Keith Schembri was arrested at his Mellieħa home at 1am after court's freezing order
Joseph Muscat’s former chief of staff Keith Schembri has been arrested
by Paul Cocks
Keith Schembri, former chief of staff of Joseph Muscat, has been arrested and is being interrogated at police depot over bribery and money laundering allegations.
The arrest comes after the Attorney General asked the court to impose a freezing order on all Schembri’s assets, including those of his immediate family and companies. He was arrested at 1am at his Mellieħa home.
The freezing order also effects Nexia BT’s Brian Tonna and all business partners linked to Tonna and Schembri.
Tonna and Nexia BT partner Karl Cini are also being detained by the police.
The investigation is believed to be linked to allegations that emerged in 2017 that Schembri received €100,000 in kickbacks from Tonna over the sale of Maltese citizenship to a Russian family.
A magistrate recently concluded an investigation into the allegations and passed on the inquiry results to the Attorney General.
The magisterial inquiry kick-started in April 2017 when then Opposition leader Simon Busuttil forwarded documentation to the magistrate.
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