Times of Malta: ‘Keith Schembri tried to frame me for the murder of Daphne’ – former footballer and alleged fuel smuggler Darren Debono
Times of Malta: ‘Keith Schembri tried to frame me for the murder of Daphne’ – former footballer and alleged fuel smuggler Darren Debono
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>##Says attempts to implicate him in murder ‘came from very top’
>Suspected fuel smuggler Darren Debono has accused ex-OPM chief of staff Keith Schembri of attempting to frame him for journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia’s assassination.
>Speaking to *Times of Malta*, the ex-footballer claims there were attempts “from the very top” to falsely implicate him in the October 2017 assassination.
>“It was a typical frame-up. From the first day Daphne was killed, there was a push from the top to implicate me. Despite protesting my innocence, at the time, no one wanted to believe me.”
>He further claims: “This was all coming from the Office of the Prime Minister [OPM]. From Keith Schembri. From the most powerful people in Malta.”
>A [2021 public inquiry](https://timesofmalta.com/articles/view/state-should-be-held-responsible-for-journalists-assassination.889936) into the journalist’s murder reached the same conclusion, saying that the “Office of the Prime Minister” pushed out the story that the masterminds could be persons linked to fuel smuggling, in an apparent bid to spread fake news or pervert investigations.
>Debono was [arrested in Sicily](https://timesofmalta.com/articles/view/two-maltese-implicated-in-libyan-oil-smuggling-operation.660722) for suspected fuel smuggling, three days after Caruana Galizia’s murder. The case against him there is still ongoing.
>Suspicions immediately turned to his potential involvement in the murder, with the media, including *Times of Malta*, reporting that the police were not ruling him out as a suspect in those early days of their investigations.
>Debono says upon his arrest in Sicily, the police asked him outright if he had anything to do “with the journalist”.
>“It is like the whole thing was pre-planned. From day one, there were attempts by Keith Schembri to frame me for the murder.”
>#A confrontation with an editor
>He says from then onwards, the media narrative linking fuel smuggling to the murder simply would not go away, doing great harm to both himself and his family.
>According to Debono, *MaltaToday* co-owner Saviour Balzan was particularly persistent in pushing out that narrative.
>Debono claims he received further confirmation that the narrative came from Prime Minister Joseph Muscat’s office after confronting Balzan in July 2019.
>Debono says he dropped in on *MaltaToday’s* offices in San Ġwann, unannounced, to show Balzan documents about his “legitimate” fuel trading activities, as well as to protest his innocence about any involvement in the murder.
>He also says he told Balzan that he was positive Schembri “and the Prime Minister’s office” were behind this false murder narrative.
>In reply to his protestations of innocence, Debono claims that Balzan told him: “Do you think I am going to believe you instead of Keith Schembri…”
>*MaltaToday’s* then-executive editor Matthew Vella was also present for the meeting.
>Debono says soon after his meeting with Balzan, he was told the police wanted to speak to him about his confrontation with the *MaltaToday* co-owner.
>He later released a formal statement to the police, during which he denied a suggestion by then inspector Keith Arnaud that he had gone to Balzan as a way to intimidate Muscat and Schembri.
>Arnaud is the lead investigator on the Caruana Galizia case.
>Debono insisted he had merely wanted to meet Balzan to set the record straight on the fuel smuggling claims. He admitted that he also visited the offices in the hope that Balzan would pass on a request for Debono to meet with either Muscat or Schembri.
>#‘Schembri, Muscat behind narrative’
>Contacted for comment, Balzan said Debono had made a habit of turning up at *MaltaToday’s* offices unannounced.
>Balzan confirmed that he had contacted Arnaud, as Debono’s unannounced presence at his offices was worrying his journalists.
>“In his meetings at our offices, Mr Debono, who faced various criminal charges, claimed that he was not involved in the murder of Daphne Caruana Galizia, and that I should inform Joseph Muscat and Keith Schembri about this.”
>Balzan said he told Debono that he refused to act as a messenger.
>“At the time, several media reports had followed the line that fuel smugglers were behind the murder. Later on, after the arrest of Yorgen Fenech, I was the first to admit that this original storyline was fanned by Joseph Muscat and Keith Schembri,” Balzan said.
>He added that Debono continued to “pester” him with messages and unannounced visits.
>“I decided to inform his lawyer Dr Stephen Tonna Lowell to ask his client not to approach me or send me messages,” Balzan said.
>#Muscat: Italian media pushed that theory
>When contacted, Joseph Muscat denied fanning any particular storyline and mentioning anyone by name.
>“What is true is that Daphne Caruana Galizia wrote about oil smuggling rings, and murders suspected to be linked to them, in detail,” Muscat said.
>He also pointed towards several large media outlets in Italy immediately pushing the theory that fuel smuggling was behind the murder in Malta.
>”Italian media, namely Rai News 24 quoting an American journalist, Corriere della Sera and La Repubblica, had immediately pushed this theory, also referring to the explosive type used. Rai Tre repeated the same theory a year after”
>“I spoke with none of these outlets. It was a line which was actively followed by competent authorities for a considerable time and which I believe was deemed credible.
>“The authorities have confirmed more than once that government gave them all the necessary resources to investigate and did not interfere,” Muscat said.
>Schembri did not reply to a request for comment.
>#A frame-up… and a tip-off
>Debono has long been implicated in fuel smuggling, although he denies the claims and insists all his activities are legitimate and his documents in order.
>Despite suspicions of the alleged fuel smuggling network also operating in Malta, Debono and his associates never faced any criminal action while Muscat and Schembri were in government.
