The City’ and its army of suited mobsters that openly defy both domestic and international financial legislation whilst it administers the global looting machine.

Panama Papers Committee Investigates in London UK, Home To 2,000 ‘Enablers’
http://www.globalresearch.ca/panama-papers-committee-investigates-in-london-uk-home-to-2000-enablers/5574579

TaxJusticeNetwork have just released this article that starts to focus where the real crimes of the financial services industry are committed as the European Panama Papers Committee gets its teeth stuck just that little bit deeper into the global crime wave of the rich and powerful – in London.

Last year the Panama Papers scandal shook the world and lifted the lid on murky offshore dealings in spectacular fashion. The political consequences and investigations, criminal and otherwise are far from over. The European Parliament set up the Panama Papers inquiry committee tasked with investigating “alleged contraventions and maladministration in the application by the EU Commission or member states of EU laws on money laundering, tax avoidance and tax evasion.” Today Bloomberg reports that the committee begins a series of ‘secret fact-finding meetings’ in London for two days. It has come to the heart of the beast.

We have always said that the Panama Papers could just as well have been branded the ‘British Virgin Islands Papers’, since that British Overseas territory was revealed as a Mossack Fonseca favourite, whose most important secrecy offering comes from it’s “lax, flexible, ask-no-questions, see-no-evil company incorporation regime.”

The UK has a special responsibility to take a global lead on tackling financial secrecy. The United Kingdom runs a global network of Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies that includes some of the world’s biggest tax havens — including the Caymans, the British Virgin Islands, Bermuda and Jersey. If all of the UK’s satellite jurisdictions were rolled into one, the UK would be number one in the Tax Justice Network’s Financial Secrecy Index.

Since the Panama Papers scandal hit in April 2016 there has finally been a push to force these jurisdictions, as the UK has every right to do, to create public registers of beneficial owners of companies through the Criminal Finances Bill, currently going through the British Parliament.

The EU’s Panama Papers Inquiry Committee’s current visit to London is covered here by Bloomberg’s Ben Stupples. He reports that:

“the leak identified nearly 2,000 U.K.-based intermediaries—such as accountants, lawyers and tax advisers—who helped facilitate individuals or entities with tax evasion or avoidance”

That’s the first time we’ve seen that specific number. It doesn’t mean that all those on that list have broken any laws, such is the problem with the law as it stands, but use of Mossack Fonseca supplied offshore structures on such an industrial scale raises a lot of questions.

We don’t know where this EU inquiry might lead but among the questions to consider is how realistic the prospects of effective investigation and enforcement are, and whether the British government has the political will to take action.

What governments do and don’t do to deal with the offshore industry strikes at the heart of whether the exercise of power is in the interests of the many, or the few. As the Tax Justice Network’s John Christensen says today,

“this is about the ability to protect elites from democratic rules and accountability. This is what offshore provides to elites and the banks who serve them.”

Among those with whom the commmittee will meet over the next couple of days is the U.K.’s special task force on the Panama Papers from the UK tax authorities, officials from HSBC, the Law Society of England and Wales, and the Institute of Chartered Accountants of England and Wales.

We’ll await the results with great interest.

 

[Voyageur]

Interesting about this recent news concerning Mossack, Fonseca and the partner/lawyers. And there is also the great white North "Snow Washing" machine - Mossack, Fonseca discusses it here:

http://projects.thestar.com/panama-papers/canada-is-the-worlds-newest-tax-haven/

Snow washing
Canada is the world’s newest tax haven

By Robert Cribb and Marco Chown Oved

January 25, 2017

Canada is quietly emerging as a popular tax haven for the global elite, who create shell companies with figurehead directors to evade or avoid taxes, a Toronto Star/CBC-Radio Canada investigation has found.

“Canada is a good place to create tax planning structures to minimize taxes like interest, dividends, capital gains, retirement income and rental income,” reads a 2010 internal memo from Mossack Fonseca, the law firm behind the massive Panama Papers leak of 11.5 million documents detailing global tax avoidance and evasion.

It’s called “snow washing” — using Canada’s prudent reputation and solid economy to make suspect transactions seem legitimate. A sprawling international tax avoidance industry is increasingly touting Canada as a jurisdiction for hiding wealth.

And the Canadian government has made it easier than ever for criminals and tax cheats to move money in and out by signing tax agreements with 115 countries — the greatest number in the world.

Another key reason is that Canada’s corporate registration systems — federally and provincially — are shrouded in the same kind of secrecy that exists in tax havens such as the British Virgin Islands, Panama and the Bahamas.

