PN MP Jason Azzopardi this evening named the police sergeant who, according to sources who spoke to him, had alerted the three men accused of murdering Daphne Caruana Galizia about their impending arrest.
Claims that the accused had been tipped off from inside the police force were first made by La Repubblica, which is taking part in the Daphne Project.
Speaking during adjournment time on Monday evening, Azzopardi also claimed that the government had called an early election in 2017 after learning that Caruana Galizia had been handed tens of thousands of leaked Electrogas files.
Azzopardi named the 'mole' as Police Sergeant Aldo Cassar who, he said, was "close" to the PL and to Joseph Muscat.
The PN MP said Cassar had been transferred out of the immigration unit after the Libyan medical visa racket was uncovered. He was later transferred to the Criminal Intelligence Unit, where he was privy to sensitive information about ongoing investigations and surveillance.
He said a few weeks ago it was discovered that the sergeant had alerted the accused. He said the Police Commissioner, acting on orders from the Office of the Prime Minister, had given him a choice of transfer to a police station or to the Rapid Intervention Unit, instead of taking criminal steps against him. Cassar chose the RIU.
Azzopardi, who said he had received the information from various sources within the Police force, said the sergeant had breached several laws for which he could face up to three years in prison.
Azzopardi said news reports dating back to 2012 show how close PS88 is to the Prime Minister and the Labour Party.
He accused the government of "colluding with hardcore criminals", drawing a parallel with the violence at Tal-Barrani in 1986.
The government was covering up any tracks with the help of the intelligence services, he charged.
Azzopardi called on the Police Commissioner to resign, saying that his position was completely unacceptable. He said the police chief was "siding with criminals" rather than with law-abiding citizens.
The PN MP spoke about last year's snap election, referencing reports by Daphne Caruana Galizia, who had revealed how the Labour party had been preparing for a general election for months before it was called.
He said the election was not called because of the Egrant allegation. Back then he was very strong in the polls (despite weekly scandals) and there was no reason for him to call a snap election.
The only reason, he said, was because the government was told that Caruana Galizia had been given a massive cache of documents regarding Socar, a company she was already investigating.
The documents revealed that Socar (one of the partners in the Electrogas consortium, and with whom the government is contractually bound to buy LNG gas) was buying from Shell and selling back to government for double the price.
Times of Malta last week claimed that Malta was losing some €40 million a year through the deal negotiated by Konrad Mizzi.
This, coupled with the impending release of information about 17 Black, pressured Muscat into calling an early election, Azzopardi claimed.
He said the PM could not afford holding an election after this information came out.
He asked why the government was not hindering the investigation into Caruana Galizia's murder.
"Could it be that Daphne's death warrant was signed the minute she was given those documents?"
Azzopardi asked if the government had come to know that "for someone the journalist's assassination had become unavoidable as a result of the massive leak" and thus had to get the election out of the way as soon as possible.
from The Malta Independent https://ift.tt/2rbE3m1
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