Robert Aquilina, secretary general of the civil society group Repubblika, has said he has information that the former head of the Financial Intelligence Analysis Unit (FIAU) had stated he would resign if the government were to interfere in his work.

“Those who know what was going on in the FIAU would tell you that before the director [Manfred Galdes] resigned, he had warned that he would resign if the government were to interfere in his work,” Aquilina, a notary, said in a speech at Monday’s vigil for Daphne Caruana Galizia.

Approached by Lovin Malta after the speech, Aquilina was coy about his information but said he was ready to swear on it in court.

He added that Galdes uttered those words some three months before his resignation in the context of the Panama Papers. Aquilina also confirmed he [Aquilina] had passed on this information to Caruana Galizia in April 2017.   

Galdes resigned in August 2016, a few months after the resignation of police commissioner Michael Cassar, prompting rumours that he had quit after the police refused to take action on FIAU reports which implicated Tourism Minister Konrad Mizzi and the Prime Minister’s chief of staff Keith Schembri.

Galdes has never confirmed or denied these rumours and Aquilina’s statement appears to be an invitation to him to speak about his past job.

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