‘Justyne Caruana Left Silvio Valletta Soon After Reveal Of Yorgen Fenech Links’: Abela Says Minister Had ‘No Involvement’
Recently reinstated Minister Justyne Caruana separated from her husband, former Deputy Police Commissioner Silvio Valletta, soon after resigning because of revelations that he could have been a major leak in the Daphne Caruana Galizia investigation.
“Justyne Caruana was reinstated because she is competent and she deserved it. Over the last few months it became clear that if there was any involvement of her husband, she was not part of it at all.
“I am informed that soon after her resignation as Gozo Minister [in January 2019], she separated from her husband. It is crystal clear she had no involvement so I had no problems with reinstating her,” Abela told Lovin Malta.
Valletta has an intimate relationship with Yorgen Fenech, the main suspect in the assassination, which has links to Malta’s top officials. He held dinners with Fenech and to have gone abroad with him on at least two occasions. Meanwhile, there exists a video of Valletta “fooling around” in Fenech’s Rolls Royce.
It would seem that Caruana, as Valletta’s wife, would have at very least been aware of the relationship between her husband and Fenech, who was already known to be the owner of 17 Black.
It has been revealed that Valletta features heavily in state witness Melvin Theuma’s secret recordings, in particular with relation to leaks from the police investigation.
These details included the arrest of the three men charged with carrying out the murder, murder suspect Vince Muscat’s potential pardon, information that his and Yorgen Fenech’s phones were wiretapped, and that Chris Cardona’s number was discovered on the phone of one of Daphne’s killers.
Valletta, who is referred to as “Valletta l-oħxon” in Theuma’s secret recordings of Fenech, was leading the case into the assassination until he was forcibly removed by court order.
He was the one who set up unprecedented briefings with former Prime Minister Joseph Muscat and his chief of staff Keith Schembri on the case. The briefings started soon after the murder and continued up until a month before Theuma’s arrest.
Caruana resigned just five days into her tenure as Gozo Minister within Abela’s cabinet because of her husband’s relationship with Fenech. In the months that followed, Caruana pocketed at least €60,000 in direct order consultancies.
She was reinstated as Education Minister as part of Abela’s recent reshuffle. Valletta remains under official criminal investigation.
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