Keith Schembri fought tooth and nail against testifying in a 17 Black libel case he started himself during a court sitting today. However, a court turned down a series of requests.

Schembri was set to testify in a libel case he initiated against former PN Leader Simon Busuttil who alleged that he had received kickbacks in 2016.

The first in a series of battles, Magistrate Victor Axiaq turned down a request for recusal by “third parties” over his previous work representing both Kasco Ltd and Nexia BT while he was a practising lawyer.

This occurred before 2010 and did not in any way concern the subject matter of the case.

Simon Busuttil’s lawyer, Peter Fenech told the court that they had no objection with the case appearing before Axiaq. However, Schembri’s lawyer, Edward Gatt immediately disagreed.

Following past declarations by the Chief Justice, Axiaq turned down the request and ordered its “immediate continuation”.

Schembri then went on the offensive with Gatt asking that his client not undergo cross-examination today given that he still had to testify in other ongoing inquiries and is worried about potentially incriminating himself.

This was denied by the courts, who pointed out that a similar request had been made in these proceedings in 2018, while it was under a different magistrate.

In a twist, Schembri then appealed the court’s decision to order his testimony, with Gatt arguing that he has the right to fight his own cross-examination in view of the on-going inquiries.

Axiaq turned down the request. Cross-examination will continue.

What is 17 Black?

With the help of leaked documents given to Daphne Caruana Galizia before her death, The Daphne Project uncovered that 17 Black was one of two companies set up to transfer money to Schembri’s Panamanian company, Tillgate.

Leaked documents from the FIAU also showed how 17 Black received over €1 million in payments from Mario Pullicino, the Maltese agent of the LNG tanker in Delimara, and an unnamed Azeri national.

After years of suspense, the owner of 17 Black was revealed to be none other than Yorgen Fenech, an investor in Electrogas, the consortium running the Delimara power station.

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