Defiant Ex Police Inspector Begs ‘Corrupt’ President To Sue Him
A former police inspector and financial intelligence gatherer has accused President Marie-Louise Coleiro Preca of being corrupt in an attempt to force her to sue him in court.
“Malta is 100% corrupt…I’ve been done wrong, so for me they’re all corrupt from the President downwards,” Jonathan Ferris said in an interview with blogger-journalist Manuel Delia. “I am saying this so that if they want, they can file a defamation or libel suit against me, in which case the court will have no other option but to lift my secrecy obligations because I have a right to defend myself. I will then throw what I have in their faces.”
A question by Lovin Malta to Coleiro Preca on whether she will sue Ferris remains unanswered as of the time of writing.
Jonathan Ferris has already gone on record to claim the Financial Intelligence Analysis Unit (FIAU) had sidelined him and later sacked him because it didn’t want him to investigate reports the Prime Minister’s wife owned the offshore company Egrant. However, he has been unable to speak in more detail about the goings-on at the FIAU because disclosing information from the agency carries a five-year jail term.
Speaking to Lovin Malta, Ferris clarified he doesn’t believe Coleiro Preca is personally corrupt but said she is corrupt by virtue of the fact that she represents the state.
“As the guardian of the Constitution, the President should have intervened when she saw all the corruption ongoing…she could have dissolved Parliament or taken an active role,” Ferris said. “The presidency is not just about philanthropy. It’s all well and good that she travels to the UK to visit sick children, but when has she ever spoken out about about people like myself who are victims of political discrimination? For me, birds of the same feather flock together.”
Jonathan Ferris has challenged the President to sue him
Civil society activist and PN councillor Michael Briguglio seconded Ferris’ criticism of the President, arguing it is “useless having Presidential wellbeing foundations with zero talk about corruption, bad governance or wellbeing of whistleblowers”.
Asked why he believes the entire state is corrupt, Ferris’ immediate response was to express disbelief at the question.
“Are we living in the same country or not? Look up the definition of ‘corruption’ in the law and you’ll see what I mean,” he said.
Specifically, he questioned why the police have not yet arraigned former PL secretary general Jimmy Magro despite a damning report by the Anti-Corruption Commission and why they took two years to arraign John Dalli’s two daughters and a year to arraign former education ministry Edward Caruana.
“Delayed justice is a breach of human rights…it only took me 11 days to investigate and charge [accountant and former PL treasurer] Joe Sammut,” he said. “Prioritising certain investigations over others is a form of corruption.”
Moreover, Ferris flagged “warning signs” of a potential return to the Maltese political instability of the 1980s – namely teachers and nurses threatening to strike and a proposal for a governing board controlled by the Prime Minister to manage the University of Malta.
He added the mindset of some people – such as an elderly man who has been charged in court after suggesting on Facebook that PN MEP Roberta Metsola should be “burned alive” are still stuck in the 1980s.
“Some people believe might is right and that they can shut up diverging opinions, but this isn’t North Korea and everyone has the right to express themselves within the confines of the law.”
Maria Efimova said that Egrant belonged to the Prime Minister’s wife Michelle Muscat. Photo: MaltaToday
Ferris used to work as a police inspector within the Economic Crimes Unit, but quit in June 2016 – allegedly because a minister had demanded information about a case he was investigating. He then joined the FIAU, was let go in June of this year at the end of his probationary period, and later claimed he was sacked because the FIAU didn’t want him digging too deep into reports the Prime Minister’s wife owns the offshore company Egrant.
The FIAU had told Ferris he wasn’t allowed to work on the case because he had a conflict of interest with the Egrant whistleblower – Russian national Maria Efimova. This is because Efimova had blamed Ferris for a stress-induced miscarriage while he was investigating her for misappropriating funds from her former employer Pilatus Bank.
However, Ferris vehemently rejects the FIAU’s arguments.
“I would have had a conflict of interest if Efimova was the subject, and not the source. of the investigation, or if I had failed to investigate her when the [Pilatus Bank] case came to me,” he said. “The truth is the FIAU didn’t want me to investigate Egrant. Secrecy laws prohibit me from saying why, but I plan to do so in court. I base my allegations on facts.”
Ferris has now warned he is being followed in the streets by unknown people and has called for a fixed police point outside his house.
“I’m in great danger. I don’t know who is following me but I keep seeing the same cars with different drivers following me outside and slowing down when they approach my house,” he said. “I’m no fool. I used to work in the CID and I know what following someone looks like. I have a licensed firearm though, and if my back is to the wall then I will be ready to use it if that’s what it takes to defend my family.”
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