Company owners who don’t wish to be identified in Canadian corporate registries can pay a lawyer or a stand-in to appear on all public filings. {...more in the link}

 

[angelburst29]

Caruana Galizia, who ran a popular blog on which she relentlessly highlighted cases of alleged high-level corruption involving politicians, was killed in October.

Malta Police Arrest Suspects in Murder of Panama Papers Blogger - PM
https://sputniknews.com/europe/201712041059668590-malta-police-suspects-panama-papers-blogger/

Maltese Prime Minister Joseph Muscat has announced that the police had arrested eight suspects in the murder of a Panama Papers blogger, Daphne Caruana Galizia.

According to him, the suspects are Maltese citizens, with many of them having criminal records.

While no further details have been provided yet, police are set to question the suspects in the next 48 hours.

The arrests come less than two months after Caruana Galizia's car was blown up while she was driving it. The Maltese authorities asked the United States and the United Kingdom to send staff to help the investigation, while Wikileaks founder Julian Assange announced the award of 20,000 euros ($23,600) for any information that could lead tothe killers of the Maltese journalist being convicted.

The blogger and journalist was known for examining various cases of corruption in Malta, with one of her investigations being based on the so-called Panama Papers, high-profile leaked documents of Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca, published in 2016, which had lead journalists to reveal alleged illegal finance practices of officials and public figures from various countries.

According to Galizia's own investigation based on the Panama Papers documents conducted in April, the Malta prime minister's wife Michelle was the owner of offshore company Egrant, which had received major payments from abroad, with Muscat and his wife denied the blogger's claims.

Thousands of Maltese residents held a demonstration in Sliema on Sunday, calling on the government to carry out a thorough investigation into the murder of investigative journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia.

Thousands of Maltese Hold Rally Demanding Justice for Slain Journalist (Video)
https://sputniknews.com/europe/201710301058649108-malta-journalist-murder-investigation-protests/

According to Times of Malta, some protesters called for the dismissal of the police commissioner and the attorney general.

However, the protest ended peacefully, no incidents were reported during the demonstration. Organizers said that nearly 10,000 people took to the streets in Sliema.

In April, Daphne Caruana Galizia reported that Prime Minister of Malta Joseph Muscat and his wife Michelle had links to the offshore company Egrant, which had received major payments from abroad. The information about the company appeared in the Panama Papers. Both Muscat and his wife denied Galizia's claims.

On October 16, Galizia was killed by an explosion in her car. The journalist was known for investigating various cases of corruption in Malta.

Update:

Malta's Prime Minister Joseph Muscat announced the arrest of 10 suspects linked to the murder of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia Monday.

10 arrested in Daphne Caruana Galizia murder case (Photos - Video) Mon December 4, 2017
http://www.cnn.com/2017/12/04/europe/daphne-caruana-galizia-arrests-intl/index.html

Caruana Galizia was killed in a car bombing in October after her vehicle exploded soon after she left her home in Bidnija, close to the town of Mosta, local media reported at the time.

Confirming the 10 arrests, Muscat added on Twitter that "authorities have all areas of interest under control since early this morning and searches are underway."

Earlier, government spokesman Kurt Farrugia had confirmed on Twitter that eight of the suspects are Maltese. Two further arrests were made later to take the number to 10.

The death of Caruana Galizia, who had led the investigation into the Panama Papers and alleged corruption within political circles in Malta, rocked the country and caused consternation across Europe.

In the aftermath of the attack, her son, Matthew Caruana Galizia, said his mother had been "assassinated" because of her work uncovering alleged corruption in the Maltese government.

He said that the 53-year-old had been "targeted" and added that a "culture of impunity has been allowed to flourish by the government in Malta."

Officials from the FBI and Dutch forensic experts were drafted in to examine evidence and work on the case.

Caruana Galizia's death was condemned across the world by fellow journalists and press freedom organizations.

Vigils were held in Malta and abroad, while her death was also mourned by the European Union.

'One-woman Wikileaks' - Caruana Galizia's popular blog, "Running Commentary," was one of the most influential within Maltese politics.
Minister Joseph Muscat to call early elections four months ago after she alleged that he and his wife were linked to the Panama Papers scandal.

The couple denied allegations that they had used secret offshore bank accounts to hide payments from the ruling family of Azerbaijan.

Caruana Galizia was highlighted by politics website Politico as one of 28 individuals who would have a major impact on Europe in 2017 after her work in exposing corruption within Malta's political scene. Politico described her as "a one-woman WikiLeaks, crusading against untransparency and corruption in Malta."

