Opposition MP Jason Azzopardi has said that former Economy Minister Chris Cardona had been arrested in connection with the failed 2010 HSBC heist and that Joseph Muscat appointed him to his Cabinet despite knowing about it.

“Who was the first and only person who went to visit Joseph Muscat the day after he resigned in November 2019? Chris Cardona,” Azzopardi said when addressing Parliament this afternoon. 

He referred to convicted murderer Vincent Muscat’s recent request for a second pardon in return for information naming a sitting minister in a ‘big job’, believed to be the failed 2010 heist on HSBC. 

“What will happen if one of you in front of me is a criminal?” he questioned the government MPs. “What if it can be shown that a PL official was a drug trafficker? What if it can be shown that one of you had organised a hold-up? What if it can be shown that one of you is a thief? What if it can be shown that there are Mafia members in your ranks?”

He then proceeded to challenge Prime Minister Robert Abela to reveal when he last spoke to Adrian and Robert Agius, the brothers known as Tal-Maksar who have been charged with the murders of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia and lawyer Carmel Chircop. 

He noted that Abela used to work as the lawyer of the Agius brothers.

“Without getting into the merits of the presidential pardon requests, I warn the former lawyer of the Maksar brothers and the current Prime Minister that he shouldn’t dare try and appease a criminal who was involved in Daphne’s assassination with the excuse that it could solve a separate crime,” Azzopardi said.

“Daphne’s murder shouldn’t be associated, directly or indirectly, with any other crime.”

He asked Abela to inform the nation when he last spoke to the Agius brothers, including through Signal or Messenger and questioned why it has been reported that Robert Agius had enough information about the Caruana Galizia murder to bring down the government.

What do you make of Jason Azzopardi’s declaration?