Malta’s Prime Minister Joseph Muscat will step down on January 18, party sources say, following mounting criticism of his response to the murder of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia.
It comes as Maltese businessman Yorgen Fenech was today charged with complicity in the murder case.
Party insiders said Saturday that Muscat would step down once those behind the killing had been charged and once his Labour Party has chosen a new leader.
‘He always said that he will be leaving soon and he feels that now is the time to go,’ said one party source.
Malta’s Prime Minister Joseph Muscat (pictured at a press conference on Friday) will step down on January 18, party sources say
First however, he wanted to see that the Daphne Caruana Galizia murder was solved on under his watch, as he had promised, sources added.
‘After the mastermind or masterminds are arraigned in court, he plans to announce that he will be stepping down and that there will be a leadership election on January 18,’ a party source told AFP.
The sources did not say when 45-year-old Muscat would announce his decision to step down – or whether it would be via a televised announcement – but they stressed that he would not stay beyond January 18.
The news came amid mounting pressure from Caruana Galizia’s family and protesters on the streets, who have cried foul over his handling of the affair.
The escalating murder investigation has rocked the tiny Mediterranean island and reached the highest rungs of the country’s politics, with two ministers and Muscat’s chief of staff Keith Schembri stepping down from their posts this week.
Parents of the murdered journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia Rose, left, and Michael Vella, right, attend a protest outside the office of Prime Minister Joseph Muscat
People holding placards and photos of killed journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia stage a protest called by Galizia’s family and civic movements on November 29
Thousands of demonstrators took to the streets of the capital Valletta Friday evening after Muscat refused to give immunity to the main suspect in the 2017 murder, tycoon Yorgen Fenech, to disclose what he knows about the case.
It was the sixth such demonstration in two weeks.
Fenech has identified Schembri as the mastermind behind Caruana Galizia’s 2017 car bomb killing, according to sources.
Schembri was arrested on Tuesday, but his release on Thursday sparked accusations of a cover-up.
Muscat, who has vowed to resign if links were found between himself and the murder, said Friday he would remain in power, telling reporters he wanted ‘this case to be closed under my watch’.
Maltese Prime Minister Joseph Muscat makes a statement to media on the investigation into the murder of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia in Malta on November 22
But Caruana Galizia’s family, who have accused the prime minister of protecting his long-time chief of staff have called for him to go.
‘We share Malta’s shock and anger at the release of Keith Schembri,’ the family said in a statement.
‘At least two witnesses and multiple pieces of physical evidence implicate Schembri in the assassination of our wife and mother.’
They accused Muscat of playing ‘judge, jury, and executioner in an assassination investigation that so far implicates three of his closest colleagues’.
Muscat said Friday he had recused himself from the decision on whether to grant immunity to Fenech.
The prime minister later said he had reported Fenech to the police for attempted blackmail, saying the mogul had threatened to implicate him in the affair if he was not given a pardon.
Fenech, a tycoon whose business interests span the energy and tourism sectors, was arrested on his yacht last week after an alleged middleman in the murder, taxi driver Melvin Theuma, was offered a pardon to identify those involved.
That arrest was followed swiftly by the resignation of Schembri and tourism minister Konrad Mizzi, while economy minister Chris Cardona said he was ‘suspending himself’.
A protester holds a photo of Daphne Caruana Galizia outside the prime miniser’s office on Friday
Caruana Galizia, a popular journalist and blogger described as a ‘one-woman WikiLeaks’, exposed cronyism and sleaze within the country’s political and business elite.
Before she was killed, she had alleged that Schembri and Mizzi had been involved in corruption. She had named Cardona in a separate case.
Leaked emails revealed in court appeared to show both Schembri and Mizzi stood to receive payments from a Dubai company called 17 Black, owned by Fenech.
The Caruana Galizia family said Schembri and Fenech have the same doctor, who reportedly served as an intermediary, passing secret notes between them.
A Maltese court is expected to rule Monday on a request by Fenech for the chief investigator in the case, Keith Arnaud, to be removed, amid allegations he also had close ties to Schembri and the prime minister.
After his release on bail Fenech told journalists he feared for his life.
‘This is happening in the EU, right now. Where is the voice of the European Commission or other EU leaders?’ Robert Barrington, former head of Transparency International in the UK, said on Twitter.
