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17 Black Was Target Client Because I Was Planning A Post-Politics Business Venture With Good Friend Yorgen Fenech, Keith Schembri Says

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Former Prime Minister’s chief of staff Keith Schembri has finally explained why 17 Black was a target client for his offshore Panama account.

However, he insisted with the courts that it was only because the company’s owner Yorgen Fenech was a “good friend of his” and that they planned a post-politics business venture together.

“I opened a trust fund with Bank of Valletta in 2013 and the PN knew exactly how much money I had in the trust,” Schembri said in the police’s case against Fenech over the assassination of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia.

“BOV admitted to the leaks so I told my advisors that I could not trust Maltese banks. I was advised to open a trust in New Zealand but the country told me that I needed to open a company before doing so. The easiest place to open up a company was Panama.”

“I was advised to have a target client. I chose 17 Black because Yorgen Fenech is a good friend. It was meant to be temporary. Having 17 Black as a target client means it either does or does not do business.”

“However, I was planning to do business with him once I left politics. He was one of the most highly regarded businessmen in Malta and it was prestigious to do business with him. We had spoken and we were looking to working in either gaming or the food industry.”

Schembri had initially denied any knowledge of 17 Black, before changing his tune in April 2018. However, he had never clarified the nature of the relationship with the company or its owners. Schembri even dropped his libel suit against former PN Leader Simon Busuttil rather than be asked questions on 17 Black.

17 Black emerged in the news again recently after Times of Malta and Reuters revealed that Fenech’s company benefitted financially from the controversial Enemalta purchase of wind farms in Montenegro.

The wind farm was initially purchased by Cifidex, a company which Reuters said is owned by Azeri businessman and former Electrogas director Turab Musayev for €2.9 million. A few weeks after, the Maltese government agreed to pay €10.3 million for the very same wind farm.

The €2.9 million which Cifidex used to pay for the wind farm were loaned to him by Yorgen Fenech, the man charged with journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia’s murder. Following the Maltese government’s purchase of the wind farm, Cifidex paid back his loan to Fenech alongside an extra €4.6 million – meaning that Fenech made a profit of €2.8 million.

Musayev has denied any wrongdoing and has said he had no reason to suspect Fenech had any involvement in Caruana Galizia’s murder.

He said Cifidex had its own independent management and that his business with Fenech involved due diligence from reputable and established bankers, accountants and lawyers.

A report by the FIAU found that 17 Black had received at least three payments – one of €161,000 from Maltese local agent for the tanker supplying gas to the LNG power station and two separate payments amounting to €1.1 million from an Azeri security guard through ABLV Bank.

ABLV was recently raised in one of Latvia’s most extensive investigations into money laundering yet.

What do you think of Schembri’s explanation? Comment below 

READ NEXT: WATCH: ‘It Looked Like A Good Deal For Malta’: Energy Minister About Montenegro Wind Farm Scandal

Julian is the former editor of Lovin Malta and has a particular interest in politics, the environment, social issues, and human interest stories.

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