Economy Minister Chris Cardona has singled out the trust Joseph Muscat placed in “people who are intrinsically wrong” as a weakness of the outgoing Prime Minister.

“He had his weaknesses as do all of us,” Cardona said on Pjazza tonight. “We all put our trust in people and sometimes we trust people who are intrinsically wrong, people we defend but who then pay us back with bad behaviour. People who misguide us, people whose aim isn’t noble, whose aim isn’t the common good or the national interest.”

Although Cardona didn’t mention any names, this appeared to be a clear reference to Muscat’s former chief of staff Keith Schembri, who was recently arrested in connection with the assassination of Daphne Caruana Galizia after being implicated by main suspect Yorgen Fenech. Schembri has since been released, while Fenech has been prosecuted.

Cardona suspended himself in light of ongoing police investigations into the murder but was reinstated earlier today.

Meanwhile, reports also emerged that Schembri and Fenech had plotted to blame Cardona for Caruana Galizia’s assassination.

After criticising Muscat for trusting the wrong people, Cardona said the Prime Minister is ultimately a just person who treats everyone fairly.

“This is a wound that has inflicted everyone who loves the Labour Party but it is a wound we must learn from, a tough learning curve. We have been left with tears in our eyes because [Muscat] was a leader we believed in and worked with and who believed in us, a leader who left results that will be engrained in Malta’s history. Malta’s quality of life is much better now than it was seven years ago.”