>Debono claims that Schembri’s lawyer Edward Gatt even tipped off his associate Jeffrey Chetcuti in 2019 about a push by the Maltese and American governments to have him [added to the UN sanctions list.](https://timesofmalta.com/articles/view/un-experts-confirm-involvement-of-maltese-companies.919168)
>Gatt declined to comment when contacted.
>#Debono’s claims about US spying request
>Debono’s lawyers had filed a court injunction against the Maltese government in a bid to halt the UN sanctioning process. Debono had sensationally claimed in court that the Americans had asked him to “spy” on Muscat and Schembri, in exchange for lifting separate sanctions slapped on him by the US the previous year.
>Debono had said the Americans wanted information on whether Muscat and Schembri secretly facilitated the refuelling of a Russian warship outside of Maltese territorial waters.
>The attempt to further sanction Debono and his associates was ultimately blocked at UN level by Russia.
>Debono was arrested in November 2020 and later charged with money laundering, together with Chetcuti and his associate Gordon Debono.
>Last year, Gordon Debono called on police to investigate who was behind the “false claims” that Caruana Galizia was murdered because of fuel smuggling.
>Schembri has long faced accusations of abusing his position to sabotage the murder investigation and prevent the arrest of his friend Yorgen Fenech.
>He was detained and questioned by police in November 2019, after Fenech pointed to him as the mastermind behind the murder and also offered to tell all about government corruption in exchange for a pardon.
>Fenech claimed that Schembri had authored and passed on a letter to him, containing a narrative on how to frame ex-minister Chris Cardona for the assassination.
>An investigation into Schembri’s role in leaking information from the murder probe to Fenech and other people has yet to result in any criminal charges.
>Fenech is set to face trial over his alleged role in the assassination, though he protests his innocence.
If they had to make a drama about this. It would make even house of cards look like childs play
uwejja come on 🧚🏻♂
There was definitely a concentrated effort to pin the assassination of Daphne Caruana Galizia on fuel traffickers – and honestly I believed it. Part of the reason was because, as stated in the article, Daphne herself had written about fuel traffickers and noted that a pattern in murders related to it. Alleged fuel traffickers were usually killed in car bombings (with bomb-making materials seemingly supplied from Libya), whereas alleged drug dealers were usually shot. And I actually knew a few people who were involved in fuel trafficking some years ago (long story, don’t ask) and they lowkey confirmed to me that bombings are fuel smugglers’ usual modus operandi. In the media, there was the narrative that Daphne was planning a big expose on fuel smugglers, hence why she was assassinated.
MaltaToday especially pushed the fuel smuggler narrative hard. Whether they did it for clicks, or they were directed to do so by the government, remains to be seen. [Saviour Balzan, editor of MaltaToday, has received over €1 million in government contracts and direct orders since Labour took power](https://theshiftnews.com/2021/10/03/exposed-saviour-balzan-received-at-least-e1-million-in-government-contracts-under-labour/.That) being said, even figures within the government wanted that narrative to go forward, if anything else it took the heat off them. The Public Inquiry into Daphne’s assassination says the same thing.
Interestingly as well, the tal-Maksar brothers – Robert and Adrian Agius – who supplied the Degiorgios and Vince Muscat with the bomb used to kill Daphne, have criminal connections in Italy and Libya, and ~~from what I can remember they procured the materials to make the bomb from Libya too.~~
**EDIT:** Thanks /u/Rabti for the correction. [The bombs obtained by Robert Agius and Jamie Vella were from Italy, as revealed by co-conspirator Vince Muscat in his court testimony.](https://theshiftnews.com/2021/03/22/hitman-reveals-details-about-those-accused-of-supplying-the-bomb-that-killed-daphne/) A report published by [The Times (UK not Malta) stated that police investigators believe 3 bombs were originally obtained from Albania between December 2016 and January 2017.](https://newsbook.com.mt/en/investigators-believe-a-bomb-is-hidden-and-ready-to-use-report/) I linked the Newsbook article because the original Times article is behind a paywall.
So we have two frame ups: Cardona and now, Debono.
Muscat says that he fully trusts Schembri.
Muscat says it was the Italian media that pushed the “fuel smugglers” narrative. The Italian media would only have reported what their sources would have informed them. the sources would be Castille, or someone controlled by Castille.
I do not believe Muscat one bit. The more he lies, the more I’m convinced he was somehow involved, if not in the plot, in the coverup.
The police and Keith and Muscat and many other people all worked in and around Kastilja to carry out their criminal activities and then coordinate the murder and not for the first time as we all know.
This month the father of Karen Grech died. His daughter was killed with a car bomb and it’s an open secret who was behind the unresolved murder. Another person some accountant linked to the good all days of Lorry Sant also murdered and unresolved.
The people in both parties are both fully aware of these murders. There are dozens of these murders, many forgotten, many never linked to the politics behind them, not to mention near misses like the knife murder attempt on the KPMG partner, forgot his name, paid in cocaine, the preferred currency.
Off course the fuel smuggling is another hide can of worms and the attempt to pin the murder on them was not just an opportunistic attempt by Keith but a calculated attempt to control a business worth billions.
And this can of worms involves Qatar, Banif the bank they control and at the heart of the smuggling and eventually links up with the war in Ukraine. You will find nothing about it in Maltese papers, the usual Gahan in the whole story.
Now they have appointed Abela and they carry on without a worry on the world. They know they are totally immune. Worse case, it will be like Dalli, carry on until they die, free to enjoy their crimes and getting involved in ever bigger ones.
Dalli was involved in steward deal, When he should have already been in jail for any of the dozens of high profile crimes and the hundreds of millions obtained through fraud and theft.
My only question is what is next? How big and how bad and how much will we all have to pay for the next crime that will unravel?