Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/891637
maltatoday WEDNESDAY 25 OCTOBER 2017 News 3 CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 He ex- pressed strong views on what he described as the party's paralysis in the wake of the Daphne Caruana Galizia mur- der. Fenech Adami lamented the PN's inability to speak up. Fenech Adami addressed De- lia and said his absence from the Sunday protest demand- ing justice for Caruana Gali- zia was a ref lection of the state the party was in. PN administrative president and MP Karol Aquilina backed Fenech Adami's observation. Claudio Grech and Mar- these Portelli also spoke at the meeting calling for the party to realise what was at stake in this tragic moment. The only MP who stood up to openly defend Delia was Kristy Debono, who made a distraught appeal for col- leagues to stop attacking the leader. Clyde Puli, another Delia supporter, appealed for unity. Failed leadership contender Chris Said and Jason Azzo- pardi were not present for the meeting. On his way in to the meeting, Delia told MaltaToday that he had the full backing of all MPs and shunned a suggestion that he faced a rebellion. During the meeting, the PN leader was accompanied by Pierre Portelli, the former content editor at The Malta Independent. Portelli did not comment. CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 She emphasised that the online gaming sector, a mainstay of Malta's economy, made the island a very interesting proposition for mafia or- ganisations. The Italian commission's visit to Malta, which had been scheduled, coincided with the murder of journal- ist Daphne Caruana Gali- zia. One of the theories put forward in the Italian me- dia is that her murder may be linked to fuel smuggling from Libya that involves Maltese and Italian interests. Bindi said the delegation wanted to meet the police commissioner but he was too busy. She said money laundering was another problem Malta and Italy had to face. "It is of the utmost impor- tance for the Italian and Maltese parliaments to step up their collaboration when it comes to fighting organ- ised crime. If the mafia is seeing Malta as its little paradise, then Malta should look at the quality of its eco- nomic expansion," she said. Giulia Sarti from the Five Star Movement noted that the mafia could not do all its work on its own. "There is a problem of operators in sectors such as online gam- ing and financial services that should not allow their business operations to be used by the mafia," she said, adding Italy expected better controls in these sectors. The delegation was pre- sent for the Mass in Bidnija on Monday celebrated by Archbishop Charles Sci- cluna with Bindi noting that there was a willingness to act. "But we also found the institutions shaken by what happened. These criminal organisations kill people when they become obstacles to their money making op- erations and after what hap- pened last week Malta needs to close the legal economic avenues that allow the mafia to do their work." She said Malta and Italy had to cooperate on a par- liamentary, judicial and po- lice level. Police Commissioner 'too busy' to meet the Italian parliament's anti- mafia commission Delia's absence at Sunday's Valletta rally criticised Italian senator Rosy Bindi (second from left), head of the Italian parliament's anti-mafia commission, said it was regrettable Police Commissioner Lawrence Cutajar (inset) could not make time to meet her team