Daphne Caruana Galizia was 53 when she was killed.

In her blog, the journalist regularly reported on allegations of corruption across the country's political sphere.

In her final post, which was published around 30 minutes before the explosion, she wrote: "There are crooks everywhere you look now. The situation is desperate."

In a statement issued soon after the explosion, Muscat called the incident "barbaric" and said it "goes against civilization and dignity."

"Everyone is aware that Ms. Caruana Galizia was one of my harshest critics, politically and personally, as she was for others, too," Muscat said in the statement. "However, I can never use, in any way this fact to justify, in any possible way, this barbaric act that goes against civilization and all dignity."

In a later interview with CNN, Muscat promised there "will be absolutely no impunity for anyone" involved in the attack.

 

[angelburst29]

The assassins who killed Panama Papers journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia used a fatal text message sent from a boat out at sea, according to a report.

Assassins killed Panama Papers journalist with text message bomb
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/assassins-killed-panama-papers-journalist-text-message-bomb-article-1.3680600

Authorities on the Mediterranean island of Malta arrested ten people for the explosion last month that killed the lauded 53-year-old blogger known for her criticism of the government.

Three have now been charged, with a report in Malta Today on Wednesday revealing details of the investigation, including how they allegedly set off the powerful bomb on her car.

Brothers George and Alfred Degiorgio, 54 and 52, were joined by Vincent Muscat, 55, in the reported scheme, which involved an electronic device attached the explosive that was put on the vehicle the morning of the blast.

George Digeorgio, stationed on a boat out at sea, is alleged to have sent the text message to the device that triggered the killing after receiving a signal from his brother, Malta Today reported.

Seven other men, all of them Maltese, were released on bail as authorities continue the investigation into those already charged, who all have previous criminal records.

Galizia's family has repeatedly questioned the independence of the investigation by authorities, who were often the target of her blog.

The slain journalist was most famous for using information in the Panama Papers leaks to allege illicit activity between the inner circle of Maltese Prime Minister Joseph Muscat and the ruling family of Azerbaijan.

Reports after her death said the explosive Semtex was used in the bomb, prompting speculation that the weapon came from somewhere other than the island off the coast of Sicily.

Sources close to the investigation told multiple news outlets on Wednesday that the explosive was instead TNT.

Prosecutors have not released a motive for the killing.

 

[angelburst29]

Caruana Galizia, who ran a popular blog on which she relentlessly highlighted cases of alleged high-level corruption involving politicians, was killed in October.

Malta Police Arrest Suspects in Murder of Panama Papers Blogger - PM
Malta Police Arrest Suspects in Murder of Panama Papers Blogger - PM

Maltese Prime Minister Joseph Muscat has announced that the police had arrested eight suspects in the murder of a Panama Papers blogger, Daphne Caruana Galizia.

November 9, 2018 - Exclusive: Mystery company named by murdered Maltese Journalist is linked to Power Station Developer
Exclusive: Mystery company named by murdered Maltese journalist is linked to power station developer | Reuters

FILE PHOTO: Activists from Occupy Justice Malta hold up placards reading "Who Owns 17 Black?" in reference to revelations by the Daphne Project, outside the office of Prime Minister Joseph Muscat at Auberge de Castille in Valletta, Malta May 15, 2018. REUTERS/Darrin Zammit Lupi/File Photo

In February 2017, the Maltese investigative journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia wrote in her blog about a mystery company in Dubai called 17 Black Limited. She alleged it was connected to Maltese politicians, but offered no evidence.

She was unable to discover who owned the company, and it remained unclear whether 17 Black had any significance.

Eight months later Caruana Galizia was killed by a car bomb, prompting an international outcry. No evidence has emerged that connects her death to any of her journalism. But her killing did renew interest in her many different claims,
leading to media reports about such subjects as banking regulation and Malta’s sale of passports. Now Reuters and other media have begun to unravel another mystery, that of 17 Black.

Two people familiar with the subject in Malta said a report by Malta’s anti-money laundering watchdog had identified Yorgen Fenech, the chief executive of a Maltese property developer, as the owner of 17 Black. A third person familiar with the subject in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) said account records at a bank in Dubai identified Fenech as the owner of 17 Black. Reuters last month reviewed UAE banking correspondence that described Fenech as the owner and signatory of a 17 Black account at Noor Bank in Dubai.

