Editorial | A shocking development

There can be no economic or business consideration big enough to justify looking the other way. The quest for justice is morally correct and is an important cog in the workings of a modern democracy where the rule of law should reign supreme

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The news that Tumas Group’s Yorgen Fenech is being held by the police as a “person of interest” in the Daphne Caruana Galizia murder investigation has multiple repercussions.

There are the legal and judicial repercussions, which could lead the police to come closer to capturing and prosecuting the mastermind behind the assassination.

The police must be allowed to carry out their job with serenity and diligence to ensure that all those involved in the assassination are charged in court and enough proof is put forward to establish guilt.

There are the political repercussions of this latest development with business links forged after the 2013 election between Fenech and government exponents, Konrad Mizzi and Keith Schembri.

The latter two have not been implicated in the murder investigation but their link to Fenech through the Dubai-based company 17 Black makes their position in authority even more untenable. Their continued resistance to step down continues to harm the government and the country.

But there are also business repercussions that cannot be ignored. While Fenech is innocent until proven guilty, the mere fact that he is considered as a person of interest in a murder investigation, is a seriously worrying matter.

For starters, the Tumas Group he is a shareholder in, is one of the largest Maltese companies with wide interests in various sectors of the economy. It is also an investor in the Electrogas consortium that is responsible for the country’s electricity supply.

It is not implausible to foresee a situation where this company would need to rebuild its reputation with investors and financial institutions over the coming years.

This is a painstaking exercise because although Fenech has resigned his directorships in the family companies, his arrest will undoubtedly create shockwaves that will have repercussions for the wider economy.

However, despite these possible repercussions, no stone should be left unturned in uncovering the truth behind Caruana Galizia’s murder irrespective of who may be involved.

There can be no economic or business consideration big enough to justify looking the other way. The quest for justice is morally correct and is an important cog in the workings of a modern democracy where the rule of law should reign supreme.

Nobody is above the law.

At this stage, it is unclear what the police have on Fenech and whether the investigation has wider implications on his business ethic. Indeed, it is premature to jump to conclusions at this stage.

But it would be naïve to look at the developments in an isolated way as if they are only linked to Caruana Galizia’s assassination.

The journalist was killed because of what she wrote or was about to reveal. There must have been a motivation big enough to eliminate her.

And within the circumstances it is not implausible to suggest that the motivation may have been linked to possible information the journalist may have received on corruption or shady business deals.

Corruption and business deals that involve criminal activity harm society and the business community. No right-thinking individual can ever justify these.

Murder is the highest form of violence anybody can inflict on the individual and society. Malta has had too many unsolved cases that left festering wounds.

And while some may argue that this has no relevance for the business community, upright individuals know that assassinations are a destabilising factor. Businesses do not function in a vacuum; anything that happens leaves reverberations.

This is why it is important for the truth in the Caruana Galizia murder case to come out. The truth may take its time not to prejudice ongoing investigations and prosecutions but it should eventually come out. And when it does everyone should take stock of the situation, including the business community and the authorities.

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