{"id":168150,"date":"2021-03-22T12:38:38","date_gmt":"2021-03-22T19:38:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=168150"},"modified":"2021-03-22T13:04:59","modified_gmt":"2021-03-22T20:04:59","slug":"collusion-alleged-between-mga-and-casino-owner-murder-suspect","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/collusion-alleged-between-mga-and-casino-owner-murder-suspect\/","title":{"rendered":"Collusion Alleged Between Maltese Gaming Regulator and Casino Owner Murder Suspect"},"content":{"rendered":"

A Malta Gaming Authority (MGA) official helped the casino owner accused<\/a> of masterminding the murder of a prominent Maltese journalist to draft a letter to get a gaming license extension, The Times of Malta<\/em> reports.<\/p>\n

\"Yorgen
Best of friends: Yorgen Fenech (left) and Joseph Cuschieri clown around on Fenech\u2019s yacht. (Image: Times of Malta)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This is the latest allegation of collusion between Malta\u2019s gaming regulator and Yorgen Fenech, who was the biggest casino owner in the Mediterranean nation until his 2019 arrest in connection with the murder of Daphne Caruana Galizia.<\/a><\/p>\n

Emails seen by the Times<\/em> show that in 2015, Edwina Licari, the MGA\u2019s legal counsel, ghostwrote a letter for Fenech requesting a license extension for the Portomaso casino, owned by Fenech\u2019s Tumas Gaming Group. The letter was then printed off on a Tumas Gaming letterhead, signed by Fenech, and sent to Licari\u2019s boss, then MGA chief executive Joseph Cuschieri.<\/p>\n

Cuschieri was fully aware Licari was the real author, because he had been cc\u2019d in on the email thread between Licari and Fenech. Weeks later, Cuschieri wrote to Fenech to say the license would be renewed.<\/p>\n

Cuschieri Denial <\/strong><\/h2>\n

The decision was controversial. In 2017, a rival casino operator, Dragonara Gaming, sued the MGA, claiming the extension was illegal because there should have been a competitive process allowing additional parties to bid for the license.<\/p>\n

When contacted by the Times<\/em> this week, Cuschieri denied there had been any collusion between himself and Fenech, adding that the letter in question had no bearing on the license renewal.<\/p>\n

In May 2018, both Cuschieri and Licari enjoyed an all-expenses-paid trip to Las Vegas with Fenech to advise him on \u201cregulatory matters,\u201d the Times<\/em> discovered.<\/p>\n

\n

Cuschieri has also admitted having lunch on board Fenech\u2019s yacht in August 2019, three months before his arrest.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Fenech is alleged to have organized Galizia\u2019s 2017 car bomb killing via a middleman, Melvin Theuma. It was done possibly to prevent her exposing that a government contract to build a power station in Malta may have been corruptly awarded to Fenech\u2019s company.<\/p>\n

Government Implodes<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Fenech\u2019s arrest ultimately brought down the government. Revelations that a company Fenech controlled had been preparing to make large payments into shell accounts owned by Malta\u2019s former energy minister and the prime minister\u2019s chief of staff triggered resignations, including that of then-Prime Minister Joseph Muscat.<\/p>\n

The trial of Fenech and three others accused of Galizia\u2019s murder is ongoing.<\/p>\n

Earlier this month, the Times<\/em> revealed that Cuschieri\u2019s successor, Heathcliff Farrugia<\/a>, had quietly resigned last January after he was accused of trading in influence with Fenech.<\/p>\n

Police investigating Galizia\u2019s murder found incriminating conversations on Fenech\u2019s phone. Those indicated Farrugia had provided Fenech with commercially sensitive information concerning rival casino operators. Farrugia also leaked details of an anti-money laundering investigation that was being carried out on the Portomaso Casino, according to the Times.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A Malta Gaming Authority (MGA) official helped the casino owner accused of masterminding the murder of a prominent Maltese journalist to draft a letter to get a gaming license extension, The Times of Malta reports. This is the latest allegation of collusion between Malta\u2019s gaming regulator and Yorgen Fenech, who was the biggest casino owner […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":168151,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21,13592],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nCollusion Alleged Between MGA and Casino Owner Murder Suspect<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Joseph Cuschieri, former head of MGA, and Edwina Licari, the MGA\u2019s legal counsel, alleged to have colluded with Yorgen Fenech.\" \/>\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\/collusion-alleged-between-mga-and-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=\"Collusion Alleged Between MGA and Casino Owner Murder Suspect\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Joseph Cuschieri, former head of MGA, and Edwina Licari, the MGA\u2019s legal counsel, alleged to have colluded with Yorgen Fenech.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/collusion-alleged-between-mga-and-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=\"2021-03-22T19:38:38+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-03-22T20:04:59+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/fenech.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"863\" \/>\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=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/collusion-alleged-between-mga-and-casino-owner-murder-suspect\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/collusion-alleged-between-mga-and-casino-owner-murder-suspect\/\",\"name\":\"Collusion Alleged Between MGA and Casino Owner Murder Suspect\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/collusion-alleged-between-mga-and-casino-owner-murder-suspect\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/collusion-alleged-between-mga-and-casino-owner-murder-suspect\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/fenech.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-03-22T19:38:38+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-03-22T20:04:59+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/58769b72851c8cf117fb58ca150ebf8b\"},\"description\":\"Joseph Cuschieri, former head of MGA, and Edwina Licari, the MGA\u2019s legal counsel, alleged to have colluded with Yorgen Fenech.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/collusion-alleged-between-mga-and-casino-owner-murder-suspect\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/collusion-alleged-between-mga-and-casino-owner-murder-suspect\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/collusion-alleged-between-mga-and-casino-owner-murder-suspect\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/fenech.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/fenech.jpg\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":863,\"caption\":\"Best of friends: Yorgen Fenech (left) and Joseph Cuschieri clown around on Fenech\u2019s yacht. 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