Fenech is a director and co-owner of a business group that won a large energy concession from the Maltese state. In 2013, that group was granted the right by the Maltese government to build a 450 million euro ($517 million) gas power station on the island.

When asked to comment, Fenech declined to say whether he owns 17 Black.

The ownership of the company is significant because of another document, an email written in December 2015 by accountants for two senior figures in Malta’s government. That email was discovered by Maltese financial regulators among documents obtained from the accountants’ firm, according to a person briefed on the investigation. Its existence has been reported before and its authenticity has not been challenged.

The two senior political figures concerned are Konrad Mizzi, who was Malta’s energy minister from 2013 to 2016, and Keith Schembri, the prime minister’s chief of staff. Mizzi conceived and promoted the idea of offering the power station concession.

According to the December 2015 email, Panama companies owned by Mizzi and Schembri stood to receive payments from 17 Black for services that were unspecified. The email said the Panama companies expected 17 Black to be a “main target client,” with payments of up to $2 million expected within a year. The email made no reference to the gas power station energy scheme and there is no evidence the payments went ahead.

It remains unclear why the Panama companies owned by two senior political figures expected to receive money from 17 Black.

The December 2015 email was first published in April by the Daphne Project, a collaboration of news organizations, including Reuters, that has been carrying on the work of the murdered journalist. In a response at the time, Schembri said that firms he owned had a business plan to earn money from 17 Black but that those plans did not go ahead. He did not elaborate. Mizzi denied all knowledge of 17 Black.

Schembri and Mizzi both told Reuters in October they had no knowledge of any connection between 17 Black and Fenech, or of any plan to receive payments connected to Fenech or the energy project. Fenech denied making any plans to pay any politician or any person or entity connected to them.

The Maltese firm of accountants that sent the December 2015 email, NexiaBT, said it could not comment because of client confidentiality.

There is no suggestion that anyone connected with 17 Black was involved in Caruana Galizia’s death. Three people have been charged with planting the bomb that killed her; they deny the charges. No evidence has emerged publicly about who ordered the assassination.

Mizzi, who is now Malta’s tourism minister, issued a statement through a spokesman saying he “reiterates that there is no connection, direct or otherwise, between him, the company or trust he held, and any entity called 17 Black. Furthermore, he has no information relating to 17 Black.”

In a statement to Reuters, Schembri said he had not heard that Fenech owned 17 Black. He said he was not involved in the power station project and, asked if he had intended to profit from the project, said: “The answer is a categorical ‘No’.”

Fenech said he and his companies “never had (or intended to have) any untoward business relation” with any politicians or politically affiliated individuals or entities. “We have always and consistently run our operations in compliant, transparent and above-board fashion,” he said.

Financial records identifying the owner of 17 Black were first discovered earlier this year by Malta’s anti-money laundering watchdog, the Financial Intelligence and Analysis Unit (FIAU), according to two sources briefed on its findings.

Reuters reviewed UAE banking correspondence that summarized 17 Black’s banking activity in Dubai. The documents stated that when 17 Black opened an account in June 2015 at Noor Bank in Dubai, the company declared it was 100 percent owned by a Maltese citizen called Yorgen Fenech. The correspondence also said Fenech is the account’s sole signatory.

The only “Yorgen Fenech” listed on Malta’s electoral roll and company register is the power station developer.

In the spring of this year, the FIAU passed Fenech’s name to Malta Police’s Economic Crime Unit as part of a wider examination of energy deals conducted by the government.

Malta Police said it was prevented by law from confirming whether it had received any information from the FIAU and whether any investigation was under way. In a statement, the FIAU declined to comment on 17 Black because of “secrecy obligations” under Maltese law.

A UAE government official, who was unwilling to be named, said UAE financial and law enforcement authorities were examining 17 Black’s activities after a request for assistance from Maltese authorities. The official declined to elaborate.

In July 2017, more than a year after Caruana Galizia had mentioned the Panama companies owned by Mizzi and Schembri in her blog, a Malta magistrate ordered a judicial inquiry into whether the companies involved any illicit activity. Opposition politicians in Malta and members of the European Parliament called for Mizzi and Schembri to be suspended from office while that inquiry was conducted. The island’s prime minister, Joseph Muscat, declined to do so.

In May this year, another magistrate ordered that 17 Black’s activities should also be examined as part of the same probe. The inquiry is currently stalled, pending a legal challenge made on procedural grounds by Mizzi, Schembri and others. Both Mizzi and Schembri have said they would welcome testifying and disproving any allegations made against them before any inquiry.

