Tiziano Mousu says: “Go away and leave me alone! I’m not obliged to speak to you. I’m honorary, so mind your own business.”

I have just obtained the mobile telephone number of Tiziano Mousu, Malta’s honorary consul in Montenegro, from somebody I know who is chasing him for an unpaid debt of a few thousand euros.

What follows is the best transcript I can give you, considering the situation.

Me: Hello, is that Tiziano Mousu?

TM (cautiously): Yes.

Me: This is Daphne Caruana Galizia. I…

TM: I don’t need to talk to you.

He rings off abruptly. I immediately dial his number again. He answers (incredibly).

TM: I said I don’t need to talk to you and I am not obliged to talk to you.

Me: I’m afraid you are. You are Malta’s honorary consul and are obliged to answer questions in respect of that role.

TM (voice escalating): No, I’m not! I’m honorary! Didn’t you say I’m honorary? Mela then I’m honorary! I don’t have to speak to you, all right. I don’t represent the government of Malta, all right. Go away and leave me alone! And mind your own business.”

Me: I’d appreciate it if you didn’t shout and let me get a word in.

TM: Mind your own business! What are you doing interfering in Montenegro? What does Malta have to do with Montenegro? Why are you inventing things and lying? Even your friends rang me to tell me to ignore you.

Me: You have no idea who my friends are.

TM: Even Francis Zammit Dimech rang me to say that it’s not true that you phoned him! Stop lying about me. Why are you writing about me? Tonio Borg appointed me, OK!

When the conversation ended, I immediately rang Francis Zammit Dimech, who said that he did not ring Tiziano Mousu or speak to him. Tonio Borg had earlier denied all knowledge of him. Mousu was appointed one day before Borg’s end of tenure as Foreign Minister, but he had been absent for a while before that, going through the approvals process to be made European Commissioner.

Me: Let’s stick to the subject. I remember you as restaurant manager at the Fortina Hotel and you were an employee there right up until November 2012, when you were appointed honorary consul. So what are you doing for money in Montenegro, seeing as you were a hotel employee up to that point?

TM: Go away! I don’t need to talk to you, OK! It’s none of your business, all right! I have been living in Montenegro for years!

Me: No, you haven’t. You were living in Malta and working for Michael Zammit Tabona until less than four years ago.

TM: Yes, I have. Yes, I have! But anyway even when I was living in Malta I used to go to Montenegro all the time.

Me: Oh, really, what for? On business for the Fortina Hotel, maybe?

TM: I don’t have to talk to you! I’m well connected here! I have a business! I run a business!

Me: Yes, I was about to ask you that. Why is the address listed on Malta’s Foreign Ministry website, for your honorary consulate in Montenegro, that of an igaming company?

TM: It isn’t! Stop lying about me! You’re a liar! It’s not an igaming company! It isn’t, all right!

Me: So, what is it then? I couldn’t understand the young lady who answered the phone. But she said it was a company. What company is it?

TM: It’s called Nimont.

Me: Yes, that sounds like what she said. How do you spell it?

TM: NIMONT! NIMONT! N I M O N T.

Me: What business does it do?

TM: What do you mean, what do you mean? It’s not your business.

Me: Of course it is. I think the people of Malta need to know what sort of business the Maltese honorary consulate in Montenegro is registered at.

TM: Cement, OK? We import and sell cement, stones and construction materials.

Me (resisting the temptation to say “the perfect front business for organised crime in a country like Montenegro”): Big change from managing hotel restaurants in Malta. So how did you get into running a construction materials business in Montenegro straight from working as a hotel employee in Malta?

TM: It’s my business! I own it! I run it!

Me: That’s what I’m concerned about: that you were able to set up in business in construction materials in Montenegro straight off a hotel employee’s salary in Malta.

TM: Go away! I don’t need to talk to you.

He rings off.