Watch: Abela Denies Business Ties With Collapsed Kordin Building Bosses – An Alleged Human Trafficker And Hitman-Buyer
Prime Minister Robert Abela categorically denied any business ties to the proprietors of the collapsed timber factory that cost the life of JeanPaul Sofia – Matthew Schembri and Kurt Buhagiar.
Abela was addressing the nation during an interview with Kurt Sansone on MaltaToday. After yesterday’s parliamentary vote sent the country into chaos, Abela has tried to clarify his position with this interview.
One of the main suspicions that people had regarding Abela’s dogged refusal to allow a public inquiry into Sofia’s death has been that the proprietors of the tragic building were alleged to have had business relations with him in the past.
The Shift had reported that developer Schembri was in business with Kurt Buhagiar, the driver of Lands Authority CEO Robert Vella. Buhagiar and Schembri are shareholders in Allplus Ltd, set up in 2019 to manufacture furniture and act as a construction company.
They were building a timber factory and offices on government property allocated to them by INDIS Malta, the state agency responsible for industrial parks.
The two had a bit of a colourful past, with Buhagiar having done time in Sicily for human trafficking and Schembri alleged of having sent hitmen to attack his ex-father in law.
Abela said that Sofia’s parents have been led to believe that he had business links with the developers which he vigorously denied.
“But even if I did it wouldn’t changed anything,” he claimed. “It has happened in the past with the accused in the Daphne case and they still went to prison.”
He kept insisting that the magisterial inquiry is a powerful tool and the right tool for the job, reminiscent of the way Muscat had stonewalled a public inquiry into the Daphne case until he succumbed to local and international pressure.d
Abela pledged to publish the findings of the magisterial inquiry. “I will personally take the first copy to Isabelle Bonnici,” he asserted.
He again urged the Magistrate to prioritise this case and wrote a letter to Chief Justice Mark Chetcuti to this effect. At the same time Abela acknowledged that magistrates are overloaded with work and claimed to be implementing Lawyer Franco Debono’s recommendation of having a separate magistrate unit just for magisterial inquiries.
Abela swore to bring this case to the end and promised to make sure that everyone who is responsible for this death at every level, from the contractor to the developers, INDIS, the architect even the state to pay their dues financially or otherwise.
He claimed that if the magisterial inquiry didn’t delve into whether the land in question was given in bad faith he would make sure to investigate it. Though of course not with a public inquiry.
“It hurts me that they think I’m hiding something, it’s not true. I’ll walk the entire rest of the road to justice with them,”
He went on to say that in the case of Miriam Pace, people were indicted and the family handsomely compensated.
Abela condemned without reservation the online bullying targeting Bonnici.
Do you agree that a magisterial inquiry is sufficient?
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