In a statement to Reuters this month, referring to the judicial probes, Kurt Farrugia, the prime minister’s spokesman, said that as the activities of 17 Black were under investigation, Muscat would “await the conclusion of this process and act accordingly. He has been consistent on this point.” The prime minister, Farrugia said, did not know who owned 17 Black.

OLD FRIENDS IN POWER
Before he became a government minister, Mizzi worked as a management consultant. In September 2012, he became energy spokesman for Muscat’s Labour Party. In January 2013, at the start of a general election campaign, Mizzi proposed an ambitious plan to reform Malta’s energy sector.

Mizzi said the proposals, which counted on private investment to build a gas power station, would cut the country’s bill for energy generation by 187 million euros a year. Muscat said he would implement the plan.

Labour won the March 2013 election. Muscat became prime minister and appointed Mizzi energy minister.

Mizzi and the government proceeded with the energy plan, and several deals were struck by October that year. One deal granted a concession to a private business group, selected from several bidders, to build and run the new gas power station. Under the selection procedure, Mizzi played no direct role in choosing the winner.

The winning group - which included Maltese investors, Azerbaijan’s state oil company SOCAR, and the German company Siemens – was set up in 2013 and called Electrogas Malta. Fenech, the Maltese property developer, was a director and an investor. The 450-million-euro Delimara power station was completed in 2017.

Siemens declined to comment on whether Fenech owned 17 Black, or about Mizzi and Schembri’s potential business connection, saying “Siemens is not in a business relationship with the company.” SOCAR Trading, the subsidiary of SOCAR involved in the power station project, said it “has no knowledge of the company 17 Black.”

In July 2015, Mizzi bought a shell company in Panama called Hearnville Inc, registering his ownership via an anonymous trust in New Zealand, according to corporate records and public statements later made by Mizzi. At the same time, Schembri acquired a Panama company, called Tillgate, also via a New Zealand trust.

Schembri, a businessman, had known Muscat, Malta’s prime minister, since they were at school together in the 1990s. Schembri became Muscat’s chief of staff in 2013. When he did so, he resigned his directorships of his Maltese printing and stationery business, but remained the owner. Schembri said his position in the prime minister’s office gave him “no involvement” in the power station project.

When Hearnville and Tillgate, the two Panama companies, sought to open bank accounts, they were asked to list their likely sources of revenue. Accountants acting for Mizzi and Schembri sent an email on Dec. 17, 2015, to a Panamanian law firm that was assisting the search for a suitable bank. The email named 17 Black Limited and another company, Macbridge Limited, as the “main target clients” from whom banks could expect payments to Hearnville and Tillgate.

Mizzi and Schembri were asked this month by Reuters if they had knowledge of the email before it was sent. Schembri replied “No”, without elaborating either about the email or what he knew of 17 Black. Mizzi replied that he “did not see the alleged email you are referring to prior to its publication.”

Asked about Hearnville and Tillgate, Fenech told Reuters that “neither I, nor any company/entity of which I am or have been involved in, have ever had (or had the intention to have) any relation whatsoever with the entities you mention.” Asked to clarify whether he owned or had any relation to 17 Black, Fenech did not respond.

Brian Tonna, head of NexiaBT, the accountancy firm that sent the email, said he was prevented by client confidentiality from commenting. He added that the firm was cooperating fully with the authorities.

The December 2015 email said both 17 Black and Macbridge were registered in Dubai. Reuters found no trace of Macbridge. The banking correspondence reviewed by Reuters indicated 17 Black was registered in the nearby emirate of Ajman and opened an account at Noor Bank in Dubai in June 2015.

The person familiar with 17 Black’s arrangements in the UAE said 17 Black was a “flexi-desk company,” a business that could be created without a physical presence in the country. Around 9 million to 10 million euros went through 17 Black’s account at Noor in 2015, the person said, after which the account became dormant. Reuters could not confirm those figures.

The source said that most of the money paid into the 17 Black account had swiftly moved on to other entities, though it had retained a balance of about 2 million euros. Based on the absence of evidence for the business purpose of these in-out transactions, Noor Bank froze the account in September, the source said.

In a statement, Noor Bank declined to confirm any details of the bank account or its actions, saying it was “legally precluded from any unauthorized disclosure of confidential customer information” but always complied with any formal requests for information from authorities.

