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Murder on the Malta Express: Who killed Daphne Caruana Galizia?
‘TRUE BRAVERY IS THE MALTESE JOURNALIST DAPHNE CARUANA GALIZIA, BLOWN UP IN HER CAR FOR REPORTING ON THE PANAMA PAPERS’ MERYL STREEP
If we are judged by the nature of our enemies, then Daphne Caruana Galizia should be remembered as a hero of our time.
She was Malta’s most fearless journalist until someone with money and power decided that she should be silenced forever.
Her assassination on 16th October 2017 was a brutal blow to anyone who cares about the truth.
MURDER ON THE MALTESE EXPRESS sets out the evidence on the dirty money merchants she exposed. It is written in her honour.
***
‘(Daphne Caruana Galizia was) Malta’s leading investigative journalist and anti-corruption campaigner… When a journalist is murdered, all of society suffers. We lose our right to know, to speak, to learn. Daphne had the courage and resilience to write despite the threats she faced.’ Margaret Atwood
‘Daphne’s case is an extreme example of the risks people take when speaking truth to power… she is a beacon of hope.’ Jess Phillips MP
- GenresPoliticsNonfiction
374 pages, Kindle Edition
Published November 8, 2019
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211 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
December 29, 2024
‘Murder On The Malta Express’ explores the various ways in which criminal gangs and totalitarian regimes allegedly colluded with crooked Maltese businessmen and members of the Maltese government after 2013. Which collusion allegedly rendered Malta a back door for dirty money to infiltrate financial systems across the European Union and beyond. It also adversely affected various aspects of Maltese people’s lives, including the fields of: banking, education, energy, online gaming, citizenship and healthcare.
This may all sound tragic yet bad turned to worse when certain alleged crooks on the island ordered the assassination of Maltese journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia on Monday 16 October 2017. Besides rocking a nation to its core, this brutal act set off an ongoing chain of dramatic events in Malta which is at times referred to as 'the Daphne saga'. Daphne was a household name in Malta before her untimely death made international headlines.
For the uninitiated: as a young student Daphne suffered ill treatment at the hands of policemen who arrested her while she took part in a demonstration against the Maltese government of the day. She subsequently went on to become a famous columnist for the island’s leading newspapers in English, with readers drawn to her sharp pen and her increasingly vitriolic attacks on people - mostly those in positions of power in Malta’s main political parties. She eventually set up her own blog called ‘Running Commentary’ and her posts regularly attracted over 400,000 readers, more than the combined circulation of the country’s newspapers.
‘Murder / Malta Express’ is written by another Maltese blogger, Manuel Delia, who runs his own political commentary blog named ‘Truth Be Told’. His co-authors John Sweeney and Carlo Bonini are both experienced journalists, so that their combined efforts present the reader with a detailed, insightful description of how an island nation which had gone through a huge internal political battle to become a member of the European Union in 2004 allegedly found its newfound status exploited by various crooks and totalitarian regimes. In fact this book is a sort of case study of the many sinister evils that threaten hard won freedoms in Western democracies today. Throughout its history Malta has often found itself a frontier battleground against forces that seek to destabilise and dominate the West. The main events of the whole Daphne Saga should serve as a warning shot to the free citizens of democratic nations everywhere.
A lot of background is provided in the book on how Malta’s newly elected government sold its national grid Enemed to the world’s largest totalitarian regime without a tender process being held, as well as transacting with another brutal authoritarian regime through a needless power station project. Which is not to mention the alleged selling of Maltese / EU passports to Russian criminals (and crooks of various other nationalities). More disturbingly, these alleged outrages were also allowed to happen due to the willing collaboration of both Maltese and foreign business interests. The lucrative preying of a now notorious British consulting firm on microstates and its sabotaging of their democratic systems to pave the way for a British global citizenship and residence advisory firm to sell passports is also amply described. The book also contains a lot of detailed information about the infiltration of the Italian mafia into Malta’s thriving online gaming industry and describes how the start-up Pilatus bank was essentially used to launder the dirty money of both crooks and dictators.
