The Maltese journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia, murdered a year ago, has been posthumously awarded the Transparency International Anti-Corruption Award. Also honored at the event in Copenhagen was the Spanish whistleblower Ana Garrido Ramos, whose notes revealed how deeply the former ruling People’s Party was involved in a corruption scandal. The goal of the non-profit, non-governmental organisation based in Berlin is to combat corruption worldwide.
Caruana Galizia, a fierce blogger in Malta who had made many enemies, was killed on October 16, 2017 with a remote-controlled car bomb outside her home. She was 53 years old. Three men were charged as perpetrators, however the sponsors of her murder remain unknown. Her husband and one of her three sons accepted the award last week. The jury emphasized their commitment to uncovering corruption scandals “involving influential politicians and others in Malta and abroad.”
Garrido Ramos is a former employee of the municipality of Boadilla del Monte near Madrid, who in 2009 forwarded a dossier on suspicious payments to a trade union. It triggered an investigation that revealed how members of the Conservative People’s Party received kickbacks for public procurement. The corruption scandal shook the party so hard that Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy had to resign in June 2018.
