{"id":330479,"date":"2024-09-12T16:26:25","date_gmt":"2024-09-12T21:26:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=330479"},"modified":"2024-09-12T16:26:25","modified_gmt":"2024-09-12T21:26:25","slug":"ex-mga-chief-conviction-upheld-for-tipping-off-casino-owner-murder-suspect","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/ex-mga-chief-conviction-upheld-for-tipping-off-casino-owner-murder-suspect\/","title":{"rendered":"Ex-MGA Chief Conviction Upheld for Tipping Off Casino Owner Murder Suspect"},"content":{"rendered":"

Former Malta Gaming Authority (MGA) chief executive Heathcliff Farrugia saw his conviction for corruption<\/a> upheld on appeal this week.<\/p>\n

\"Heathcliffe
As MGA chief Heathcliff Farrugia was in charge of one of the world\u2019s foremost online gaming hubs. But his relationship with Caruana Galizia murder suspect, Jorgen Fenech, was a little too cozy. (Image: MGA)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Farrugia was found guilty in May of unlawfully disclosing information he had obtained by virtue of his office and revealing professional secrets. That was for tipping off casino owner Yorgen Fenech<\/a> in September 2019 that an anti-money laundering investigation was about to be conducted at a rival casino.<\/p>\n

Two months later, Fenech, one of Malta\u2019s richest men, was arrested as he tried to flee the island on his yacht. He was charged with complicity in the murder of anti-corruption journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia who was killed in a car bomb attack in 2017.<\/p>\n

Fenech, who at the time owned the Portomaso Casino in the resort town Saint Julian\u2019s, is currently awaiting trial for the murder.<\/p>\n

Incriminating Texts<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Analysis of Fenech\u2019s phone after his arrest revealed conversations with Farrugia concerning rival casino operators that incriminated the regulator.<\/p>\n

In texts exchanged between the two men on September 23, 2019, Fenech expressed his dissatisfaction with a recent money laundering review of the Portomaso Casino, which he said had tarnished the business\u2019 reputation.<\/p>\n

Farrugia responded by saying he would delay the release of the accompanying compliance report until a forthcoming investigation of Casino Malta, owned by Fenech\u2019s business rival, Eden Leisure Group, was completed.<\/p>\n

\n

On Tuesday, Justice Neville Camilleri of Malta\u2019s Court of Criminal Appeal confirmed Farrugia\u2019s three-year suspended sentence, determining that the lower court\u2019s decision had been correct.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

As MGA chief, Farrugia was charged with overseeing one of the world\u2019s foremost online gaming hubs. He resigned quietly in October 2022, shortly after police questioned him about his conversations with Fenech.<\/p>\n

The Times of Malta<\/em>\u00a0has suggested the charges against Farrugia were initially hushed up to avoid tarnishing the reputation of the gaming industry.<\/p>\n

Widespread Corruption <\/strong><\/h2>\n

Prosecutors believe Caruana Galizia was murdered because she was looking into a government contract to build a power station, which she believed had been corruptly awarded by the Maltese government to Fenech\u2019s company,\u00a0Electroglas.<\/p>\n

She had discovered that a Dubai-registered company mentioned in the Panama Papers leak, 17 Black, planned to make a payment of $2 million to two offshore shell companies. These were owned by Keith Schembri, the former aide of then-Prime Minister Joseph Muscat, and Konrad Mizzi, the former Energy Minister.<\/p>\n

Journalists who took up the investigation after Caruana Galizia\u2019s death discovered that 17 Black was controlled by Fenech.<\/p>\n

\n

Brothers Alfred Degiorgio and George Degiorgio were each sentenced to 40 years in prison for planning and planting the bomb, along with their associate, Vince Muscat, who received 15 years.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

A so-called middleman, Melvin Theuma, named Fenech as the mastermind behind the killing. Fenech claims Schembri was the orchestrator.<\/p>\n

The scandal caused a political meltdown in Malta, laying bare the corruption endemic in the island\u2019s politics and business sector and leading to Muscat\u2019s resignation as prime minister.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Former Malta Gaming Authority (MGA) chief executive Heathcliff Farrugia saw his conviction for corruption upheld on appeal this week. Farrugia was found guilty in May of unlawfully disclosing information he had obtained by virtue of his office and revealing professional secrets. That was for tipping off casino owner Yorgen Fenech in September 2019 that an […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":330480,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21,13592],"tags":[88472,92306,92307],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nEx-MGA Chief Conviction Upheld for Tipping Off Casino Owner Murder Suspect<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Ex-Malta Gaming Authority chief Heathcliffe Farrugia\u2019s sentence upheld for Caruana Galizia murder suspect Jorgen Fenech texts.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/ex-mga-chief-conviction-upheld-for-tipping-off-casino-owner-murder-suspect\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Ex-MGA Chief Conviction Upheld for Tipping Off Casino Owner Murder Suspect\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Ex-Malta Gaming Authority chief Heathcliffe Farrugia\u2019s sentence upheld for Caruana Galizia murder suspect Jorgen Fenech texts.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/ex-mga-chief-conviction-upheld-for-tipping-off-casino-owner-murder-suspect\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Casino.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-09-12T21:26:25+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/h-farrugia.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1000\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"562\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Philip Conneller\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@casinoorgphilc\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Philip Conneller\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/ex-mga-chief-conviction-upheld-for-tipping-off-casino-owner-murder-suspect\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/ex-mga-chief-conviction-upheld-for-tipping-off-casino-owner-murder-suspect\/\",\"name\":\"Ex-MGA Chief Conviction Upheld for Tipping Off Casino Owner Murder Suspect\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/ex-mga-chief-conviction-upheld-for-tipping-off-casino-owner-murder-suspect\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/ex-mga-chief-conviction-upheld-for-tipping-off-casino-owner-murder-suspect\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/h-farrugia.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-09-12T21:26:25+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-09-12T21:26:25+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/58769b72851c8cf117fb58ca150ebf8b\"},\"description\":\"Ex-Malta Gaming Authority chief Heathcliffe Farrugia\u2019s sentence upheld for Caruana Galizia murder suspect Jorgen Fenech texts.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/ex-mga-chief-conviction-upheld-for-tipping-off-casino-owner-murder-suspect\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/ex-mga-chief-conviction-upheld-for-tipping-off-casino-owner-murder-suspect\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/ex-mga-chief-conviction-upheld-for-tipping-off-casino-owner-murder-suspect\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/h-farrugia.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/h-farrugia.jpg\",\"width\":1000,\"height\":562,\"caption\":\"As MGA chief Heathcliffe Farrugia was in charge of one of the world\u2019s foremost online gaming hubs. 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