Nationalist MEP David Casa has said any attempts by Yorgen Fenech to silence him have failed, following stunning claims that the murder suspect had tried to bribe the PN to prevent Casa’s re-election.

“If there have been any attempts by Yorgen Fenech to silence me, these attempts have clearly failed,” Casa said. “For the past four years, I have been working tirelessly to ensure that the corruption and money laundering cases revealed by the Panama Papers and Daphne Caruana Galizia are investigated and those involved are prosecuted.”

“Since Daphne Caruana Galizia was murdered, I never wavered in working to ensure that justice is served. I am grateful to the electorate who have given me the honour of being their voice in the European Parliament – to continue to fight for justice and to have strong, independent and credible institutions which truly defend the Maltese people.”

In court today, middleman and state witness Melvin Theuma said Fenech had told him he had offered the PN a sum of money to prevent Casa’s re-election because the MEP was hounding him over his company 17 Black.

Theuma didn’t say whether Fenech accepted this offer or not and the PN has yet to react to this allegation.

Last year, former radio host and current MP David Thake claimed on Xarabank that Fenech had offered the PN €50,000 to ensure Casa was not reelected to the European Parliament. Fenech threatened to sue Thake for libel but never followed up on this threat.