Caruana Galizias calls on EU presidency to deny Malta ‘corrupt’ pipeline funds
The family of the murdered journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia wrote a letter to the Slovenian presidency of the EU, calling for the cessation of European funds that could finance the Malta gas pipeline project.
Caruana Galizia’s son and husband, killed in October 2017 by a car bomb, have said that public funds for the € 400 million hydrogen-ready Melite pipeline between Malta and Sicily will be going also “the owners of a corrupt project” – the gas operators and suppliers of the Delimara plant, Electrogas.
They said that the implementation by Malta of a gas pipeline would also lead to a payment of € 100 million to Electrogas.
Electrogas shareholder Yorgen Fenech, Thomas’s tycoon, is charged with the murder of Caruana Galizia.
Malta recently obtained a derogation in 2020 to reconsider its gas pipeline, which has recently refused funding from the Connecting Europe Facility for the pipeline’s dependence on fossil fuels, to be reconsidered for funding by turning it into a hydrogen-ready pipeline.
“We are informed that this derogation is supported by the Slovenian Presidency of the Council. If this exemption from new rules aimed at phasing out EU subsidies for fossil fuel projects continues, the € 400m Melita pipeline project to transport gas from Gela to Sicily up to the Electrogas power station in Delimara, Malta, it can be built with EU funds, ”said Caruana Galizias in their letter of 3 December.
Caruana Galizia had identified a secret company used by Fenech, 17 Black, revealed after her death that she was an offshore company to spend millions of euros on secret offshore companies set up in Panama and owned by the right hand of former Prime Minister Keith . Schembri.
A public inquiry on the circumstances of the murder of Caruana Galizia said that the journalist knew that Electrogas was on the verge of bankruptcy and that it was likely that Fenech would have been revealed with certainty as the owner of 17 Black , the government could not guarantee Electrogas. .
“In short: Malta’s agreements with Electrogas have been acquired through a corruption scheme. The extended warranty to Electrogas, which saved it from bankruptcy, was obtained through murder, “said the family.
“With this principle, we have appealed to the Maltese government to revoke any agreement with Electrogas, hold its shareholders accountable for costs and put the country on a path away from fossil fuels. Until then, every time Daphne’s mother turns on the light in Malta, she will be financing the person accused of killing her own daughter. ”
The Electrogas gas power plant is the only user of imported gas through this planned pipeline as things stand in Malta. Under the terms of Malta’s 2017 conversion deadline agreement with Electrogas – ie a schedule of compensation amounts and the GSA issue price – the pipeline will lead to a fee. huge amount of money of more than € 100 million to shareholders.
“Sending a message that corruption is rewarded will often make our situation worse than it already is, and to no public benefit – not justifying someone rewarding someone accused of murder, as well as rewarding someone corporations that have benefited from killings and corruption. , ”Said Caruana Galizias.
“I urge you to do the right thing. Don’t reward murder. Do not reward corruption. Do not support the Melita pipeline derogation. Instead, honor Daphne for her sacrifice, and honor the values of justice and the EU’s freedom from corruption, by supporting her removal. “