LA VALLETTA (MALTA) (ITALPRESS/MNA) – Two brothers who are currently serving a 40-year jail term each for the role in the assassination of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia have told the court under oath that both former government minister Chris Cardona and present government MP Carmelo Abela were involved in the botched HSBC heist in Qormi 14 years ago. The two brothers, Alfred and George Degiorgio were testifying in the libel proceedings initiated by former government minister Carmelo Abela against lawyer and former Opposition MP Jason Azzopardi. Abela sued Azzopardi for libel over a Facebook post in which he had claimed that the former government minister had helped the mastermind behind the botched 2010 robbery. Azzopardi also claimed that Abela had received a €300,000 payment for his role in the plot. The former Labour minister categorically denied the allegations. Alfred Degiorgio confirmed the authenticity of a declaration he wrote after they asked for a presidential pardon and the police ignored them. The declarations states: “Cases where bombs were planted, and other homicides, with the involvement of politicians, among whom and not only former ministers Carmelo Abela and Chris Cardona, as when these two gave instructions on the HSBC heist, and in which certain police officers, lawyers and people in important roles”. The Degiorgio brothers had asked for a presidential pardon in the Caruana Galizia murder as well as for the botched HSBC heist. They had asked for pardon before their trial by jury, and subsequently made several other declarations in a bid to secure pardon. In court, George Degiorgio also confirmed the contents and the veracity of the declaration on oath. As Degiorgio stepped off the stand said: “we’ll soon spill the beans on Balzan soon” in an apparent reference to another heist on HSBC branch in Hal Balzan in 2017 were some €1 million was stolen by five robbers. Following the court proceedings, the Nationalist Party questioned what actions will be taken by prime minister Robert Abela and police commissioner Angelo Gafà. “The Nationalist Party expects the highest standards from our public representatives,” it said.(ITALPRESS).
Foto: Agenzia Fotogramma
