"My friends and colleagues in Rome decided to suggest that I immediately leave Rome and find a place, they offered a place where I could stay away." The speaker is Joseph Mifsud, the Maltese professor at the center of the Russiagate - or Spygate in his Italian developments - who has been missing since the end of October of the 2017. These at least would be his words, transcribed on paper, printed by pc, pronounced in the "deposition" - the famous "ribbon" - made by Mifsud in his lawyer's Zurich office, Stephan Roh, in May last year.
The Adnkronos obtained directly from the lawyer Roh a part of the transcription of that 'vowel' that our 007 told the Copasir that they had never heard, adding that they had asked the FBI in Rome for an account and had negative replies from the attorney general William Barr on Italy's involvement.
The audio of the deposition and the transcription of the same, Roh maintains, are now in the hands of the prosecutor John Durham, who, on Barr's mandate, is conducting the investigation (now criminal) on the genesis of the FBI investigation into the campaign 2016 by Donald Trump.
In his Zurich studio, the Adnkronos asked the lawyer directly to be able to listen to the audio but the lawyer refused to listen, delivering us some sheets with the "faithful transcription" of what his client would have said in the registration. With all due caution, we must therefore adhere to what is delivered to us by the lawyer.
The place "out of the way" mentioned by Mifsud in the tape, Roh argues, is a house in a town in the Marche, in which the Maltese professor hid or "was made to hide" starting from 31 October of 2017, when his name appeared in the media around the world, such as that of the "foreign professor" who after a meeting in March 2016 at the Roman Link University, had offered George Papadopoulos, then consultant of the Trump campaign, "dirty" material on Hillary Clinton.
Part of the transcription of the tape with the voice of Mifsud, given to the Adnkronos by the lawyer of the Maltese professor, continues as follows: "I stayed there for over two months - it is still Mifsud to speak - I spent these two months thinking about how to recover the my health, which was one of the most important things and also time to gather my ideas and points of view on what had actually happened ". For the professor, it is "also important to point out that my friends and colleagues in Rome had also asked for advice, advice at the national level, on how I should manage the situation".
"I was made to understand very clearly - it is always written in the Mifsud transcript provided by his defender - that it was better if I had been out of the spotlight for a while. One of the arguments that had been advanced was that this thing would die within a few months and that I could return and continue my work and my activities ". This "topic", says Mifsud in the statement, "I was told not only in Italy, but also in London. Also because we were on the eve of the signing of new agreements to build relations between the United Kingdom and Italy in the academic field ".
At this point the literal transcription of the words of the Maltese professor is not very clear, but it follows that "friends and colleagues" of Mifsud and also some of his "professional contacts in Europe" believed that the professor "was not safe".
In Mifsud it is therefore suggested to stay "out of the spotlight" and "concentrate" on recovering his health.
We continue to read: "At this stage I had a blow to the heart for what had happened," says the professor, evidently referring to the sudden appearance of his name on the Russiagate stage. "This - says Mifsud - is essentially the period in which I did not intentionally hide because (incomprehensible) one of the best ways to explain this is actually that the people who knew me could actually subscribe to what I am going to say, that I had worked very hard, worked (incomprehensible), traveled, made meetings and participated in meetings (probably conferences, ed), I had just attended an important meeting on (incomprehensible) in two different countries ".
The professor still seems to lament the fact of having to hide, apparently, not of his will. "There was absolutely no reason for me to hide", but at the same time, it is always written in the transcription provided by Roh, "I could no longer be in sight because of the heart (but the transcription is not clear, ed) is the number one advice I received from friends and colleagues ".
In this transcript Mifsud does not mention names, but reports that his "friends and colleagues" from whom he received the "advice" to disappear from the scene "are not people who are not involved in international relations" but are people with "international relations or with an international reputation including some ministers, ex-ministers etc. " Finally, says Mifsud according to the transcript, "I feared for my life. So, it was necessary for me to stay away for a while ... ".