When George Vella visited the Vatican in mid-September, the world was still fine for him. The Swiss Guard stood for the President of Malta in the courtyard of the Apostolic Palace Trellis. Passing through sumptuous halls and clad servants, we went to the Holy Father, whom Vella greeted with a deep bow, accompanied by a court of officers, clerics, and his First Lady, her in the black veil, as tradition demands.
It was a special kind of summit: two tiny states in which dubious financial transactions and mysterious deaths, cautiously formulated, are part of the legends. And two elderly heads of state, who presented themselves in the papal library, smiling friendly gifts. The most sensitive political question was when Francis finally came to Malta.
Two months later, George Vella has other worries. The Maltese President is currently receiving a pardon for the next one. Suspects want to unpack and tell their truth about the most spectacular murder case in the island republic, about backers and contractors who had on 16 October 2017 the investigative journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia killed by a car bomb.
Matthew Mirabelli / AFP
Malta's premier Joseph Muscat
The news triggered a political earthquake, arrests and interrogations led to a government crisis:
- Only on Monday night did the chief of staff in the governmental palace, Keith Schembri, return before being taken to a police station.
- Then the Minister of Economic Affairs, who was also interrogated, and his colleague in the tourism department.
Whether and how long Prime Minister Joseph Muscat of the Labor Party can remain in power is open. "They have betrayed their party, they have betrayed the whole country," writes prominent Maltese blogger Manuel Delio about "Muscat and his gang." The prime minister must take responsibility and leave.
"My mother lived in fear"
The people of the island republic - an EU country with fewer inhabitants than Nuremberg - are struggling with big questions. It's about legal peace and press freedom.
For years, Caruana Galizia has been repeatedly threatened. Sometimes her house was set on fire, sometimes her dog was killed; There were countless intimidation attempts, but too little protection from the police. "My mother was living in fear," her son Matthew Caruana Galizia recently told the BBC. "But she refused to yield to the threats."
DOMENIC AQUILINA / EPA-EFE / REX
Demonstration in the Maltese capital Valletta: "It's about the links between business and politics"
And it's about the links between economics and politics, about possible fiddling with the construction and operation of a 480-million-euro gasworks, for which the Labor government of Joseph Muscat was committed. Enigmatic payments employ the investigators, money flows are said to have flowed from a company in Dubai on companies in Panama apparently to two of the now retired politicians.
Daphne Caruana Galizia had made many enemies in her career and researched in various fields. Also, the transfers between Dubai and Panama have interested them. Material from the Panama Papers exposing tax offenses and money laundering offenses around the world led to Muscat's chief of staff and his tourism minister, formerly responsible for energy policy. Is the key to her death in this environment?
Much remains to be clarified. In particular, the role of Yorgen Fenech.
AP
Yorgen Fenech in the port of Portomaso, Malta: Stopped by the police boat
The Maltese businessman is active in the hotel, real estate, casino and port business with his company group Tumas. And he participated in Electrogas Malta, the controversial € 480 million gasworks - through a consortium in which Siemens is also represented.
"It can not continue this way for months"
Last week, Yenech wanted to flee his luxury yacht to Italy before sunrise, but was stopped by a police boat, brought back and arrested. Is he behind his company in Dubai behind the payments to the Maltese government members? A lucrative energy business, strange politicians, a dazzling entrepreneur, the brutal murder of Daphne Caruana Galizia - the judiciary will need a lot of time to prove how all this might be connected.
Politically explosive, the affair is long before the final verdict. Two years ago, Prime Minister Muscat promised to turn every stone until the case of Caruana Galizia was cleared up. But he left his chief of staff and his tourism minister in office, although their Panama entanglements have long been apparent. Muscat is a key figure in the investigation: It is to be recommended to him, which mercy petition the President is granted. So Muscat can influence whether important testimonies come about or not.
"It can not go on for months," comments the Times of Malta. The country must "return to a semblance of normalcy where social justice and public good are more important than greed, corruption and nepotism."