The public inquiry into the murder of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia continued on Wednesday with the testimony of Nexia BT partners Brain Tonna and Karl Cini.
Both men were recently hit by a wide-ranging freezing order on their assets after police started a money laundering investigation prompted by the conclusion of a magisterial inquiry into claims that Tonna was involved in graft with the former Prime Minister's Chief of Staff Keith Schembri over the sale of Maltese citizenship to a Russian family.
The inquiry was requested by former Opposition leader Simon Busuttil over claims that Tonna paid Schembri €100,000. The pair have denied wrongdoing, claiming the money was repayment of a previous personal loan.
The public inquiry into the murder of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia is tasked with, amongst other things, determining whether the State did all it could to prevent the murder from happening.
Caruana Galizia was murdered in a car bomb just outside her Bidnija home on 16 October 2017.
Three men, George Degiorgio, Alfred Degiorgio and Vince Muscat, have been charged with carrying out the assassination, while Yorgen Fenech is charged with masterminding the murder.
Melvin Theuma, who acted as a middleman between Fenech and the three killers, was granted a presidential pardon last year to tell all.
The inquiry is led by retired judge Michael Mallia and includes former chief justice Joseph Said Pullicino and Judge Abigail Lofaro.
Live blog:
15:46 That's it for today. Thank you for following.
15:46 The sitting is over. The next sitting is on Friday at 9:30am when Parliamentary Secretary Alex Muscat and Tax Commissioner Marvin Gaerty are called to testify.
15:45 Cini: "I choose not to answer."
15:44 A final question is asked by Jason Azzopardi: "Do you deny that Egrant was made for Michelle Muscat?"
15:44 QUICK REMINDER: Karl Cini had been the person from Nexia BT who in a conversation with Panamanian firm Mossack Fonseca had said that he would provide the name of the ultimate beneficial owner of Egrant over a Skype call. Egrant and two other companies were set up in Panama by Nexia BT in 2013. Two companies were eventually passed on to Keith Schembri and Konrad Mizzi, while the owner of Egrant remained unknown. Before the 2017 general election, Daphne Caruana Galizia alleged that Egrant belonged to Michelle Muscat, Joseph Muscat's wife. A magisterial inquiry eventually disproved the link.
15:38 Cini chooses not to reply.
15:38 She asks whether Schembri was already a client of his in 2013, and whether Schembri and Mizzi engaged him together or separately. She also asks whether former PM Joseph Muscat was a client of his.
15:36 The board concludes its questioning. Comodini Cachia asks Cini what his relationship with Keith Schembri was before 2013 and whether it went beyond that of a consultant and client.
15:35 Cini: "I choose not to answer."
15:35 Cini is asked about Egrant and 17 Black. "Was Egrant being held in the name of a politically exposed person? Do you know who the owner of 17 Black was?"
15:31 The process is tedious but legally necessary.
15:30 Cini is asked a raft of questions about his relationship with Keith Schembri, Konrad Mizzi and Joseph Muscat, what he knows about the Panama companies opened by Nexia BT for Schembri and Mizzi, his involvement in the Electrogas power station deal, what companies he is personally involved in and other pointed questions. However, he chooses not to reply, invoking his right to silence.
15:21 He, too, refuses to answer any questions.
15:21 Karl Cini takes the stand and is administered the oath. Cini is a partner alongside Tonna in accountancy firm Nexia BT.
15:19 He steps off the stand, not having answered a single question.
15:19 Tonna is not replying to any of the questions being asked, not even innocuous ones. Earlier, Tonna's lawyer invoked his client's right to silence given that he is subject to three investigations.
15:17 Tonna: "I choose not to answer."
15:17 Comodini Cachia: "The team leader in the evaluation committee for the power station project was a managing partner of Nexia BT. Are you a managing partner of Nexia BT?"
15:16 Lawyer Therese Comodini Cachia asks Tonna about his involvement in the issuance of the request for proposals for the gas power station back in 2013. He refuses to answer this question too.
15:15 Tonna: "I choose not to answer."
