Top Story • February 1 2004

Police’s ‘lost’ key witness in regular contact with family

Matthew Vella
A man who was crucial to the police in shedding light on the attempted murder on the life of Richard Cachia Caruana is in contact with his family on a daily basis MaltaToday has discovered.
In his recent testimony, former Police Commissioner George Grech insisted that the police had made efforts to get Etienne Gatt to testify in Court through his family as well as getting Interpol to trace him, but Gatt remains outside the island.
What the police failed to accomplish, a father does on a daily basis. Former Nationalist Agriculture Minister Lawrence Gatt told MaltaToday he is in regular, almost daily contact with his son Etienne, who is residing in Italy. However, no disclosure was forthcoming on where Etienne Gatt is living. He left the Island back in 1995 after refusing to testify in Court in connection with the investigations into the Richard Cachia Caruana attempted murder.
George Grech had testified that both Etienne Gatt and Meinrad Calleja had discussed their father’s resignations, agreeing that Cachia Caruana had been the driving force behind their resignations. Etienne Gatt’s father Lawrence was PN Minister for Agriculture and Fisheries until 1994, when it was revealed his Mosta office had been the meeting place for a drug trafficking ring.
The revelations had featured in the Ciro del Negro diary, the Italian entrepreneur’s account of meetings held between Gatt, Calleja and other notorious figures such as double-murderer Charlie ‘Pips’ Muscat.
MaltaToday can confirm that Etienne Gatt is in regular contact with his family. His father Lawrence said Etienne never wanted to testify in Court and had told the police that he would not go to court: "They once asked me whether Etienne would like to testify in a foreign court, but as far as I know, that was the only time they got in contact with me. I don’t know if they ever attempted to contact him."
Etienne Gatt has been described as an "important witness" by Meinrad Calleja’s defence since George Grech’s testimony, claiming Gatt and Calleja had agreed Cachia Caruana had spurred the resignations of both their fathers, could not be corroborated by Gatt himself, who is away from the island and was not called to testify in court.
Speaking to MaltaToday, Lawrence Gatt said his son was not a fugitive and did not want to have anything to do with what is happening in the case. Asked whether Etienne was working in a firm called Iceb Tecnacciaio, in Brescia in North Italy, Gatt said he no longer lived in Brescia and had now moved elsewhere, but did not disclose his whereabouts.
During Meinrad Calleja’s testimony, the defendant said George Grech refused to have Etienne Gatt and Ciro del Negro brought in for a confrontation with him. Grech had told Calleja he "had it in writing" from Gatt that the two had discussed their fathers’ resignations.
According to the Ciro del Negro diary, Italian firm Iceb Tecnacciaio was an offshore company registered in Malta which dealt with refuse disposal, exporting it to the Philippines, Brazil and Columbia. According to del Negro, he and Etienne Gatt were planning to bring Ibec’s operations to Malta to collaborate with the Malta Drydocks.

matthew@newsworksltd.com