Former Malta Gaming Authority (MGA) chief executive Heathcliff Farrugia saw his conviction for corruption upheld on appeal this week.
Farrugia was initially found guilty in May of unlawfully disclosing information acquired through his position and revealing professional secrets. Specifically, he had tipped off casino owner Yorgen Fenech in September 2019 about an impending anti-money laundering investigation targeting a rival casino.
In November 2019, Fenech—one of Malta’s wealthiest individuals—was arrested while attempting to flee the island on his yacht. He was charged with complicity in the murder of anti-corruption journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia, who perished in a car bomb attack in 2017. At the time, Fenech owned the Portomaso Casino in Saint Julian’s and is currently awaiting trial for the murder.
Incriminating text messages between Farrugia and Fenech, discovered after Fenech’s arrest, revealed discussions about competitors that further implicated Farrugia. In texts dated September 23, 2019, Fenech complained about a recent money laundering review of the Portomaso Casino, lamenting that it had damaged the casino’s reputation. Farrugia replied, assuring Fenech he would delay the publication of the compliance report until the completion of an investigation into Casino Malta, operated by Fenech’s competitor, Eden Leisure Group.
Justice Neville Camilleri of Malta’s Court of Criminal Appeal affirmed Farrugia’s three-year suspended sentence on Tuesday, confirming the lower court’s judgment.
As the chief of MGA, Farrugia was responsible for overseeing one of the world’s leading online gaming jurisdictions. He resigned discreetly in October 2022, following police interrogation about his communications with Fenech. According to The Times of Malta, the charges against Farrugia were initially kept under wraps to prevent damaging the gaming industry’s reputation.
Prosecutors assert that Caruana Galizia was assassinated due to her investigation into a government contract for building a power station, which she suspected had been corruptly awarded to Fenech’s company, Electroglas. She discovered that a Dubai-registered company mentioned in the Panama Papers, 17 Black, intended to transfer $2 million to two offshore shell companies owned by Keith Schembri, former aide to then-Prime Minister Joseph Muscat, and Konrad Mizzi, the former Energy Minister. Journalists who continued her investigation posthumously revealed that 17 Black was controlled by Fenech.
Brothers Alfred Degiorgio and George Degiorgio received 40-year prison sentences each for orchestrating and planting the bomb, while their associate, Vince Muscat, was sentenced to 15 years. Melvin Theuma, the so-called middleman, identified Fenech as the mastermind behind the murder, though Fenech contends that Schembri was the actual orchestrator.
The scandal triggered a political crisis in Malta, exposing widespread corruption in the island’s political and business spheres and resulting in Muscat’s resignation as prime minister.