15:15 Azzopardi: "Was it ex-prime minister Joseph Muscat who ordered minister Owen Bonnici to allow you to operate or grant you a direct order to operate?"
15:14 Tonna: "I choose not to answer."
15:14 Azzopardi: "Are you a fraudster?"
15:14 Tonna: "I choose not to answer."
15:13 Lawyer Jason Azzopardi takes over the questioning, asking when was the first time he went to Castille and whether he had a desk there. "When did you first meet Keith Schembri, Cheng Chen?"
15:12 Tonna is asked for which client did he open Panama company Egrant Inc. After a brief pause, he chooses not to reply. Tonna does not answer when asked when did he find out about the owner of 17 Black.
15:11 The questions continue about Lester Holdings, the company that belonged to former Allied Newspaper managing director Adrian Hillman, and whether it received money from Kasco Ltd. He is asked whether he opened Rotorua Trust in New Zealand and whether he gave services for the incorporation of Hearnville Inc., Egrant and Tillgate. "I don't want to answer," Tonna replies.
15:08 He likewise does not reply to questions about the Individual Investor Programme. He does not confirm nor deny the alleged agreement to deposit money for Keith Schembri in a Pilatus Bank account. He also does not reply to questions about his personal separation and loans he allegedly required from Schembri.
15:01 The list of companies takes over five minutes to read. Tonna also refuses to answer questions about the type of business carried out by a selection of these companies.
15:01 Asked about the beneficial owners of Willerby, Nexia BT Holdings, BT International and a long list of other related companies, he replies in the same way.
14:57 The board explains its remit to the man. Asking him if he had a relationship with Keith Schembri, Konrad Mizzi and Joseph Muscat, Tonna replies: "I choose not to reply."
14:56 The board asks Tonna whether he is under investigation or on police bail. "I choose not to reply," he replies.
14:55 Tonna is administered the oath.
14:54 Mallia tells the lawyer that the board will ask him the questions anyway and he is free not to answer them.
14:54 The lawyer for Tonna says his client is invoking the right to absolute silence and will not reply to any questions.
14:53 The lawyer explains that the witness is a suspect in three different instances: firstly because he received an attachment order, secondly because he had been indicated as a suspect in a pending magisterial inquiry into 17 Black and thirdly, with regards to a pending investigation by the police where he is on police bail.
14:52 The board tells Tonna lowell that it had received his email and is invited to explain it to the board.
14:51 The procedural hurdles now overcome, Brian Tonna is summoned to the stand. He is assisted by lawyer Stephen Tonna Lowell. Fellow business partner, Karl Cini, who is sitting in the courtroom is asked to leave.
14:50 Judge emeritus Michael Mallia, who is leading the inquiry board is incensed. "The facts in this application are not true. I don't know where he got these facts from," he says. Journalists are not privy to the facts being mentioned.
14:48 Lawyer Jason Azzopardi quips about Fenech's defence counsel: "He made an application without a request. He didn't do 5th year law."
14:47 The board decrees on another application by Yorgen Fenech's defence counsel. The State Advocate's representative says he hasn't seen it. Therese Comodini Cachia says there is nothing different in this application from the first since it deals with the same merits. She says that the board cannot even deny it because it was not accompanied by a request.
14:39 The board says it is authorised to conduct sittings as it deems fit and this is not open to scrutiny. It adds that hearing certain witnesses behind closed doors prevents abuse, dismissing Fenech's application as frivolous and vexatious.
14:37 After evaluating an application filed by murder suspect Yorgen Fenech and the reply filed by the Caruana Galizia family, the board decrees that Fenech has no locus standi in these proceedings. "The investigation is only aimed at the search for the truth, finding shortcomings and addressing them. It is steering clear of themes which are under investigation by other courts," the board says.
14:27 The lawyers are discussing various applications filed with the Board. They ask whether the State Advocate had replied to two application which had been filed. It appears the State Advocate is not going to reply but declares it will submit to the inquiry board's decision.
14:22 The judges have arrived.