Murder in Malta
The journalist who led the Panama Papers investigation into corruption in Malta was killed on Monday in a car bomb near her home.
Daphne Caruana Galizia died on Monday afternoon when her car, a Peugeot 108, was destroyed by a powerful explosive device which blew the vehicle into several pieces and threw the debris into a nearby field.
Daphne Caruana Galizia, 53, was reportedly killed when the car she was driving exploded shortly after she left her home in Bidnija, near Mosta.
Local media say one of her sons heard the blast and rushed outside.
In recent weeks, Galazia had been receiving death threats.
At the time of posting, no one has claimed responsibility for the bombing.
Daphne Caruana Galizia aka The "One-Woman Wikileaks"
Daphne is credited with taking the lead in the Panama Papers investigation in Malta that exposed a nefarious web of money laundering and shell companies that extended across the globe and implicated high ranking politicians, businessmen, law firms, and corporations.
The Panama Papers caused an international stir as the off shoring, money laundering and tax evasion practices of the rich and powerful from a wide range of countries were exposed to the general public.
The International Consortium of Independent Journalists (ICIJ) won a Pulitzer Prize for their work in releasing and investigating the Panama Papers and the Offshore Leaks.
The leaks by the ICIJ showed how many in the political class who publicly positioned themselves as crusaders as reformers against and as harsh critics of offshore tax havens were, in fact, themselves implicated in the very same activities. Chinese president Xi Jingping, British PM David Cameron, Russian President Putin and Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko are just a few examples.
ICIJ searchable database
Daphne Galizia's son, Matthew, also works for the ICIJ as a data-journalist and engineer.
Daphne's Blog - https://daphnecaruanagalizia.com/
Daphne is described by The Guardian as a tour de force as an investigative blogger:
A blogger whose posts often attracted more readers than the combined circulation of the country’s newspapers, Caruana Galizia was recently described by the Politico website as a “one-woman WikiLeaks”. Her blogs were a thorn in the side of both the establishment and underworld figures that hold sway in Europe’s smallest member state.
Galizia is said to of had no political affiliations and has been a harsh critic of political and financial corruption involving the Maltese political establishment, the banking sector, individuals and corporations hiding wealth in offshore accounts and even her country's gaming industry.
The blogger's latest work focused largely on the Prime Minister of Malta, Joseph Muscat, and several member of his inner circle. Galazia had tied Muscat and his aides to offshore companies, payments from the Azerbajani government and the purchase of Maltese passports.
Prime Minister Muscat has roundly condemned the brutal murder stating:
“Everyone knows Ms Caruana Galizia was a harsh critic of mine, both politically and personally, but nobody can justify this barbaric act in any way”
Reaction to the Targeted Killing
Followers of Galazia's work have reacted with outrage and indignation of the deplorable killing of the respected journalist, blogger and citizen. Her murder shows all the signs of being politically motivated as her investigative work as garnered a significant amount of enemies and detractors.
Across the internet people have already begun to speculate as to who may be behind the brutal attack. The names of prominent figures such as the Clintons, Vladimir Putin, the PM of Malta and slew of individuals implicated in the Panama Papers have already started to circulate.
Wikileaks
Wikileaks Chief Editor, Julian Assange, has posted a 20, 000 Euro reward for information related to the political assassination.
The murder occurred not long after Assange hinted at a new release. In the last 24 hours, Julian Assange uncharacteristically tweeted several personal opinions in regards to failed US presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. Assange described Clinton as "Dark, Cold and Creepy".
In addition, Assange released a hash that has some speculating that the publisher drop a new leak in the days to come. There's talk of passkeys to the encrypted Insurance files from the last year and their contents may be released. Speculation has been rampant as to what the files contain.
Could they contain Clinton's unreleased and unredacted emails?
Is this a message to leakers and would be leakers?
Related Post - see @fortified's latest -
@fortified/more-clinton-dnc-emails-or-something-big-is-about-to-go-down
Vigil for Daphne
