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Former PM Joseph Muscat is testifying in the public inquiry into Daphne's murder.
#JusticeforDaphne #DaphneCaruanaGalizia
#JusticeforDaphne #DaphneCaruanaGalizia
2. Joseph Muscat has accused the public inquiry board of failing in its mission and of violating its terms of reference.
#JusticeforDaphne #DaphneCaruanaGalizia
#JusticeforDaphne #DaphneCaruanaGalizia
3. Joseph Muscat's said of his reaction to Daphne's murder: "I knew immediately that it would mark my political legacy."
#JusticeforDaphne #DaphneCaruanaGalizia
#JusticeforDaphne #DaphneCaruanaGalizia
4. Joseph Muscat has now said that he will answer "all the board's questions which are in line with the terms of reference", implying he won't answer questions which aren't put by the board.
#JusticeforDaphne #DaphneCaruanaGalizia
#JusticeforDaphne #DaphneCaruanaGalizia
5. Joseph Muscat has declared that Daphne's work needs to be analysed. He is now "analysing" her work. "She published photos of me with my children, out eating a burger". She didn't. He made that up.
#JusticeforDaphne #DaphneCaruanaGalizia
#JusticeforDaphne #DaphneCaruanaGalizia
6. Muscat is now declaring that nothing he ever said instigated hatred against Daphne. This is what he said about her at the time when the murder plot was suspended, pending the national election. #JusticeforDaphne #DaphneCaruanaGalizia https://timesofmalta.com/articles/view/malta-being-tarnished-from-bidnija-pm-tells-busuttil-no-need-to-travel.647654?fbclid=IwAR1dKtLVcJdqsBg5YBGWWu6Bu6-HmnJ9ribg0f4QjHm5YnAN7TLy-ex9_XU
Reminder: former PM Joseph Muscat is testifying into the inquiry into Daphne's murder. He's spent most of his time so far defending himself and criticising Daphne. #DaphneCaruanaGalizia
8 Joseph Muscat protests too much. He said he'd answer all the board's questions, but he's doing most of the talking. There haven't been many questions so far.
#DaphneCaruanaGalizia
#DaphneCaruanaGalizia
9 Joseph Muscat's telling the board that "a colleague of yours investigated the allegation that my chief of staff took kickbacks from the citizenship scheme". He means passport sales. #DaphneCaruanaGalizia https://daphnecaruanagalizia.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Financial-Intelligence-Analysis-Unit-report-to-the-police-on-kickbacks-on-the-sale-of-Maltese-citizenship-Brian-Tonna-and-Keith-Schembri.pdf
10 Muscat is saying "the state did not know that Daphne Caruana Galizia was going to be killed". How would he know? He is not the state. #DaphneCaruanaGalizia
11 Muscat is criticising the inquiry again and questioning the motive of Daphne's murder. Kurt Farrugia, his former head of communications, is in the hall and tapping frantically on his phone. He's supposed to be running Malta Enterprise. #DaphneCaruanaGalizia
12 Muscat is disputing the existence of a parallel cabinet in his government. The claim was made under oath in this inquiry by two of Muscat's ministers.
#DaphneCaruanaGalizia
#DaphneCaruanaGalizia
13 Muscat is now defending his chief of staff: "he was an integral part of the workings of government."
He's referring to Keith Schembri, the subject of Daphne's last published blog post. #DaphneCaruanaGalizia
https://daphnecaruanagalizia.com/2017/10/crook-schembri-court-today-pleading-not-crook/
He's referring to Keith Schembri, the subject of Daphne's last published blog post. #DaphneCaruanaGalizia
https://daphnecaruanagalizia.com/2017/10/crook-schembri-court-today-pleading-not-crook/
14 Muscat is now defending his proximity to business operators when he was PM: "About 10 people run the economy." So far, no word on corruption and why he protected Keith Schembri and Konrad Mizzi, both of whom were identified in the #PanamaPapers.
#DaphneCaruanaGalizia
#DaphneCaruanaGalizia
15 Muscat is now reading out a report about a vote in parliament in 1998. He is speaking in 2020. Daphne was killed in 2017. The relevance of the 1998 vote is unclear.
