Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/888285
maltatoday WEDNESDAY 18 OCTOBER 2017 News 3 YANNICK PACE OPPOSITION leader Adrian Delia has insisted that Prime Minister Joseph Muscat must assume political responsibility for the killing of Daphne Caru- ana Galizia and resign his post immediately. Speaking during what was meant to be the Opposition leader's reply to last week's budget speech, Delia said that the killing had taken place on his watch and that Muscat needed to resign. "I am delivering a message on behalf of the parliamentary group, and they are all behind me, and that message is: you must go," said Delia. In addition to the murder hav- ing taken place on his watch, Delia said the Prime Minister also needed to take responsibil- ity for the fact that he had led a government that let the country reach the state it was currently in. Furthermore, he said that despite the threat to Caruana Galizia's life, Muscat's govern- ment had taken no steps to en- sure her protection. The leader of the Opposition insisted that if the government were serious in its appeal for national unity, it would im- mediately remove the police commissioner and have him replaced by someone who en- joyed the backing of two-thirds of parliament. In addition, he also called on the government to start the necessary proce- dures for the Attorney General to be replaced, as well as start a discussion in the House of Rep- resentatives to ensure that the country's institutions could "re- gain their independence". "This is the least the govern- ment can do," he said. "It will not bring back a person who was killed but it will give a clear message that the country does not want to continue sinking further." During his speech, Delia laid the blame for Monday's bru- tal assassination on the police force, which he said had be- come "a political band club", where people got ahead be- cause of their political alle- giance. He said the Police Corps had, as a result, been stripped of the respect it once held, as well as any sense of decency. He said that there were several in- stances where the police could have taken action to "stop the collapse of the rule of law", but had instead chosen not to act. He said this had led to crimi- nals feeling more comfortable. "More comfortable taking what is not theirs… more com- fortable putting bombs under- neath cars." The Opposition leader start- ed his speech by saying he had been mistaken in thinking Malta was a normal country. "I was mistaken in believing we live in a democracy and in believing we had the freedom of expression the Nationalist Party had fought so hard for," he said. "Any of us who had in- formation and didn't share it or who could have taken action and didn't take it are all com- plicit in what happened yester- day (Monday)." He said that in his address to parliament on Monday, the Prime Minister did not admit the failure of his government and the collapse of the rule of law. "I never believed that 40 years after the killing of Raymond Caruana I would have to come here like Eddie Fenech Adami did and say the reply to the budget is irrelevant," said De- lia, adding that nobody could expect parliament to discuss the budget "as if nothing ever happened". "We can't talk about the economy when in Malta we have had the complete collapse of the rule of law," he added. Addressing a press confer- ence outside parliament fol- lowing his speech, Delia said the country had started the week thinking the leader of the Opposition would be address- ing the nation on the budget the government announced last week. Instead, he said the coun- try had been forced to come to terms with events that had shocked the nation, where "a journalist who wrote about politics and corruption" paid with her life for doing her job. Delia reiterated that the Prime Minister, Attorney Gen- eral and Police Commissioner should all resign, and said that it was now up to the Opposi- tion and the people to speak out for those who need to have their voice heard. "For the first time in our country the assassination of a journalist took place and it happened under the the Prime Minister's watch… it is for this reason that we have asked for the resignation of the Prime Minister." • • • • • • • • • • • CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 MaltaToday has also con- firmed that the police had not received any reports of a threat to Caruana Gali- zia's safety in the past six months at any police sta- tion. Reports in some sec- tions of the media said that Caruana Galizia or her relatives had filed a report at the Mosta police station two weeks ago claiming to have received death threats. MaltaToday has learned that no such report was filed and that the police had no record of any simi- lar reports being filed at any police station in the past six months. "Daphne Caruana Gali- zia did not file any police reports related to threats to her safety in the last six months," the spokesperson said in an email in reply to questions sent by this newspaper. In the meantime, Malta- Today has also learned that the American FBI forensic team that will be assisting in the investigation into the bomb blast that killed the investigative journalist will not arrive in Malta until to- morrow afternoon. When the Maltese gov- ernment asked the US gov- ernment for assistance im- mediately following news of the bomb blast, they were told the team would be in Malta in 72 hours. Prime Minister Joseph Muscat said in his public address 90 minutes after the car bomb exploded that he had asked the US for as- sistance in the investiga- tion. It is understood that the FBI will – in fact – be lead- ing the investigation and Maltese forensic teams and experts have so far limited themselves to preserving the site of the crime, cover- ing the remains of the car and the human body re- mains scattered around the site. In the meantime, a Dutch team reached Malta yester- day morning, having been asked for assistance by the Maltese government. Home Affairs Minister Michael Farrugia took to Twitter early yesterday morning to announce the arrival of the team from the Netherlands. "Would like to also thank the #USA for accepting to send #FBI officials to assist the #Malta #police in the investigation of dcg mur- der," he tweeted. "We will leave no stone unturned. We will do whatever it takes to get to the persons behind this murder." No police report filed by Caruana Galizia or relatives in the past six months Adrian Delia calls for Prime Minister's resignation over Caruana Galizia murder Adrian Delia addressing a press conference after his speech in parliament, with deputy leader Beppe Fenech Adami (left) and former party leader Simon Busuttil by his side