The wife and son of Lino Cauchi, an accountant who was horrifically murdered in 1982, have filed a judicial protest asking the court for compensation.

Cauchi had mysteriously disappeared in 1982, only for his dismembered body to be discovered over three years later in a well in Buskett. It is believed he died of a blunt force trauma to the head.

No one was ever charged with the murder, however, given that it occurred during a decade defined by political violence, his death has always had a political element.

Cauchi, an accountant by trade, held clients who had links with Public Works Minister Lorry Sant, the only MP ever to be found involved in corruption by the Permanent Commission Against Corruption.

Evidence has indicated that Cauchi was asked to draft a number of promises of sale agreements of land to members of Sant’s inner circle.

A suitcase he owned was found force-opened in Chadwick Lakes two days after his disappearance on February 14th 1982. It is believed that Cauchi had told his wife not to let the suitcase go if anything had ever happened to him.

The day after he went missing, a man identifying himself as an official from the Inland Revenue Department acquired the suitcase from Cauchi’s wife. The department has denied its involvement.

The judicial protest filed against Prime Minister Joseph Muscat argues that Cauchi’s wife and son have been discriminated against, as heirs of other political murders had been compensated.

Sources have been quoted by The Times of Malta as saying that the heirs of the Karen Grech and Raymond Caruana had been compensated.

Cauchi’s heirs have indicated that they hold the State responsible for the murder, given the issues surrounding corruption, failed institutions, and the political climate at the time.

They also put forward that since the government never truly investigated the murder, they should be entitled to compensation.

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Julian Bonnici

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