“The car’s owner got out and walked for a few minutes to meet a family friend,” he said. “You might wonder what was wrong, but the vehicle’s owner was Yorgen Fenech’s wife Marlene and she got out of the car to visit the family home of the Justice Minister, at a time when developments were ongoing in Maltese and French courts, so I think it is our interest to know.”

Zammit Lewis categorically denied the accusation, describing it as nothing more than a figment of Azzopardi’s imagination.

“His completely false allegations comes in the wake of a series of false statements that we’ve now all grown used to,” he said. “No systematic attack on my personality or character will stop me from carrying out my ministerial duties.”

Earlier this week, Times of Malta revealed that Fenech and Zammit Lewis shared around 700 messages between January 2019 and October 2019.

Fenech was arrested over Caruana Galizia’s murder in November 2019, a year after he was revealed to be the owner of 17 Black, a Dubai-based company linked to major corruption scandals in Malta’s government.

The contents of the WhatsApp group were lifted off Fenech’s phone by Europol, who were handed the device immediately after Fenech’s arrest in November 2019. They will be exhibited in court when experts are called to testify in October.

Zammit Lewis and Fenech allegedly met over meals throughout 2019. This was well after Fenech was revealed to be the owner of 17 Black, the Dubai-based company linked to major corruption scandals in Malta’s government.

“I had ceased all contact with Yorgen Fenech well before he was implicated in the assassination of Ms Daphne Caruana Galizia and this remains the case till today,” Zammit Lewis said.

However, Zammit Lewis insisted back in July that there was no relationship between the pair, claiming he only got to know him when serving as Tourism Minister.