Political crisisPolitical crisis maltatoday, Sunday, 22 July 2012 maltatoday, Sunday, 22 July 2012

Joseph Fenech aka ‘Zeppi il-Hafi’, agrees to meet Eddie Fenech adami to personally tell him he was commissioned to do the hit by Meinrad Calleja, and turns State evidence, shopping

Ian Farrugia and Charles attard ‘iz-Zambi’ as the aggressors.attard admits to the charges, but Ian Farrugia will be later acquitted of the charges in a trial by jury where he says it

was Fenech who stabbed Cachia Caruana. The sole eyewitness, nicholas Jensen Testeferrata would also claim he saw Fenech running away from the scene of the crime.

1 December 1993

MEINRAD CALLEJA CHARGED WITH DRUG TRAFFICKINGClarissa Calleja, daughter of armed Forces commander Brigadier Maurice Calleja, is caught with a kilo of drugs, leading to charges of trafficking against her and her brother Meinrad.

Speculation over Maurice Calleja’s future as AFM commander starts in the press.

December 1993INTERNAL DISAGREEMENT OVER AFM COMMANDER’S FATE The Sunday Times runs a story reporting of the disagreement inside the government over whether Calleja should resign: editor lawrence Grech speaks to Maurice Calleja who tells him he was determined not to resign, ostensibly after consulting Guido de Marco – deputy prime minister – who told him he had done nothing wrong and so he should not resign.

But journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia speaks to Richard Cachia Caruana, the prime minister’s personal assistant, who had earlier told her that Maurice Calleja was going to resign. “Cachia Caruana said it was unbelievable that while the prime minister is telling him to go on his own steam, the deputy prime minister was telling him not to resign,” Caruana Galizia said in the trial by jury of Meinrad Calleja

also indicted in the charges is Joseph Fenech, aka ‘Zeppi l-Hafi’, whose name will forever be etched in Maltese political history.

Daphne Caruana GaliziaJournalist

Richard Cachia Caruana Eddie Fenech Adami Guido de Marco

14 December 1993Brigadier Calleja resigns, as agreed with Eddie Fenech adami, after the Republic day celebrations.

4 July 1994MINISTER’S RESIGNATION

nationalist minister Lawrence Gatt resigns, after reports that his son abused of his father’s ministerial office and privileges were sent to the Permanent Commission against Corruption.

Lawrence GattAgriculture and fisheries minister

18 December 1994ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT AND CHARGESRichard Cachia Caruana is attacked and stabbed outside his Mdina residence.

Meinrad Calleja

WitnessNicholas Jensen

PRESIDENTIAL PARDONSTATE’S EVIDENCE

1995/1996ETIENNE GATT ABSCONDSEtienne Gatt leaves Malta and is believed to be living in Italy – he will never testify in the trial by jury of Meinrad Calleja for the assassination attempt on Cachia Caruana.

MURDER MOTIVE - RETRIBUTIONCommissioner of Police George Grech tells the court Etienne Gatt told him under interrogation that him and Meinrad Calleja had discussed their fathers’ resignations, and blaming Richard Cachia Caruana for the resignations, this became the motive to kill Cachia Caruana.

Etienne Gatt

DECIPHERING THE SPINMarch 2008MISTRA SCANDAL BLOWN WIDE OPEN - PN RISKS LOSING ELECTION

labour leader alfred Sant reveals that nationalist MP Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando, whose ‘green credentials’ were forged in his opposition to the landfills proposed next to Hagar Qim, had rented his Mistra field – an ecologically sensitive natura 2000 site – for the siting of an open-air disco. Pullicino Orlando denies even knowing the applicant.

Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando

6 March 2008CACHIA CARUANA’S DEFENCE STRATEGY - EXPOSE ALFRED SANT AS A BULLY

Pullicino Orlando is set up as an ‘attack dog’ to confront Sant, who fatally does not take up the challenge in a Broadcasting authority debate; Pullicino Orlando does a tearful display of being martyred during a Pn debate; but when alfred Sant reveals the Mistra contract that proves the MP knew about the disco on the last day of the election, the effect is diluted as the press does not report the Ba debate on the day of reflection.

9 March 2008

PN VICTORYagainst all odds, the Pn is re-elected, with a relative majority, but Pullicino Orlando is re-elected on both constituencies, confirming that the MP was believed by the voters.

12 March 2008‘NO MINISTRY FOR JEFFREY’

Lawrence Gonzi is sworn in as PM and rules out Cabinet post for Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando. after winning by a sheer margin of 1,200 votes, a firm Gonzi rules out any possibility of appointing Pullicino Orlando as a minister. “no. In these circumstances, no.”

UNKNOWNS• Was it a PN source that leaked the details of the Mistra application (a MEPA permit was issued) and the notarised rental agreement to labour to turn Pullicino Orlando into a scapegoat in the case of an electoral defeat?• How would this be reconciled with the formidable defence set up by the PN for Pullicino Orlando: RCC’s ‘attack dog strategy’, daphne Caruana Galizia ghost-writing JPO’s newspaper piece, Peppi azzopardi coaching JPO, anton attard escorting JPO.?