Before her assassination, Daphne called out many of these crooked practices on her blog. This led to Malta’s Prime Minister calling and winning an early election in 2017. Daphne was assassinated four months later. In 2019, individuals close to the Maltese government of the day were shockingly implicated in her murder, which brought about many large street protests in Malta. These impassioned demonstrations - combined with intense backroom pressure within his own party - forced the Maltese Prime Minister to resign in January 2020, two and a half years after winning the 2017 snap election.
This may all sound tragic yet bad turned to worse when certain alleged crooks on the island ordered the assassination of Maltese journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia on Monday 16 October 2017. Besides rocking a nation to its core, this brutal act set off an ongoing chain of dramatic events in Malta which is at times referred to as 'the Daphne saga'. Daphne was a household name in Malta before her untimely death made international headlines.
For the uninitiated: as a young student Daphne suffered ill treatment at the hands of policemen who arrested her while she took part in a demonstration against the Maltese government of the day. She subsequently went on to become a famous columnist for the island’s leading newspapers in English, with readers drawn to her sharp pen and her increasingly vitriolic attacks on people - mostly those in positions of power in Malta’s main political parties. She eventually set up her own blog called ‘Running Commentary’ and her posts regularly attracted over 400,000 readers, more than the combined circulation of the country’s newspapers.
‘Murder / Malta Express’ is written by another Maltese blogger, Manuel Delia, who runs his own political commentary blog named ‘Truth Be Told’. His co-authors John Sweeney and Carlo Bonini are both experienced journalists, so that their combined efforts present the reader with a detailed, insightful description of how an island nation which had gone through a huge internal political battle to become a member of the European Union in 2004 allegedly found its newfound status exploited by various crooks and totalitarian regimes. In fact this book is a sort of case study of the many sinister evils that threaten hard won freedoms in Western democracies today. Throughout its history Malta has often found itself a frontier battleground against forces that seek to destabilise and dominate the West. The main events of the whole Daphne Saga should serve as a warning shot to the free citizens of democratic nations everywhere.
A lot of background is provided in the book on how Malta’s newly elected government sold its national grid Enemed to the world’s largest totalitarian regime without a tender process being held, as well as transacting with another brutal authoritarian regime through a needless power station project. Which is not to mention the alleged selling of Maltese / EU passports to Russian criminals (and crooks of various other nationalities). More disturbingly, these alleged outrages were also allowed to happen due to the willing collaboration of both Maltese and foreign business interests. The lucrative preying of a now notorious British consulting firm on microstates and its sabotaging of their democratic systems to pave the way for a British global citizenship and residence advisory firm to sell passports is also amply described. The book also contains a lot of detailed information about the infiltration of the Italian mafia into Malta’s thriving online gaming industry and describes how the start-up Pilatus bank was essentially used to launder the dirty money of both crooks and dictators.
Before her assassination, Daphne called out many of these crooked practices on her blog. This led to Malta’s Prime Minister calling and winning an early election in 2017. Daphne was assassinated four months later. In 2019, individuals close to the Maltese government of the day were shockingly implicated in her murder, which brought about many large street protests in Malta. These impassioned demonstrations - combined with intense backroom pressure within his own party - forced the Maltese Prime Minister to resign in January 2020, two and a half years after winning the 2017 snap election.
November 11, 2019
"There is something else I should say before I go: when people taunt you or criticise you for being 'negative' or for failing to go with their flow, for not adopting an attitude of bening tolerance to their excesses, bear in mind always that they, and not you, are the ones who are in the wrong." - Daphne Caruana Galizia.
July 9, 2022
As gripping as a le Carré political thriller, this book does a remarkable job of condensing Malta's recent history into less than 400 pages. There's some distant history, for context, and some turn of the century history, to set the political scene. But the focus of the book is on the corruption scandals of the current administration, starting from 2013 (and, it emerges, even prior to that, in the case of some deals). The premise is simple: who are the main people or organisations that Daphne wrote about, and who therefore stood to gain the most from her murder?