#DaphneCaruanaGalizia
#DaphneCaruanaGalizia
16. Muscat is now saying that he told Keith Schembri to say all he knew about #17Black. The company belongs to Yorgen Fenech, accused of conspiring to have Daphne killed. #DaphneCaruanaGalizia https://timesofmalta.com/articles/view/watch-joseph-muscats-17-black-gamble.831835
17. Yorgen Fenech's company #17Black was a target client of Konrad Mizzi's and Keith Schembri's Panama companies.
#DaphneCaruanaGalizia https://www.reuters.com/article/us-malta-daphne-offshore-exclusive/exclusive-mystery-company-named-by-slaughtered-maltese-journacatalog(ue)-is-linked-to-might-station-developer-idUSKCN1NE18M
#DaphneCaruanaGalizia https://www.reuters.com/article/us-malta-daphne-offshore-exclusive/exclusive-mystery-company-named-by-slaughtered-maltese-journacatalog(ue)-is-linked-to-might-station-developer-idUSKCN1NE18M
18 Muscat's going into great detail about first meeting Fenech in 2009 and how many other Fenechs were there too. The board's question was about reports that Muscat shared a WhatsApp group with Fenech and Schembri. #DaphneCaruanaGalizia
19 Muscat says that he has been questioned by the police and "it appears that there was nothing untoward in this chat". Apparently, a PM needs the police to tell him about right and wrong. #DaphneCaruanaGalizia
20. A reminder: "A murdered journalist. Shady offshore deals. A tiny nation in the grip of large-scale criminal interests...the selection of Maltese Prime Minister Joseph Muscat as the OCCRP 2019 Person of the Year in Organized Crime and Corruption." https://www.occrp.org/en/poy/2019/
21. Joseph Muscat didn't give a proper interview for almost three years. Now he won't stop talking off his ring-binder of notes. He keeps looking around the room rather than at the board. Meanwhile, Kurt Farrugia has stopped tapping on his phone.
#DaphneCaruanaGalizia
#DaphneCaruanaGalizia
22. Now Muscat's lecturing the board about journalism and his Black Friday purchases. He's looking around the room. His lawyer Pawlu Lia is seated near him. #DaphneCaruanaGalizia
23. Muscat is talking rather a lot about himself and lecturing the assembly (mostly journalists) on journalism. He's speaking in a public inquiry into a murder. This is the journalist who was killed. #DaphneCaruanaGalizia
24. "I know her family will not like to hear this", Muscat says. He then goes on to say that Daphne had become "politically irrelevant because she fell out with both governing and opposition parties, and that's when she was killed". He dusts his hands together for emphasis.
24.ii Muscat's confused about the role of journalism. Perhaps the career propagandist believes his propaganda message that Daphne was paid for her blog posts. Traffic on Daphne's blog peaked around October 2017. Her writing was more relevant than ever. #DaphneCaruanaGalizia
25. The board reminds Muscat that the state should not wait for an inquiry to be completed before taking action. "Waiting for the outcome of the inquiry" was Muscat's stock justification for not taking action on the corruption Daphne exposed. #DaphneCaruanaGalizia
26 Reminder: Konrad Mizzi and Keith Schembri took ownership of their Panama companies AFTER Muscat was elected and when Muscat had already appointed them as minister and chief of staff. #DaphneCaruanaGalizia #PanamaPapers
Tu quo que is a limited strategy. Muscat hasn't learned this. He's sidestepping accountability for inaction on #PanamaPapers by citing Swiss Leaks. Daphne exposed Mizzi's and Schembri's Panama companies. Muscat didn't fire them. He protected them. #DaphneCaruanaGalizia
28. Muscat's been asked about 17 Black. He's launched into defending himself over Pilatus Bank.
Reminder: Why hire a PR firm to discredit a journalist as "a Russian spy", if she and her work are "irrelevant"? Asking for a former prime minister who has trouble with the truth. #DaphneCaruanaGalizia https://euobserver.com/justice/146821
30. Muscat employs his trademark circularly 'logic to deny that Daphne's murderers had a sense of impunity, "because they're in prison now". The board points out that the sense of impunity was before Daphne's murder, not after.
#DaphneCaruanaGalizia
#DaphneCaruanaGalizia
