LONDON: An investigative journalist killed by a car bomb in Malta had worked to expose the sale of hundreds of passports to non-EU nationals.
Maltese reporter Daphne Caruana Galizia was known for campaigning against corruption and had reported on the government sale of passports before she was killed by a car bomb on Monday in the town of Bidnija, near her family home.
According to media reports 53-year-old Galizia filed a police report 15 days ago claiming that she was being threatened but the nature of the complaints have not been disclosed.
In her last blog post, published just hours before she died, she bemoaned the lack of progress in prosecuting alleged corruption cases.
“There are crooks everywhere you look now. The situation is desperate,” she wrote.
Galizia was known for her investigative journalism and her blog, called Running Commentary, was one of the most widely-read websites in Malta.
The journalist has been sued many times for her posts in which she revealed several corruption scandals involving Maltese politicians.
In 2016, she was named by Politico as one of “28 people who are shaping, shaking and stirring Europe.”
International Federation of Journalists President Philippe Leruth, said in a statement: ”The murder of Daphne Caruana Galizia leaves the journalism community in shock.
“We demand immediate investigation into her killing as this brutal assassination is a clear attack against press freedom. We send our deepest sympathy to Daphné’s family.”
Malta has issued hundreds of passports to non-EU nationals in exchange for huge sums of cash over the last two years – often to people from the Middle East seeking access to the EU.
Steve Goodwich, research manager at Transparency International UK, said he has noted an increased trend of rich Eastern countries “seeking favor and impunity” from EU jurisdictions.
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Murdered reporter had been investigating passports for sale in Malta
Murdered reporter had been investigating passports for sale in Malta
Police target Ukrainians and Russian in ransomware probe
BERLIN: Police have carried out raids against two members of a ransomware group known as “Black Basta” in Ukraine, and issued an arrest warrant for its Russian head, German prosecutors said Thursday.
The group is accused of using malware to encrypt systems and then demanding money to restore them.
Between March 2022 and February 2025, its members extorted hundreds of millions of euros from around 600 companies and public institutions around the world, the prosecutors said in a statement.
The victims were mainly “companies in Western industrialized nations” but also included hospitals and other public institutions.
As part of a coordinated operation between Germany, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Ukraine and Britain, police searched the homes of two Ukrainian suspects and seized evidence, the prosecutors said.
Investigators have also identified and issued an arrest warrant for a Russian citizen accused of being the founder and head of the group, they said.
German police named the suspect as Oleg Evgenievich Nefedov, 35.
Nefedov “decided on targets, recruited employees, assigned them tasks, participated in ransom negotiations, managed the proceeds and used them to pay the members of the group,” the police said.
The searches in Ivano-Frankivsk and Lviv were directed against suspected members of the group accused of so-called hash cracking, a method of guessing passwords.
Ukrainian officials also searched the home of another member of the group near Kharkiv in August, whose job was allegedly to help ensure the malware was not detected by antivirus programs.
Black Basta extorted some 20 million euros ($23 million) from around 100 companies and institutions in Germany alone, the prosecutors said.
The group is accused of using malware to encrypt systems and then demanding money to restore them.
Between March 2022 and February 2025, its members extorted hundreds of millions of euros from around 600 companies and public institutions around the world, the prosecutors said in a statement.
The victims were mainly “companies in Western industrialized nations” but also included hospitals and other public institutions.
As part of a coordinated operation between Germany, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Ukraine and Britain, police searched the homes of two Ukrainian suspects and seized evidence, the prosecutors said.
Investigators have also identified and issued an arrest warrant for a Russian citizen accused of being the founder and head of the group, they said.
German police named the suspect as Oleg Evgenievich Nefedov, 35.
Nefedov “decided on targets, recruited employees, assigned them tasks, participated in ransom negotiations, managed the proceeds and used them to pay the members of the group,” the police said.
The searches in Ivano-Frankivsk and Lviv were directed against suspected members of the group accused of so-called hash cracking, a method of guessing passwords.
Ukrainian officials also searched the home of another member of the group near Kharkiv in August, whose job was allegedly to help ensure the malware was not detected by antivirus programs.
Black Basta extorted some 20 million euros ($23 million) from around 100 companies and institutions in Germany alone, the prosecutors said.
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