European Parliament Quaestor David Casa made reference to the most recent developments in the investigation of the assassination of Daphne Caruana Galizia and called on the UAE to ensure full cooperation with Maltese and European law enforcement.

David Casa is the EPP spokesperson on Anti-Money Laundering within the Committee for Economic and Monetary Affairs. He also forms part of the European Parliament Delegation to the Arab Peninsula that includes the UAE.

Casa explained that, in view of the work of the world-renowned journalists of the Daphne Project, there are no longer any doubts as to the Ultimate Beneficial Ownership of 17 Black, and of 17 Black’s connections to politicians at the highest level of power. However, the prosecution of those involved is most likely to succeed when information is transferred through official channels in order to be used in judicial proceedings.

“The official transfer of information from the UAE has now become all the more crucial in order for prosecutions to be possible,” Casa said.

It is of grave concern that companies and bank accounts registered in the United Arab Emirates were used for such nefarious purposes. It is of even greater concern that there are questions with regard to the readiness of the United Arab Emirates to cooperate with authorities in Malta as well as with European law enforcement, stated Casa.

Casa had called on Dubai-based Noor Bank to investigate the bank account held by 17 Black. This had led to the freezing of $2 million found in that bank account.

Casa said that Daphne Caruana Galizia was killed to prevent her from exposing criminal activity at the highest levels of power. Justice for Daphne must include an end to impunity for the very same crimes that she was killed in order to conceal, he said.