Joseph Muscat Denies Prior Knowledge Of Plot To Assassinate Daphne Caruana Galizia
Prime Minister Joseph Muscat has categorically denied having had any prior knowledge of the plot to assassinate Daphne Caruana Galizia.
“What I can say is that I absolutely had no knowledge of the murder, of the plot, beforehand,” the outgoing Prime Minister said today, while he was doorstepped by Times of Malta on his way to Castille.
PM Joseph Muscat denies prior knowledge of Daphne murder plot, refuses to say if he is still in touch with Keith Schembri https://t.co/dOpczaS3cH pic.twitter.com/O1Gt3SG5pg
— Jacob Borg (@BorgJake) December 5, 2019
However, he refused to state outright whether he believes his former chief of staff Keith Schembri had prior knowledge about the murder, as has been alleged by murder suspect Yorgen Fenech.
“That is up to the police. What i can is is that none of the investigations over the pat two years, at least the ones in which I was briefed, ever mentioned [Schembri].”
He also refused to confirm whether he is still in touch with Schembri, who was arrested in connection with the assassination but who was later released.
Nationalist MP Jason Azzopardi, who is the lawyer for the Caruana Galizia family, today alleged that Muscat was at least aware of the journalist’s assassination shortly before it took place.
To back up his argument, he noted that Muscat had fainted while delivering a speech at an event on 14th October 2017, two days before the assassination. In his testimony yesterday, suspected middleman Melvin Theuma said that murder suspect Alfred Degiorgio had informed him on the day before the murder (ie. 15th October 2017) that the journalist was supposed to have been killed a day earlier (ie. 14th October) but the plan encountered a roadblock.