The former deputy leader of the Labour Party may have felt entitled to breathe easy when Vince Muscat and the Degiorgio brothers were denied pardons to turn State’s evidence. But Vince Muscat, who has confessed to and been convicted for killing Daphne Caruana Galizia, is still speaking about Chris Cardona’s alleged connections to Daphne’s murder.
In court today, whilst replying to questions from William Cuschieri, the lawyer for the Degiorgios, Vince Muscat spoke of a meeting before the murder between Alfred Degiorgio and Chris Cardona at which he was present.
This is significant because Vince Muscat is not merely reporting what Alfred Degiorgio told him about his relationship with Chris Cardona. He is reporting what he has seen and heard, personally and directly.
Vince Muscat’s evidence speaks of the impunity the Degiorgios felt they enjoyed given their proximity to political power. “Għandna s-saħħa,” (trans: we’re powerful) is how Vince Muscat says Alfred Degiorgio put it.
The Degiorgios felt so powerful and untouchable, Vince Muscat says, that they could barely believe it when they ended up in prison six weeks after the murder.
Their powerful connections, however, did not disappear while they were in prison. Somehow within 3 days, the Degiorgios learnt that Vince Muscat had started speaking to the police in April 2018. Someone told them.
And the Degiorgios planned to send a written message to Joseph Muscat that, it seems, only Joseph Muscat would understand. William Cuschieri today denied he was present when this planned communication with the then prime minister was discussed. But Vince Muscat stuck his ground.
For weeks, months, even years, I’ve been trying to find different ways of putting the same question in the hope that I ask it in a way that could get me an answer. Are the police investigating any of this? And how far are we from prosecutions?
Yesterday Minnesota secured the conviction of a former police officer for a homicide that happened last May, 11 months ago. Why does everything take so ridiculously long here?