The Malta Police Force has confirmed it will take action against Keith Schembri only when his name has been mentioned for the 10,000th time in relation to the murder of Daphne Caruana Galizia.
The name of Joseph Muscat’s chief of staff has cropped up repeatedly in the ongoing trial, mostly in relation to passing sensitive information to Yorgen Fenech, the main murder suspect, as well as a letter framing Chris Cardona allegedly, which Schembri allegedly passed to Fenech via their mutual doctor.
“We realise that some people may find the fact that we haven’t yet charged Keith Schembri with any crimes to be very confusing. The truth is that we can’t throw a high-ranking and wealthy individual in jail just because they’ve repeatedly implicated in a serious crime. That’s not how it works,” a police spokesperson said.
“We can only take action when someone like that has been mentioned 10,000 times in connection with a crime. At the moment, Schembri has only been mentioned 5,837 times. This isn’t like Beetlejuice where you say his name three times and something happens,” she added, while also clarifying that the 17,375 times Schembri has been mentioned in relation to the Panama Papers and 17 Black do not count towards this tally.
The spokesperson conceded that there were ways the process could be sped up.
“Now, if Keith Schembri gives us permission to charge him, that would make our lives a whole lot easier. But so far, he hasn’t done that. He doesn’t even answer his doorbell or his phone, which is a bit rude, to be honest.
