Ep. 414: Fighting for Truth and Justice

Guest: Matthew Caruana Galizia

In the afternoon hours of October 16th 2017 in Bidnija, Malta, the car of investigative reporter Daphne Caruana Galizia was ripped apart by a powerful bomb.

“My mother had to go to the bank, she left the house and then I heard the explosion,” said Matthew Caruana Galizia in an interview for the Allard Prize for International Integrity. His mother was a fearless Maltese journalist who was assassinated for ceaselessly uncovering corruption in her country. Her car was found more than a city block from the ignition point of the blast. It was a powerful message to anyone who dared to expose corruption at the highest level in Malta.

In recent news, one of the men accused on the bombing has confessed saying, had he known who she was he would have asked for money to kill her. According to “The Guardian”, George Degiorgio said, “if I knew, I would have gone for 10 million, not 150,000” Euros. He went on to say, “for me it was just business. Of course I feel sorry.”

When the Panama Papers were released, Caruana Galizia traced millions of dollars back to the power elite in Malta. Despite increasing intimidation and threats she dug into the details of the money and those behind it. Her blog was extremely popular and had subscription rates that eclipsed the major media outlets in the country.

Matthew says, “Journalists in Malta were expected to cover up for powerful people, to partake in the culture of silence, and my mother refused to do that. This put her in an ultra minority.” Fellow Maltese blogger Manuel Delia says, “When political parties are threatened by a journalist, they will isolate them, dehumanize them. In the case of Daphne, they will demonise her.” In an interview before her death Daphne said, “They have made me into what is in effect a national scapegoat.”

Daphne Caruana Galizia is the posthumous co-winner of the Peter A. Allard Prize For International Integrity, which was awarded in Vancouver on October 21, 2020. We invited her son Matthew to join us for a Conversation That Matters about the unveiling of corruption and the high price Daphne paid for her brave pursuit of the truth.