A public inquiry into the assassination of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia has been handed to Malta’s Prime Minister Robert Abela and will be published later on today.

Parliament will meet tomorrow to discuss the contents of the report.

Caruana Galizia was murdered by a car bomb on 16th October 2017. It took an intense effort from Caruana Galizia’s family to get it 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.