The book is essential reading for any Maltese, and indeed anyone with even a passing interest in European values, democracy, and the free press. Reading it in 2022, it still managed to shock me - and I am someone who used to read every word she published, and who has read the Times of Malta every day for all of my adult life. But, like many Maltese, I've become a bit numb, and often lost track of the many pieces of the puzzle, and the long list of scandals. So, reading the salient facts laid out so clearly is a stark reminder of where we've got to.
The book was published in October 2019, very shortly before the case took a huge turn with the arrest of Yorgen Fenech and subsequent government fallout. The end of 2019 was a very charged few months for Malta, with protests in the capital, resignations, and ultimately a change of Prime Minister. But that does not diminish the importance of this book, since the groundwork, and the key players in the years leading up to Daphne's murder, remain unchanged.
My only complaints were: a) the odd chapter about Joseph Mifsud, a shady academic. As interesting as this story was, it felt out of place, and the authors themselves mentioned that there were no murder suspects in that chapter; b) the few attempts at humour, which weakened the tone and sometimes fell flat. I would have preferred if the authors stuck to the cold facts, as they did for most of the book. The facts speak for themselves, and the connections are often clear. The only tongue-in-cheek writing necessary was the brilliant, repetitive, and necessary "... deny any wrongdoing" which concluded each section; c) The final section, with the replies from the main persons mentioned. Necessary, yes. But if it was indeed true that the authors only gave them one week to reply before publication, then you almost feel for them slightly when they reply asking for more time. The section ended the book on a slightly weaker note.
For all those who, like me, feel overwhelmed at the bad news coming out of Malta in the past decade, books like this are a good reference point, just as Daphne's website is.
The book is essential reading for any Maltese, and indeed anyone with even a passing interest in European values, democracy, and the free press. Reading it in 2022, it still managed to shock me - and I am someone who used to read every word she published, and who has read the Times of Malta every day for all of my adult life. But, like many Maltese, I've become a bit numb, and often lost track of the many pieces of the puzzle, and the long list of scandals. So, reading the salient facts laid out so clearly is a stark reminder of where we've got to.
The book was published in October 2019, very shortly before the case took a huge turn with the arrest of Yorgen Fenech and subsequent government fallout. The end of 2019 was a very charged few months for Malta, with protests in the capital, resignations, and ultimately a change of Prime Minister. But that does not diminish the importance of this book, since the groundwork, and the key players in the years leading up to Daphne's murder, remain unchanged.
My only complaints were: a) the odd chapter about Joseph Mifsud, a shady academic. As interesting as this story was, it felt out of place, and the authors themselves mentioned that there were no murder suspects in that chapter; b) the few attempts at humour, which weakened the tone and sometimes fell flat. I would have preferred if the authors stuck to the cold facts, as they did for most of the book. The facts speak for themselves, and the connections are often clear. The only tongue-in-cheek writing necessary was the brilliant, repetitive, and necessary "... deny any wrongdoing" which concluded each section; c) The final section, with the replies from the main persons mentioned. Necessary, yes. But if it was indeed true that the authors only gave them one week to reply before publication, then you almost feel for them slightly when they reply asking for more time. The section ended the book on a slightly weaker note.
For all those who, like me, feel overwhelmed at the bad news coming out of Malta in the past decade, books like this are a good reference point, just as Daphne's website is.
August 24, 2020
Why didn’t I read this sooner? As a Maltese person, difficult and painful to read; but a fantastic, and well-researched book nonetheless.
October 3, 2021
"If you ignore corruption for too long, you end up with innocent blood being spilled."
