Matthew Caruana Galizia and a small group of people were responsible for including a clause that will block EU funding for a gas pipeline from reaching projects linked to criminality.

While the clause does not mention Electrogas, the power station that has been linked to the assassination of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia, it is believed to be a reference to it.

“I was up until 4am working with a small group of people who care about our country to make sure that our government doesn’t use our money to reward those who use murder as a business tool,” Caruana Galizia wrote on social media.

“We thought Miriam Dalli would fight for the interests of the public. She did the opposite. Guess what: we won a small battle against corruption and murder despite you”

Caruana Galizia’s post comes just soon after EU ministers reed to allow Malta to apply for at least half of the funding a 400 million euron gas pipeline investment to Sicily.

According to a clause in the funding,  projects linked to cases of fraud, corruption, or criminality, should not be eligible for financial assistance. 

One Electrogas’ key shareholders, Yorgen Fenech, is currently facing a bill of indictment over the murder of Caruana Galizia. Meanwhile, it has faced allegations of corruption.

The Caruana Galizia family had previously warned that the pipeline would trigger a €100 million pay-out to Electrogas.

However, the same clause makes it clear that the member states must ensure that the projects do not benefit directly or indirectly persons linked to issues that would merit exclusion.

Matthew Caruana Galizia has previously claimed that the project is the motive behind the murder,  with Daphne Caruana Galizia coming into possession of the major leak from Electrogas at the start of 2017, months before her murder.

Emails show that Electrogas was facing major problems when it came to financing the project – with concerns over an extension of a €360 million state guarantee on a €450 million loan running high. The guarantee was meant to expire in August 2017 but was eventually extended to December 2017, two months after the murder.