Joseph Muscat Googled How To Erase His Phone Data And It Was Wiped 22 Days Before Police Raided His Home
Former prime minister Joseph Muscat’s phone was completely wiped and set to factory settings weeks before police raided his home and seized it… and he also Googled how to do it.
These new revelations were heard in court today, with court expert Keith Cutajar presenting a report into Muscat’s devices as part of a criminal case against him regarding money laundering, corruption and bribery connected to the controversial Vitals hospitals deal.
Cutajar told the court how, on two separate occasions, the former prime minister ran Google searches on how to erase iPhone data and how to delete backups of WhatsApp chats on two occasions. Then, on 28th December 2021, his phone was reset. On 19th January 2022, police showed up to his house in Burmarrad, where they searched his belonging and took his phone.
Back then, Muscat had actually handed over a file full of documents he had prepared, telling journalists he was only “half surprised” by the police search actually happening. But while he was compliant, he had refused to give them his phone password
By November 2024, the entire process of unlocking it was reportedly found to take almost a year, with Cutajar saying a special software was attempting around 1,100 different password combinations a day but could take as long as 298 days to crack it.
When the phone was finally unlocked, it was found to have been completely wiped clean.
What do you make of this revelation?
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