In 2017 Daphne Caruana Galizia, Malta's most fearless journalist, was assassinated by a car bomb. While the three perpetrators are in jail now, the people behind the hit are yet to be prosecuted. This war no ordinary "Mafia" hit; the people that had the most to lose and the most to fear from Daphne's relentless journalism were the highest officials in the Maltese Government and their associates. As of 2021, almost all of them are still in power, in one form or another.
--
I came across this book while doing research before my trip to Malta. Maltese literature in English (and probably in Maltese, too) is sadly saturated with works about the Knights of St. John (the modern, christian founders of Malta) and the Siege of Malta during WWII. Interestingly, it just so happens that sieges have been a part of Malta’s history since recorded history.
Trying to find books on its modern history is harder. I think I can understand why: coming from a country plagued by corruption, life is hard and hopeless enough as it is already; it is very tempting to retreat into escapist fantasies about a glorious, romanticized past, a past we can all we be proud of. For Peruvians, this past might be the Inca Empire. For the very catholic Maltese, it might be when they successfully defended themselves against the Ottoman Empire.
--
This book narrates the circumstances around Daphne's assassination, its impact and consequences (or lack of thereof) as they transpired in Malta. It is not possible to understand all these without understanding who Daphne was, and subsequently, to understand that, one must understand first what Malta is. All of this is covered.
It is thankfully written with a foreign audience in mind. We are introduced to Maltese culture and the second chapter contains a crash course on Maltese history up to today. However, I'd say the book is also a perfect slice of the modern history of Malta; Daphne had her fingers in so many pies, that the book necessarily ends up touching pretty much all modern issues in the country: the selling of passports, the money laundering, the connection between gambling and organized crime, the failure of the two-party system, the shady dealings with oligarchs from authoritarian regimes, the tolerance of corruption, the chauvinism and a lot more.
Even if you don't plan to ever set foot in Malta, if you have the slightest interest in politics and journalism this book is a must-read. Being a tiny island nation, everybody knows each other and this has repercussions on everything. Some of the things that happened would be at home in a Spy novel. Reality is stranger than fiction.
--
The sun is is scorching, the heat is exacerbated by the humidity. I'm sitting in a bench by the Sliema shoreline, one of the "posh" neighborhoods in Malta (and also the hometown of Daphne). As I look up I can't help but be mesmerized by the deep blue of the Mediterranean. At the other end of the shore lies Valletta, the capital of Malta, founded by the Knights of St. John in order to prevent the Ottomans (and Islam) from taking over Europe. The buildings all have a light beige color from the limestone. I can see Fort St. Elmo. It's an impressive work of military architecture. The beige contrasts with the blue of the water stunningly.
The beauty is tragic and deceitful, however. For a moment, you can forget that 4 years later this country has failed to bring the conspirators of Daphne's murder to justice.
When a journalist gets killed for doing their job, democracy dies.
In 2017 Daphne Caruana Galizia, Malta's most fearless journalist, was assassinated by a car bomb. While the three perpetrators are in jail now, the people behind the hit are yet to be prosecuted. This war no ordinary "Mafia" hit; the people that had the most to lose and the most to fear from Daphne's relentless journalism were the highest officials in the Maltese Government and their associates. As of 2021, almost all of them are still in power, in one form or another.
--
I came across this book while doing research before my trip to Malta. Maltese literature in English (and probably in Maltese, too) is sadly saturated with works about the Knights of St. John (the modern, christian founders of Malta) and the Siege of Malta during WWII. Interestingly, it just so happens that sieges have been a part of Malta’s history since recorded history.
Trying to find books on its modern history is harder. I think I can understand why: coming from a country plagued by corruption, life is hard and hopeless enough as it is already; it is very tempting to retreat into escapist fantasies about a glorious, romanticized past, a past we can all we be proud of. For Peruvians, this past might be the Inca Empire. For the very catholic Maltese, it might be when they successfully defended themselves against the Ottoman Empire.
--
This book narrates the circumstances around Daphne's assassination, its impact and consequences (or lack of thereof) as they transpired in Malta. It is not possible to understand all these without understanding who Daphne was, and subsequently, to understand that, one must understand first what Malta is. All of this is covered.
