translated from Spanish: Journalist case killed for revealing corruption leads to resignation of Malta PM

Joseph Muscat, Prime Minister of Malta, said on Sunday that he will resign from office from January 12, this after days of street protests against his government over links to the murder of the investigative reporter Daphne Caruana Galizia in October 2017.The series of demonstrations in the country was attended by the parents of journalist Caruana Galizia. In addition, banners with slogans such as “The situation is still desperate”, “Mafia!” or “Thank you, Daphne” and slogans such as “Daphne was right!”, “Justice!” or “Murderers!” It should be noted that Muscat had already indicated that he would resign from his post if he was charged – for the attack on the journalist – to businessman Yorgen Fenech, who was arrested on 21 November and against which charges were brought on Saturday. The connection between Fenech and Muscat goes through the latter’s chief of staff, Keith Schembri, with whom the entrepreneur shared interests in companies based in Panama or Dubai. Schembri had already resigned his post, and was subsequently arrested and questioned by the police on this case. He was finally released in the absence of evidence that directly linked him to Daphne’s murder, but this could take a new turn with Fenech’s formalization.Regarding the direct authorship of the attack, three men are pending a trial for allegedly planting the bomb in the car of the journalist, who had reported multiple corruption cases from her blog, allegedly involving members of the Muscat-led government, including Schembri. In that line the journalist mentioned in one of her posts to the hidden company “17 Black” shortly before she was killed, but noted that she did not know who was controlling that firm. After his tragic death the agency Reuters revealed – as early as 2018 – that Fenech was ultimately the owner of “17 Black”, the secret company that in turn would have been a vehicle to finance secret companies in Panama that are owned by Schembri and Mizzi.

Original source in Spanish