Vince Muscat, one of the men charged with carrying out the assassination of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia, has pleaded guilty to charges regarding his role in the murder.

Muscat changed his plea during a sitting in front of a court of appeal. Sources suggested that Muscat is now cooperating with the police and is expected to be handed a lighter sentence. 

Muscat will be sentenced later today.

In exchange, Muscat will testify in the case against George Degiorgio and Alfred Degiorgio, the two brothers who were also charged with carrying out the murder of Caruana Galizia. 

Last week, Muscat advised the court that he was going withdraw his appeal from a criminal court ruling that rejected 118 exceptions raised by Muscat and his lawyer.

Muscat has been angling for a pardon or reduced sentence for the better of three years, insisting that he could provide crucial information on the assassination, several other murders, a notorious HSBC heist, and other crimes.

Sources suggested that Muscat could be able to provide information that could implicate the suspected bomb makers. 

He had requested a pardon in return for information on the Caruana Galizia murder, which will reportedly implicate suspected bomb makers Robert Agius and Jamie Vella, and other serious crimes.

Muscat, colloquially known as Il-Koħħu, has also allegedly implicated a sitting minister in a “very serious” crime to investigators.

He was previously arrested and charged in connection with an attempted heist of HSBC’s Qormi branch in 2010, which is linked to the Degiorgio brothers. He is allegedly linked to a €1 million hold-up in 2007 and an attempted hold-up of a security van carrying €2.8 million. The masterminds remain unknown.

Given their murder of Caruana Galizia, there are also questions as to whether the men were involved in the spate of car bombings that occurred in the lead-up to the assassination.

There had been 19 car bombs between 2010 and 2017. With practically all of the victims linked to the criminal underworld, they were often forgotten by the Maltese public while authorities found many dead ends.

The last fatal one was Caruana Galizia. There have been no car bombs since, barring a failed attempt in Fgura, which quickly led to arrests.

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