A forensic lab in the Netherlands is analysing the infamous letter which was allegedly given to the prime suspect in the Daphne Caruana Galizia murder to tell him how to pin the assassination on former Economy Minister Chris Cardona.

In a wide-ranging interview with Lovin Malta, parts of which were published last week, Cardona said he had asked the Maltese police for a forensic analysis of the letter but was originally told that they were unable to extract any information from it because it had been “tampered with”.

“Subsequently, I got to know that this letter was sent for forensic analysis abroad,” Cardona said. “I believe it was sent to the Netherlands to one of the forensic labs there. But as yet, I don’t have any information about the results.”

Cardona said he believes the letter was not written by one person and that whoever wrote it was close enough to him to know his whereabouts, the places he frequented and his close contacts.

The letter was passed on to prime murder suspect Yorgen Fenech by Keith Schembri, the former Chief of Staff of the Prime Minister, via their mutual doctor Adrian Vella, according to police inspector Keith Arnaud.

In his interviews last week, Cardona held back from pinning his suspicions on Schembri, saying he did not have any evidence to substantiate this claim. He also told Times of Malta he did not think Schembri would “go that far”.

Interestingly, last December it emerged that Cardona had fallen out with Schembri’s lawyer Edward Gatt, after Gatt became partners with Schembri’s other lawyer Mark Vassallo, the person to whom Cardona left his entire legal firm when he became Minister in 2013.

This merger was done behind Cardona’s back, who only got to know about it in June 2019 and was furious at both of them for having betrayed his trust, sources had told Lovin Malta.

When he had been asked about his relationship with Gatt, Cardona had told Lovin Malta: “We don’t meet any longer. Our friendship goes way back but we have grown apart. We haven’t spoken for weeks.

I respect his job. I know he is a lawyer and he has to do his job, obviously within ethical parameters.” Asked if he would consider using Gatt’s services in the future, Cardona had said: “I have no problem. But I don’t think he would accept.”

That week, Cardona had urged the Labour Party to oust Schembri, prompting him to step down.

Cardona, who is no longer an MP but is still the Deputy Leader of the Labour Party, was interviewed last week in the wake of revelations in court that he passed on money to the men who killed Caruana Galizia. In court, it was also claimed that Cardona was hospitalised with an overdose after Caruana Galizia was killed.

Cardona has vehemently denied having a financial relationship with the Degiorgio brothers, who are currently awaiting trial for the murder of Caruana Galizia. He also denied ever being hospitalised with an overdose and claimed he never abused of any drugs in his life.

He says the middleman in the murder, Melvin Theuma, who was granted a Presidential pardon to shed light on the case, was duped into believing that Cardona was involved.

Schembri has not been charged with any involvement in the murder. Cardona was only questioned once.

What do you make of these revelations?