Labour MEP Miriam Dalli has denied ever meeting Yorgen Fenech, the businessman charged with the murder of Daphne Caruana Galizia.

Lovin Malta spoke to Dalli because she served as Communications Advisor to then Energy Minister Konrad Mizzi between 2013 and 2014.

Mizzi, together with the Prime Minister’s Chief of Staff Keith Schembri are embroiled in a corruption scandal involving secret companies in Panama and Dubai.

Fenech, who was one of the shareholders of the privatised LNG power station, was planning to pay $5,000 per day into the Panama companies of Mizzi and Schembri through his secret Dubai company 17 Black.

Before becoming an MEP, Dalli’s job was consultant to Mizzi for stakeholder management and communications.

“I used to have meetings with the communities in Marsaxlokk, the businesses in the area, environmental NGOs, residents, etc. I was always involved in the project because I believed it was a project that would help us make a huge leap forward. I don’t believe in fossil fuels and this was the cleanest source of energy we could use.”

Dalli, who is one of the favourites to replace Joseph Muscat as Labour leader and Prime Minister, was not a civil service employee but had a contract worth “around €40,000” per year.

Dalli said it was Mizzi who had originally called her in to offer her the job. She denied that Schembri had any involvement whatsoever.

Asked how she feels today and whether she believes Mizzi and Schembri are corrupt, Dalli said: “Ask them. I will not defend anyone. I defend what’s good. I cannot defend what is wrong. I stay away from what is wrong.”

“Do you think I would have been involved if I knew of these things? Come on. I stand for different things. I never did anything I thought was wrong.”

Asked to describe her relationship with OPM employee Neville Gafa – a close ally of Schembri – Dalli said she had no relationship with him and has only met him a few times at Castille or during political activities.

Dalli was also asked about a selfie making the rounds on WhatsApp which shows her husband John Vella with Gafa.

“If John saw someone at a political activity and took a selfie it does not make him dirty,” she said.