2008-2011 THE REBELLIOUS MPScorned of a ministry, and sensing RCC has set the media pack on him to resign his parliamentary seat, Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando starts making his mark as a thorn in the side of the weak one-seat majority Gonzi government.

• Makes embarrassing statements on migration while the government tries to placate a racist backlash, and says migrants should be towed back to international waters.

• Accuses Richard Cachia Caruana of pushing a controversial underground extension of the St John’s Co-Cathedral with Eu funds, and manages to rumble the project.

• In a bolt from the blue, Pullicino Orlando files a private member’s bill for the introduction of divorce legislation, and successfully clinches a referendum victory that exposes lawrence Gonzi as an inveterate conservate who remains till the very end opposed to divorce and does not vote for the law when it is approved in a referendum.

2012 CRISIS AND SHOWDOWNLabour files motion for the resignation of Richard Cachia Caruana from permanent representative to the EU for having sought a solution to reactivate Malta’s participation in the Partnership for Peace – withdrawn in 1996 – without having to seek the House’s approval.

ACCUSATION RESPONSEEVIDENCELABOURCachia Caruana argued for ‘procedural bandaid’ to say that Malta’s withdrawal from Partnership for Peace in 1996 was not unconditional and instead was just a suspension of participation, so that House approval would not be required to reactivate it.

Wikileaks cables from Brussels and Malta reveal Cachia Caruana told US officials that Malta would argue that it never withdrew from PfP and that it was reactivating its participation. This allows Malta to become a PfP member and have access to confidential nato documents, previously barred to non-nato members. Cables also show Gonzi had told uS ambassador Molly Bordonaro in January 2008 that he would reactivate PfP but did not tell the electorate during the elections in March 2008.

Foreign committee hearings become contrived affair in which government denies Cachia Caruana orchestrated ‘procedural bandaid’, saying that he was working on government instructions. Cachia Caruana claims he was unaware of Gonzi’s declaration to uS ambassador, after having spent four years working on reviving Malta’s PfP participation.

17 JunE 2012 OPPOSITION MOTION PASSESS > RCC RESIGNSlabour motion passes after Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando votes in favour: claims in parliament that Richard Cachia Caruana orchestrated the 2008 Mistra ‘attack dog’ strategy then used journalists to do his bidding and force him to resign his seat.

ACCUSEDOF COLLUSION BY JPO 26 JUNE

CONDEMNEDBY PN EXECUTIVE 21 JUNE

BANNEDFROM CONTESTING ELECTION 13 JULY

CLEAREDUNANINIMOUS PN SUPPORT 17 JULY

SPIN OVERDRIVE

How did the 1994 assassination attempt on Richard Cachia Caruana and the 2008 Mistragate crop up during the Pn executive’s vote on Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando’s accusations of collusion against the party’s strategist? MaltaToday’s infographic sifts through the events and the reasons for the marathon spin. By MAttHEW VEllA

ACCUSATION!PN claims JOSEPH MUSCAT warned the PN of Alfred Sant’s plan to attack JPO on Mistra

ACCUSATION!• PN says Muscat created political frame-up of RCC• De Marco family deplores Labour for tarnishing memory of Guido de Marco (but say nothing about RCC’s aspersions)

1994 ASSASSINATIONLEAK! In the week the Pn executive

meets to discuss the RCC collusion accusations, Labour broadcast a secret recording of Cachia Caruana claiming he had no doubt Guido de Marco fomented the resentment Meinrad Calleja had against him, due to his father’s resignation.

WHY? Probably to dilute any Pn sympathy for RCC.

UNKNOWN Who leaked this undated recording to Labour?

MISTRAGATELEAK! a transcript of the telephone conversation between Gonzi’s communications chief Gordon Pisani during the election campaign on 6 March 2008 reveals Pullicino Orlando did not tell the PN he had a contract with the ‘Spin Valley’ disco applicant.

ACCUSATION! The PN now says it would have acted differently had it known JPO was not saying the truth about Mistra.

Ciro del NegroRESIDENCE PERMIT

REVOKED

August-December 1995CIRO DEL NEGRO DIARY

The investigations into the 1993 Meinrad Calleja drug bust leads to Ciro del Negro, an Italian resident whose personal diary discovered by the police in august 1995 reveals details of meetings inside former minister lawrence Gatt’s Mosta constituency office, between his son Etienne Gatt and other players in the drug business: Meinrad Calleja, Emmanuel Camilleri ‘il-Bully’, Charles Muscat ‘il-Pips’ – also a former canvasser for lawrence Gatt – as well as social policy ministry consultant norman Bezzina and Ray debono.

under interrogation, Etienne Gatt revals what certain notes in the Ciro del negro diary meant, detailing a drug trafficking route from Brazil.