Maltese financial investigators have traced two payments to 17 Black, according to a source briefed on the investigation and a draft FIAU report from 2017 seen by Reuters. One was $200,000 sent to 17 Black on July 10, 2015, from Orion Engineering Group Limited, marked as provision of “manpower” in Qatar. Orion is a Maltese company owned by Maltese businessman Mario Pullicino, according to the report and public corporate records. Pullicino was also a company secretary of Armada Floating Gas Services Malta Limited. Armada was set up in June 2015. It provided a gas storage tanker for the new power station commissioned by Mizzi.

Pullicino confirmed to Reuters making the $200,000 payment and said it was for work unrelated to the Malta gas project. Speaking by telephone, he declined to provide further details of the transaction, 17 Black or its owners. He said his company “has never paid any money to any politically exposed people.”

Pullicino did not respond to further questions about whether he knew 17 Black was owned by Fenech.

Another payment to 17 Black consisted of $1.5 million sent in November 2015 by Mayor Trans Limited, a Seychelles company with a bank account in Latvia, marked as for “financial advisory services.”

Mayor Trans, according to public U.S. regulatory filings relating to that start-up, is ultimately owned by an Azeri citizen named Rufat Baratzada. The address given for Baratzada in U.S. regulatory filings is a modest apartment in Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan. Neighbors there described 51-year-old Baratzada as a former subway worker.

His family, contacted at Baratzada’s new one-storey home at end of an unpaved road on the outskirts of Baku, said he was now working as a security guard on a construction site in Baku. Reached by telephone and asked whether he owned Mayor Trans, Baratzada said: “If it’s me, it’s me.” He declined to talk further.

POLITICALLY EXPOSED
Through the autumn of 2015, the Panama companies acquired by Mizzi and Schembri applied to open bank accounts in Panama, Miami, Dubai, St. Lucia and the Bahamas, according to evidence assembled by Malta’s financial investigators from emails, obtained directly from the offices of Maltese accountants for Mizzi and Schembri, and detailed in the draft FIAU report. Copies of the emails were also contained in the Panama Papers and shared with Reuters by the German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung, which first obtained the Panama Papers.

According to those emails, opening bank accounts proved tough. The biggest obstacle, the emails indicated, was that the ultimate owners were politicians.

Financial institutions are obliged to take special care in handling customers designated as “politically exposed persons,” or PEPs - people entrusted with a prominent public function or their families. Banks shy away from handling the money of PEPs if they are unsure about the source of it.

The emails show that efforts to open accounts for the Panama companies of Mizzi and Schembri continued until February 2016. That month Caruana Galizia and other Maltese media reported the existence of the Panama companies. Mizzi and Schembri then commissioned audits of the New Zealand trusts they had set up to hold the shares of their Panamanian companies. Both audits were conducted in October 2016 by an office of Crowe Horwarth accountants in Wellington, New Zealand.

The firm declined to comment on questions from Reuters. In notes attached to the audits published by Mizzi and Schembri, the accountants said that the audits were based on “sufficient and appropriate evidence.” The audits stated the Panama companies had carried out no trading activities and that neither had a bank account.

In March last year, 17 Black changed its name to Wings Development, according to the person familiar with 17 Black’s arrangements in UAE. An official at Ajman Free Zone said Wings Development was still registered there but provided no evidence. Reuters could locate no company of that name for comment.

