Daphne Caruana Galizia: Car bomb kills Maltese journalist who exposed Panama Papers link

[Abdullah719]

A Maltese investigative journalist who exposed her island nation's links to offshore tax havens through the leaked Panama Papers has been killed after a bomb exploded in her car.

Key points:

• The power of the explosion left Caruana Galizia's car blackened in a nearby field
• Officials quick to denounce the death as a "political murder"
• She revealed cases of Maltese government corruption in the 2016 leak

Daphne Caruana Galizia, 53, had just driven away from her home in Mosta, a town outside Malta's capital of Valletta, when the bomb went off, sending the vehicle's wreckage spiralling over a wall and into a field.

Malta's Prime Minister Joseph Muscat said her death resulted from a "barbaric attack" that also amounted to an assault on freedom of expression.

He described her as "was one of my harshest critics, on a political and personal level," as he denounced her slaying.

Politico named Caruana Galizia as one of 28 Europeans who are "shaping, shaking and stirring" Europe.

The 2016 Panama Papers leak exposed the identities of the rich and powerful around the world with offshore holdings in Panama.


'A political murder': Maltese opposition

As part of the investigation, Caruana Galizia revealed that Mr Muscat's wife Michelle, as well as members of his Government, held companies in Panama. Mr Muscat and his wife deny they held such companies.

Opposition leader Adrian Delia called the killing a "political murder" while observers on social media expressed outraged over the brutal killing.

"Shocking doesn't begin to describe this," journalist Mark Micallef wrote.

"[She] was likely killed with a remotely detonated IED while driving, [a few kilometres] from her home in #Bidjina."

Caruana Galizia had been sued for libel because of various articles she wrote on her blog Running Commentary, and she had filed a report with the police two weeks ago that she was receiving threats.

Monday evening's Parliament session was scrapped, except for briefings about the bombing scheduled to be given by Mr Muscat and opposition leader Mr Delia.

In June, Mr Muscat was sworn in for a second term as prime minister following snap elections he had called to reinforce his government as the Panama Papers' leak indicated his wife owned an offshore company — the couple denies wrongdoing.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-10-...alist-who-covered-malta-panama-papers/9056778

 

[Pakistanian]

Random Fact: Geographically Malta is part of Asia minor/ middle east and they speak a semitic language. Theyre only considered European for political and religous reasons.

 

[FearlessRoar]

Panama Papers: Court acquits all 28 charged with money laundering​

A Panamanian court has acquitted all 28 people charged with money laundering in connection with the Panama Papers scandal, concluding a trial that began in April.

The secret financial documents were leaked in 2016, revealing how some of the world's richest and most powerful people use tax havens to hide their wealth.

Among those exonerated were Jurgen Mossack and the late Ramon Fonseca, founder of Mossack Fonseca, the defunct law firm at the centre of the scandal.

Judge Baloisa Marquinez said the evidence considered by the court was "not sufficient" to determine the criminal responsibility of the defendants.

During the trial, the prosecution sought the maximum sentence of 12 years for money laundering for both Mr Mossack and Mr Fonseca, who died in hospital in May.

Both Mr Mossack and Mr Fonseca denied they, their firm or their employees had acted illegally.

The trial, which took place in Panama City, lasted 85 hours, took testimony from 27 witnesses and considered over 50 pieces of documentary evidence, according to local news reports.

After an extended period of deliberation, the judge said evidence collected from Mossack Fonseca's servers had not been gathered in line with due process and dropped all criminal charges against the defendants.

The biggest data leak in history, the Panama Papers, saw 11 million documents released to the German newspaper Sueddeutsche Zeitung and shared with an international team of journalists.

In 2017, Mossack Fonseca said the firm had been the victim of a computer hack and that the information leaked was being misrepresented.

Foreign Secretary David Cameron, Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky and Argentinian football star Lionel Messi were among those whose affairs came under scrutiny following the leak.

In total the data revealed links to 12 current or former heads of state and government, including dictators accused of embezzling money from their own countries.

Panama Papers: Court acquits all 28 charged with money laundering

Judges rule evidence was "not sufficient" in the trial that took testimony from 27 witnesses.

www.bbc.com