|
Matthew Vella
The Office of the Prime Minister has confirmed to MaltaToday that “no government department, agency, corporation or authority” has made use of unlicensed private investigator and former Where’s Everybody consultant Joe Zahra’s services as private detective, contradicting a recent statement made by Lou Bondì that Zahra’s clients included ministries and government entities.
MaltaToday asked all ministries whether any of their entities and agencies ever made use of Joe Zahra’s services, both in his personal capacity or as part of Quadrant Investigations International. Yesterday, the OPM confirmed that “from the information submitted at this point in time” no government entity has made use of Joe Zahra’s services since 1999, “except for one assignment given by Air Malta plc. The fee paid in this one case related to a security investigation and amounted to Lm1,000.
According to Lou Bondì, unlicensed private investigator Joe Zahra, whose track record for fabricated evidence has been revealed in previous MaltaToday reports, offered his services to hundreds of clients, including ministries and government entities.
Bondì was responding to comments made by former finance minister John Dalli, who said he was “shocked” at having taken part in a Bondiplus broadcast on the subject of the contentious tender in the presence of Joe Zahra’s clients, which included SIMED representatives as guests, and of course host Lou Bondì himself.
Also referring to his last appearance on Bondiplus just days prior to his resignation on the Iranian Shipping case, Dalli surmised that it may not have been “coincidental” that the Mater Dei tender saga was brought up again during the grilling: “Was this programme transmitted before or after the concocted report was given to the Prime Minister?” Dalli asked, an indication of how his last days as minister heaved under pressure from many quarters.
Zahra was an active member of the Bondiplus team whose connections enabled tour de force programmes on freemasonry, aided by Joe Zahra having himself been a freemason, and the alleged undercover filming of a Satanic black mass, the veracity of which was challenged in both the media and Parliament.
Zahra’s career as Labour Minister Lorry Sant’s henchman from his days as a police sergeant, and his documented relations with disgraced Police Commissioner Lawrence Pullicino to a career in private investigation have been marred with his arraignment in Court over falsified evidence. On the trail of his investigative career, it had been revealed by In-Nazzjon, back in 1995, how Zahra had derailed an Italian investigation during the corruption-ridden heyday of Tangentopoli by supplying Panorama magazine with a document laced with fibs.
In the Mater Dei report, Zahra claimed to have disclosed links between John Dalli’s brother, Bastjan, as well as the Director of Contracts Joseph Spiteri and his daughter Claudine Cassar, on a suspected trail of corruption which led to the Mater Dei tender for the supply of medical equipment to be awarded to Italian bidders INSO Spa.
Competing bidders SIMED International bv, a Dutch firm which strongly contested the award at the appeals stage, hired Zahra to investigate whether any traces of corruption existed. It was revealed that the Zahra report was also handed to the Dutch government.
Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi, who was also handed a copy of the report, instructed the police to investigate the contents of the report, who revealed that Zahra had falsified the evidence he compiled in the report.
Zahra has instituted vexatious libel proceedings against MaltaToday on a separate story after this newspaper revealed he was being investigated by the police in connection with another case involving his professional work..”
|
