Maltese Prime Minister Joseph Muscat is preparing to resign in the wake of the growing fallout from the Daphne Caruana Galizia murder probe, press reports said yesterday.
Caruana Galizia was a Maltese investigative journalist who exposed government corruption in her blog.
She was assassinated in a car bomb explosion in October 2017.
Muscat’s “decision to leave was precipitated by the political and legal crisis brought about by the Daphne Caruana Galizia investigation debacle”, the Times of Malta newspaper said.
The prime minister has informed President George Vella of his intentions and is due to speak to the nation in a televised address, the daily added.
Malta Today, another newspaper, said it was “informed that Muscat will officially step down when a new Labour Party leader is elected in the coming weeks. He will remain prime minister until then”.
According to the Times of Malta, the prime minister will step down as soon as businessman Yorgen Fenech is officially charged in connection with the Caruana Galizia murder.
Murder investigations have gathered pace after the November 20 arrest of Fenech, who was stopped aboard a luxury yacht while apparently trying to escape from Malta.
Fenech was arrested last week and has since been released and re-arrested a number of times.
He appeared in court yesterday to demand a stop to the investigations.
The prominent businessman is alleging a conflict of interest between Keith Arnaud, an investigator, and a key potential suspect, Muscat’s former chief of staff Keith Schembri.
Fenech also claims to have evidence incriminating Schembri as the mastermind of Caruana Galizia’s assassination, but wants legal immunity to reveal it.
Shortly before her murder, Caruana Galizia received a large leak of data concerning a power station deal in which Fenech has a business interest.
E-mails leaked later showed that a secret company owned by Fenech, 17 Black, was named as the source of funds for offshore companies Schembri and a government minister, Konrad Mizzi, set up in Panama.
Fenech’s immunity request was discussed overnight in an emergency cabinet meeting, and denied.
Muscat told reporters that both the police commissioner and attorney-general had advised against it.
Muscat, 45, has been prime minister since 2013.
He has come under huge pressure to resign since Schembri, Mizzi and another government minister, Chris Cardona, left their positions this week after being linked to the Caruana Galizia probe.
Schembri was arrested on Tuesday and released two days later without charge.
The decision angered the Caruana Galizia family and other campaigners.
“We are dismayed to see that Schembri was released under the watch of the prime minister, who continues to play judge, jury and executioner in an assassination investigation that so far implicates three of his closest colleagues,” the journalist’s family said in a statement.
Simon Busuttil, a former conservative opposition leader and member of the European Parliament, joined calls for the prime minister’s “immediate departure”.
It is “both inevitable and imperative for our country to start a desperately needed cleaning-up and healing process after six and a half years of lies, corruption and an assassination that killed one of us,” he tweeted.
A European Parliament delegation will visit Malta on Monday to look into the latest revelations about the murder case, the head of the EU’s Democracy, Rule of Law and Fundamental Rights Monitoring Group, Sophie in’t Veld, told DPA yesterday.
“We intend to discuss the current situation in Malta and the state of the rule of law with representatives of the government, the judiciary, the investigating authorities and civil society, as well as journalists and the family of the murdered Daphne Caruana Galizia,” in’t Veld said.
Meanwhile, civil society groups announced another demonstration outside the prime minister’s office in Valletta to demand his resignation.
“Let’s gather tonight and start together the rebuilding of our country,” Manuel Delia, a blogger and journalist due to speak at the rally, wrote on his blog.