The inadequacy of our legislative framework is then exacerbated by the weakness of the Maltese State to enforce even the laws that we do have, for a crime of this scale and significance.
The Inquiry has heard evidence of collusion, or at least unacceptable and compromising proximity, between the leadership of the police investigation into the commissioning of the murder and the person eventually charged for allegedly masterminding the assassination: the case of former Deputy Police Commissioner Silvio Valletta. This proximity existed in the environment of impunity described above, which is aggravated by the involvement of senior police officers. The fact that some of that unacceptable proximity was exposed suggests to us that certain elements of the police are far more complicit in crime than has been openly established. The ongoing investigation into the conduct of former Police Commissioner Lawrence Cutajar is relevant in this regard.
This, coupled with the openly confessed kid gloves with which Attorney General Peter Grech treated suspects of white-collar crimes during his tenure, paints a horrific picture of indifference to the law and to a State-funded protection regime for the mafia.
However, even allowing for the (remote) possibility that everyone at the police, at the prosecution service and in the courts fulfils their duty with a conscience, the legal and institutional framework is wholly inadequate for the present circumstances.
If we had anti-mafia legislation, we could introduce specific measures that empower law enforcement to keep up with the special challenges crimes of this nature and scale present. We do not suggest that anyone’s human rights, including the rights of persons charged with mafia crimes, should be for any reason compromised or suspended. But we do suggest special security provisions during detention that would prevent Mafiosi
from continuing to conduct their criminal affairs from within prison. We also feel that our laws and systems should provide for secure detention and trial facilities. We should consider improving the transparency of criminal proceedings of this nature by televising them. We should consider procedures that allow the police in specific, well-defined cases, and under judicial oversight, to extend the time of arrest of suspects before charging them beyond the 48-hour limit.
We have in mind the spectacle of alternating arrests and release of Yorgen Fenech in November and December 2019; the crammed and impractical set-up of the courtrooms in this case with the victim’s family sharing seats with supporters of the accused and limited access to the public; the public good that would have been achieved had the present Inquiry been televised; and the compelling evidence that suggests that persons detained in connection with the killing of Daphne Caruana Galizia remain in a position to negotiate their own interests outside the scope of the legal process.
We are also concerned about the safety of magistrates, court officials, prosecutors, police officers, lawyers, witnesses and journalists working on this case. Threats, online and in person, have been made that, given the stakes, must be taken seriously. We are concerned also that apart from the safety of these public servants, these threats could be having a chilling effect on officials’ ability to fulfil their duties. Special anti-mafia proceedings should be designed to empower the State to ensure justice is served on all criminals, however organised or dangerous.