Slideshow (11 Images)
Exclusive: Mystery company named by murdered Maltese journalist is linked to power station developer | Reuters
~~~
Additional reporting by Margarita Antidze in Tbilisi, Maria Tsvetkova in Moscow and Jacob Borg of the Times of Malta in Valletta; Editing By Richard Woods.

This story is part of the Daphne Project, coordinated by Forbidden Stories, a Paris-based group that continues the work of journalists silenced through murder or imprisonment.

 

[Hi_Henry]

In February 2017, the Maltese investigative journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia wrote in her blog about a mystery company in Dubai called 17 Black Limited. She alleged it was connected to Maltese politicians, but offered no evidence.

She was unable to discover who owned the company, and it remained unclear whether 17 Black had any significance.

Eight months later Caruana Galizia was killed by a car bomb, prompting an international outcry. No evidence has emerged that connects her death to any of her journalism. But her killing did renew interest in her many different claims, leading to media reports about such subjects as banking regulation and Malta’s sale of passports. Now Reuters and other media have begun to unravel another mystery, that of 17 Black.

I'm so happy Reuters is on the job fishing for minnows. That is ALLOWED. But should they try to catch a shark it will be the nail gun, jump out of a hotel room or this,

I had a look at you 2016 post where we have,

Banking Whistleblower Believes CIA Behind Panama Papers Leak
Banking Whistleblower Believes CIA Behind Panama Papers Leak

In 2009 the US Justice Department issued a fine of $780 million against Swiss banking giant UBS. The financial institution was found guilty in a massive fraud investigation after Birkenfeld came forward with insider knowledge of the bank’s role in tax evasion.

Despite his high-profile role in financial whistleblowing, Birkenfeld has strong doubts about the Panama Papers released earlier this month.

"The CIA, I’m sure, is behind this, in my opinion," he said during an interview with CNBC.

The UBS Mess where he was the star witness was a high caliber intelligence operation for sure, IMHO. We the little people will never know how UBS allowed itself to get caught unless this was the desired outcome. I can not believe that UBS advisers did not realize that the moment they opened their offices in the US that they fall under the US jurisdiction. Unless that is, "someone" told them from the US side that "There is nothing to worry about here" !!!

What is also interesting is how they zeroed in on Birkenfeld. It must have been spy stuff from the word GO.

 

[angelburst29]

I'm so happy Reuters is on the job fishing for minnows. That is ALLOWED. But should they try to catch a shark it will be the nail gun, jump out of a hotel room or this,
[...]
I had a look at you 2016 post where we have,

The UBS Mess where he was the star witness was a high caliber intelligence operation for sure, IMHO. We the little people will never know how UBS allowed itself to get caught unless this was the desired outcome. I can not believe that UBS advisers did not realize that the moment they opened their offices in the US that they fall under the US jurisdiction. Unless that is, "someone" told them from the US side that "There is nothing to worry about here" !!!

What is also interesting is how they zeroed in on Birkenfeld. It must have been spy stuff from the word GO.

Reuters was only one - out of a handful - that ran the story.

Throw the title into search - one of the other sites was Panama Papers Buzz
17 Black: Distance yourself from PL – Gomes to S&D

which led to this article:

11/11/2018 - 17 Black: Distance yourself from PL – Gomes to S&D
17 Black: Distance yourself from PL - Gomes to S&D - Newsbook



Portugese Socialist MEP Ana Gomes took to Twitter to ask when the S&D group in the European Parliament and the Party of European Socialists (of which PL is part) would be distancing itself from what she referred to as “the corrupt criminals running Malta” referring to the Maltese Government. Gomes proceeded to add a link to an article outlining the events related to 17 Black and the power-station deal. In August, Gomes had said that Malta had already all the information about the owners of the Dubai-based off-shore company, 17 Black.


Ana Gomes, MEP ✔ @AnaGomesMEP
https://twitter.com/AnaGomesMEP/status/1061605599115395072
⁦@TheProgressives ⁦@PES_PSE⁩ ⁦@SergeiStanishev⁩ ⁦@UdoBullmann⁩ ⁦@TimmermansEU⁩ When is our political family going to distance itself from the corrupt criminals running #Malta? The roadmap to 17 Black https://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20181111/local/the-roadmap-to-17-black.693967 …
https://twitter.com/intent/like?tweet_id=1061605599115395072
8:04 AM - Nov 11, 2018

The roadmap to 17 Black
Jacob Borg charts the notable events in Labour’s march towards building a new power station, in light of last week’s revelation that the mystery company 17 Black is owned by power station businessman...
timesofmalta.com

As the identity of the owner behind 17 Black was revealed on Friday, the Prime Minister Joseph Muscat has reiterated that he would wait for the magisterial inquiries to be over before proceeding to take action against Minister Konrad Mizzi and his Chief of Staff Keith Schembri.

Meanwhile Minister Konrad Mizzi in a comment given to inewsmalta.com said that the new revelations were a coordinated attack on him and the gas-fired Delimara power station project. Mizzi told the local media about the ‘benefits’ reaped since the change took place. He also denied any links or of having any knowledge about the Dubai-based off-shore company. He reiterated that he was always told the truth.

Editorials on Sunday speak about resignations

