Ahead of the Venice premiere of Steven Soderbergh's new movie, the Laundromat, Meryl Streep paid a tribute to a Maltese journalist, Daphne Caruana Galizia, who was murdered for her investigative reporting. While the Laundromat is a comedy-drama, in her speech, Meryl Streep emphasized the dangers of investigative journalism on corruption and money laundering saying that “People died and people die still to get the word out.” Meryl Streep’s raised concerns follow a resolution relating to the murder of Daphne Caruana Galizia and the rule of law in Malta adopted by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) on June 26, 2019. The resolution comes after a report prepared by Pieter Omtzigt MP (Netherlands) who served as the Special Rapporteur and led a year-long investigation into the issue.
The investigation came about after Daphne Caruana Galizia, a Maltese journalist and anti-corruption activist, was murdered in a car bomb attack. As an investigative reporter, her work focused on exposing government corruption and misconduct by Maltese politicians. Before she was killed, she had been a leading figure in a consortium which gained access to the 11.5 million leaked documents that formed the Panama Papers. She had led on stories exposing corruption in Malta, some alleged to have involved the Prime Minister of Malta’s wife. The release of the Panama Papers upset many powerful people. It is no coincidence that she was targeted for her work.
Pieter Omtzigt's inquiry identified several serious issues in the handling of the investigation into Galizia’s death, including failures to obtain crucial physical evidence or testimonies, allegations that “a police officer warned the suspects before they were arrested”, misleading information about the progress of the investigation, conflict of interest of the individuals involved in investigation and handling the case. While three suspects are in custody, the resolution emphasized that
18 months after they were brought to court, the three men suspected of killing Ms Caruana Galizia have still not been put on trial. The custody time limit expires in two months, after which they will have to be released. No-one has been arrested for ordering the assassination. A magisterial inquiry is still ongoing, with no news on its progress.”
The failures identified by the inquiry and the ticking clock in relation to the three suspects suggests that the family of Daphne may not see justice done. In the words of Ms Caruana Galizia’s sons, Matthew, Andrew and Paul, to the Group of States against Corruption (GRECO) 18th General Activity Report (2017): “In countries where there’s no will or capacity to prosecute the corrupt figures they expose, journalists often become the targets themselves. The State’s full force is brought down not on the corrupt, but on the journalists and whistleblowers who bring their corruption to light.”
The resolution further determined that the rule of law in Malta is “seriously undermined by the extreme weakness of its system of checks and balances.” It added that despite some progress “Malta still needs fundamental, holistic reform, including subjecting the office of Prime Minister to effective checks and balances, ensuring judicial independence and strengthening law enforcement and other rule of law bodies.” The resolution warned about the wide ranging and profound effect of the situation in Malta on other European countries, being a “source of vulnerability for all of Europe.” This is because “Maltese citizenship is European Union citizenship, a Maltese visa is a Schengen visa, and a Maltese bank gives access to the European banking system.” Indeed, the report of Pieter Omtzigt MP identified cases of suspicious dealings with visas in Malta that, if not investigated in Malta, should surely be flagged by the European Union institutions. The European Union’s institutions cannot turn a blind eye.
Pieter Omtzigt's report calls for several steps to be implemented, aimed at addressing the issues and among others, for the Maltese authorities to conduct a comprehensive reform. By doing so, it should implement all of the recommendations of the Venice Commission and of GRECO, and those of the Committee of Experts on the Evaluation of Anti-Money Laundering Measures and the Financing of Terrorism (MONEYVAL) once made. The reform process itself must be open and inclusive. The report emphasized the need to combat impunity for corruption and money laundering. It further calls upon the Maltese authorities to “establish an independent public inquiry into the murder and related issues.” It is very unlikely that the Maltese authorities will follow up on the recommendations and hence a closer oversight from the EU institutions (but also from the Council of Europe) is required until some progress is done.