The European Parliament is planning to send a mission to Malta, a parliament source told AFP.
It comes as Maltese businessman Yorgen Fenech was today charged in a Valetta court on Saturday with complicity to murder in the 2017 car bomb killing of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia.
Maltese prosecutors on Saturday charged a prominent local businessman as being an accomplice to the murder of anti-corruption journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia in a 2017 car bombing on Malta.
Yorgen Fenech, a Maltese hotelier and director of the Maltese power company, was also charged in the evening courtroom hearing with being an accomplice to causing the explosion that killed the 53-year-old reporter as she drove near her home.
Yorgen Fenech (pictured yesterday), a Maltese hotelier and director of the Maltese power company, was charged in the evening courtroom hearing with being an accomplice to causing the explosion that killed the 53-year-old reporter as she drove near her home
Magistrate Audrey Demicoli asked Fenech to enter pleas. He replied that he was pleading innocent, and he was remanded in custody.
The reporter’s family has alleged that Fenech has ties to close associates of the Prime Minister Joseph Muscat, including his recently resigned chief of staff.
It wasn’t immediately clear if Muscat might resign amid increasing calls by citizens on the island, including Caruana Galizia’s family, for him to step down. Muscat, in power since 2013, has said he will speak after the investigative case is complete.
‘What we now expect is the prime minister to leave office and to leave Parliament,’ Corinne Vella, one of the slain reporter’s sisters, told The Malta Independent after the arraignment of Fenech.
Vella also called for Muscat as well as his former chief of staff, Keith Schembri. to be ‘properly investigated’ for their ‘possible involvement in Daphne’s assassination.’
Schembri quit his government post a few days earlier. He had been taken into custody for questioning but later released.
Two of Muscat’s ministers also were questioned and have resigned. They, along with Schembri, have said they are innocent of wrongdoing.
Caruana Galizia wrote shortly before her death that corruption was everywhere in political and business circles in the tiny EU nation.
An alleged go-between in the bombing has received immunity from prosecution for alerting authorities to Fenech’s purported involvement.
Three men have been in jail as the alleged bombers, but no trial date for them has been set.
Timeline of murder of Malta journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia
Car Bomb – October 16, 2017
On October 16, 2017 Daphne Caruana Galizia is killed in a car bomb targeting her vehicle not far from her home in the north of the island.
Aged 53, she was known for investigating high-level corruption, including contributing to the 2016 Panama Papers data leak.
Her killing triggers an outpouring of grief on the island, one of her sons accusing Muscat of being complicity and turning Malta into a ‘mafia island’.
On December 4, 2017, authorities arrest eight people in connection with the murder.
Maltese journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia (pictured in 2011) was killed by a car bomb in October 2017
Charges – July 16, 2019
On July 16, 2019, three suspects are formally charged in connection with the assassination: brothers Alfred and George Degiorgio, as well as Vince Muscat, all in their fifties.
The mastermind has not yet been identified.
On September 20, the government announces a public inquiry into the killing, just ahead of the expiry of a three-month deadline by the Council of Europe to set up such an investigation.
Legal Immunity – November 20, 2019
On November 20, Maltese police arrest tycoon Yorgen Fenech in connection with the murder as he is sailing away from Malta on his yacht.
Fenech owns a Dubai company called 17 Black that Caruana Galizia had reported had connections with the government.
The arrest comes a day after the prime minister promises to pardon an alleged middleman if he names the person who ordered the assassination.
On the 23, Fenech demands legal immunity before revealing what he knows about the case. He is released on bail three days later.
Ministers quit – November 26, 2019
On November 26 Muscat’s chief of staff, Keith Schembri, and his tourism minister, Konrad Mizzi, resign. They had been accused by Caruana Galizia of being involved in corruption, which they denied.
Economy minister Chris Cardona says he is ‘suspending himself’.
Schembri is arrested but released two days later without charge, sparking accusations of a cover-up. Some sources claim Schembri was the mastermind of Caruana Galizia’s killing.
Prime Minister to step down – November 30, 2019
On November 30, party sources say Muscat will step down on January 18 once those behind the murder of Caruana Galizia have been charged
‘He always said that he will be leaving soon and he feels that now is the time to go,’ said one party source.