The Sunday Times editorial said that the only way left for Mizzi and Schembri was to leave. The editorial refers to Muscat’s claim that he would wait for the magisterial inquiries to be over before proceeding with taking action, however the editorial points out, that Muscat, along with Schembri and Mizzi keep trying to block the same inquiry that Muscat would like to ‘see’ concluded. The editorial emphasizes on the political implications of the story saying that in world of politics, the principle of accountability would require of the accused to prove his innocence contrary to the court of law. The editorial states that the Prime Minister’s refusal to clean the his government, is further damaging to Malta’s reputation.

The MaltaToday’s editorial also speaks about shouldering responsibility, saying that even without the latest revelations, owning up to owning secret off-shore companies in Panama was already enough reason for both Mizzi and Schembri to be removed from their position. The editorial observes that Muscat might have attempted to wait out until the story would be forgotten, given his leads at the polls. However MaltaToday continued, Muscat may have miscalculated and forgot to factor things in, such as international interest in the case. The editorial concluded by saying that by doing what he should have done two years ago, the Prime Minister might avoid further implicating himself later.

The Malta Independent on Sunday in its editorial noted how the Prime Minister would rather wait for the inquiry to be concluded despite various people calling for the resignation of both Mizzi and Schembri. The editorial mentions the Panama Papers inquiry which keeps getting delayed. The editorial poses several questions to the Prime Minister as some answers from the Prime Minister would be appropriate.


11/11/2018 - 17 Black: A web of ‘shady’ dealings and the PM’s wait for the inquiry
17 Black: A web of 'shady' dealings and the PM's wait for the inquiry - Newsbook

21 months after slain journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia had revealled the existence of 17 Black, an offshore company based in Dubai, and six months after the court accepted an application filed by the Opposition MP Simon Busuttil to investigate Minister Konrad Mizzi and the Prime Minister’s Chief of Staff Kieth Schembri, the Prime Minister said that he would first wait for the inquiries to be concluded before taking any further action. The first magisterial inquiry into the alleged money laundering by Mizzi and Schembri was opened in July 2017.

The owner of 17 Black was identified by local newspaper Times of Malta and the international news agency Reuters as Electrogas Director and Tumas Group CEO Yorgen Fenech in an article published on Friday.

The Daphne Project had revealed that according to an email that originated from Nexia BT, 17 Black would have transferred funds to Hearnville and Tillgate, the off-shore Panamian companies owned by the Mizzi and Schembri respectively. Both Mizzi and Schembri denied ever being recepients of funds.

Febuary 2017: Daphne reveals 17 Black

Back in Febuary 2017, journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia had named the Dubai-based offshore company. In that same month, Caruana Galizia wrote about the “thieves” who made use of 17 Black and transferred funds into and out of Dubai. Newsbook.com.mt had then asked the Prime Minister Joseph Muscat whether he knew about its existence, with Muscat replying that he was not aware of the company.

In a cryptic comment under her post on 17 Black, Daphne Caruana Galizia had mentioned Yorgen Fenech as a reply to one a comment by one of her readers.

July 2017: First magisterial inquiry on Mizzi and Schembri

The then Opposition Leader Simon Busuttil had filed an application to open a magisterial inquiry on Mizzi and Schembri, with Magistrate Ian Farrugia accepting the application saying that there were enough grounds for the inquiry to start into money laundering allegations.

April 2018: To whom were the $1.6m wired?

The Daphne Project had revealed that €1.3 million were transferred to 17 Black. The transfer came from an Azeri businessman and the Maltese LNG tanker agent. According to an email from Nexia BT 17 Black was going to wire money into the two offshore companies belonging to Mizzi and Schembri. Nexia BT was responsible of setting up the companies for Mizzi and Schembri, it was also involved in consultation work for the Office of the Prime Minister, Nexia BT had said that Mizzi and Schembri were set to receive $2 million yearly. However both men have denied receiving any money.

May 2018: Second inquiry on Schembri and Mizzi

Magistrate Francesco Depasquale said that the $1.6 million transfer allegation to the “target clients” in Panama belonging to Mizzi and Schembri should also be under investigation. However he had decided that it made no sense to open a separate investigation and ordered that this information should be investigated by Magistrate Ian Farrugia.

Farrugia is leading a magisterial inquiry on money laundering allegations, following an application by PN MP Simon Busuttil and MEP David Casa. Casa had described Muscat’s efforts in protecting Mizzi and Schembri as making him seem as though he was an accomplice. Mizzi had claimed that the outcome of Egrant showed that both him and Schembri were innocent.

November 2018: Yorgen Fenech is the owner of 17 Black

Following an investigation by Reuters and Times of Malta it was revelead that the owner of 17 Black was Yorgen Fenech, the director of Electrogas which is responsible for Delimara power-station. According to Reuters, Fenech did not want to say whether or not he was the owner of 17 Black. In October, Mizzi and Schembri had told Reuters that they knew nothing about the links between 17 Black and Yorgen Fenech. Mizzi said he had no information about 17 Black while Schembri denied getting anything out of the power station deal.