Maltese Police Inspector James Turner, testifying before the judiciary of his country, confirmed that the police did not investigate the Maltese fuel companies that transferred funds to companies owned by Darren Debono and Jeffrey Chetottky, as part of the investigations into fuel smuggling from Libya, noting that no attempts were made to contact them by Libyan authorities.
The inspector explained that the focus during the investigations was on banking transactions, as he reported on many transactions involving companies owned by the defendants.
He denied that he had visited Libya or assigned anyone to follow up on the progress of the investigations, adding that no one from the other investigation team led by Inspector Caruana had done so.
Turner stated that bank accounts in five banks were examined by investigators who also prepared profiles for Debono and his partners, in addition to looking at private accounts that were closed due to their relationship to the incident as well as working between 2013 and 2020, as well as examining purchases of vehicles and ships. He pointed out that Customs documents related to fuel import and receipts, issued by related companies, also formed part of the investigation.
The police inspector revealed that Debono had told his bank that the intention behind these transactions was to withdraw cash from his account and use it in Libya, noting that the documents he requested had been handed over to the police and that the reason for the payments from Malta appeared to be for the purchase of oil.
It is worth noting that Turner also made it clear during his testimony that he took over the investigation into fuel smuggling after being assigned to the probe in 2020, succeeding Inspector Antonovich who had been leading the investigation since 2013. The new inspector said that he had started the investigation from scratch after he took over the task.
