Remember Lino Cauchi

At this stage, I should say that Karl Cini and Brian Tonna might well be at risk of ending up like Lino Cauchi, the accountant whose remains were found in a disused well, sawn into bits (he was killed with a savage blow to the head, and dismembered within 30 minutes of his death), three years after he disappeared after leaving home with his briefcase in 1982. He was 32.

The case has never been solved, except that it isn’t much of a mystery. Cauchi was the key accountant to certain individuals in the government and outside it who were involved in the massive land-grab corruption of those years. He was privy to a great deal of corrupt deals, particularly involving the Tal-Hawsla individuals, one of whose descendants famously hosted the Prime Minister for coffee (in an empty cup) for his New Year video message this year.

When his remains were discovered, Piju Camilleri Tal-Hawsla denied even knowing him, but two witnesses said clearly that he was his accountant.

Lino Cauchi was dealt a hard blow to the side of his head with a mallet. His skull was fractured in 28 places. His body was then cut up with two saws, one electric and one manual (which indicates that two people were involved), and the pieces were put into plastic bags and thrown into the empty well along with the murder weapon.

Cauchi’s wife was pregnant at the time.

And the people who did it – both those who committed the actual murder and chopped up the body, and the ones who got them to do it – got away with it. They may still be among us now and still blackmailing each other.