The Nationalist Party is calling on a bi-partisan initiative to ensure the recommendations in a public inquiry linked to the assassination of Daphne Caruana Galizia are implemented. 

Writing in an opinion piece on The Malta Independent, Grech insisted that the party remained committed to draft legislation in order for the inquiry to reach the conclusion it deserves.

“We owe it to Daphne Caruana Galizia and we owe it to her family. We also owe it to ourselves as self-respecting citizens, who should no longer be forced to take action by foreign institutions. We owe it to our country and our children,” he wrote.

The public inquiry reported was completed on 15th July and passed onto the State Advocate. Lovin Malta is informed that Prime Minister Robert Abela will receive his copy before it is circulated among the family and the general public.

Caruana Galizia was murdered by a car bomb on 16th October 2017. It took an intense effort from Caruana Galizia’s family to get the public inquiry off the ground with the Council of Europe intervening to strongarm the government to launch the inquiry, which looks into whether the state could have prevented the assassination,.

The inquiry board, which is composed of retired judge Michael Mallia, former Chief Justice Joseph Said Pullicino and Judge Abigail Lofaro, was set up in December 2019. Its first sitting came just days after the arrest of Fenech.

It has heard a plethora of different witnesses – including state witness Melvin Theuma, former Prime Minister Joseph Muscat, Keith Schembri, and many other key figures in Malta’s institutions.

It has faced criticism from Prime Minister Robert Abela, the government and the Labour Party – who have at many points questioned its legitimacy. This has raised concerns in the Council of Europe – who ordered the inquiry after it was routinely rejected by Muscat’s administration.

Last June, Yorgen Fenech’s text messages and phone records that were lifted off his electronic devices were included in the inquiry. It contains a wealth of communication with some of Malta’s top officials, including former Prime Minister Joseph Muscat and his right-hand man Keith Schembri.