It is thankfully written with a foreign audience in mind. We are introduced to Maltese culture and the second chapter contains a crash course on Maltese history up to today. However, I'd say the book is also a perfect slice of the modern history of Malta; Daphne had her fingers in so many pies, that the book necessarily ends up touching pretty much all modern issues in the country: the selling of passports, the money laundering, the connection between gambling and organized crime, the failure of the two-party system, the shady dealings with oligarchs from authoritarian regimes, the tolerance of corruption, the chauvinism and a lot more.
Even if you don't plan to ever set foot in Malta, if you have the slightest interest in politics and journalism this book is a must-read. Being a tiny island nation, everybody knows each other and this has repercussions on everything. Some of the things that happened would be at home in a Spy novel. Reality is stranger than fiction.
--
The sun is is scorching, the heat is exacerbated by the humidity. I'm sitting in a bench by the Sliema shoreline, one of the "posh" neighborhoods in Malta (and also the hometown of Daphne). As I look up I can't help but be mesmerized by the deep blue of the Mediterranean. At the other end of the shore lies Valletta, the capital of Malta, founded by the Knights of St. John in order to prevent the Ottomans (and Islam) from taking over Europe. The buildings all have a light beige color from the limestone. I can see Fort St. Elmo. It's an impressive work of military architecture. The beige contrasts with the blue of the water stunningly.
The beauty is tragic and deceitful, however. For a moment, you can forget that 4 years later this country has failed to bring the conspirators of Daphne's murder to justice.
When a journalist gets killed for doing their job, democracy dies.
August 13, 2021
a painful read - yet necessary to understand better the dark plots so bravely investigated by Daphne.
January 1, 2022
A tastefully written summary of Daphne Caruana Galizia's work, for which she paid the ultimate price with her life. It distills for the uninitiated the sleaze Malta is mired in, indirectly highlighting how much she took on, all alone.
I hope Malta is on the path of justice, it is the very least the country, and especially her family, deserve.
I do also hope that, in time, the veil falls off the section of society who were duped into vilifying her by propaganda machines and that critical thinking becomes the norm, not the exception.
By God, Daphne is missed. May she rest in peace.
I hope Malta is on the path of justice, it is the very least the country, and especially her family, deserve.
I do also hope that, in time, the veil falls off the section of society who were duped into vilifying her by propaganda machines and that critical thinking becomes the norm, not the exception.
By God, Daphne is missed. May she rest in peace.
August 30, 2024
An incredibly brave journalist who met a horrific death. Daphne Caruana Galizia was a sublime journalist whose articulate writing uncovered a myriad of corruption and problems in Malta and beyond. It's tragic that she was taken from the world. The world needs brave individuals like her more than ever. It's a great book and it's pathetically sad to learn of the corruption that goes on in the EU and other countries. Her writing, which is featured in this book, is powerful, poignant, and prescient.
November 13, 2019
Read this in Malta and was fascinating account of the corruption in the Maltese corridors of power and justice system, focusing on events that lead up to and around the car bomb which killed and investigative journalist.
August 27, 2021
'The problem that has to be addressed is the widespread and ever increasing amorality among a sizeable percentage of the Maltese population.'
This is the crux , as long as the money is coming in nobody cares.
January 3, 2020
If you have time to read just one boo, read this one.
August 11, 2020
Er, wow. An eye-opening account of brazen corruption resulting in the murder of a beloved journalist. If it can happen in a microcosm like Malta, imagine what's going on in bigger countries.
September 3, 2020
Chilling
December 28, 2020
I (still) don’t have a laptop so I’ll keep this short: READ THIS BOOK!
July 14, 2024
Outstanding
Read in a day, a brilliant investigation, a real page turner and tribute to a very courageous journalist of the highest order
Read in a day, a brilliant investigation, a real page turner and tribute to a very courageous journalist of the highest order
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews