Minister Chris Cardona today gave a statement to the police with regard to news reports that he had been seen in a bar in Siggiewi with one of the three men accused of murdering Daphne Caruana Galizia.

The minister yesterday contacted the Malta Police and offered his willingness to collaborate with authorities to clarify the allegations made in his regard, a Department of Information statement said.

This morning, of his own volition, the Minister released a statement to Inspector Keith Arnaud, the chief prosecutor in the criminal proceedings against the three suspects involved in the murder of Daphne Caruana Galizia.

The minister, according to the DOI, "clarified the following points":

1. With reference to the published footage, the minister categorically denies that he was    present at the bar on Sunday 3 December 2017, a day before the arrest of the individuals accused with the murder of Daphne Caruana Galizia. 

2. The minister denies ever having a meeting with the accused, and more so, having planned to meet with the accused. 

3. The minister clarified that he does visit the bar in question on Saturdays or Sundays when football matches are played and broadcast on TV and has been doing so for several years, even before becoming a minister. 

4. The minister reaffirmed his comments made yesterday to newspaper Times of Malta where he denied being ever at the bar with the suspects.

5. The minister also stressed that he does not exclude the possibility that there might have been any of the suspects at the bar at the same time, in the same way that he does not exclude that there were several others including politicians from the Nationalist Party.

Cardona commented, “It is worth noting that it has been reported that an alleged witness in this matter was introduced to the media by a senior official of the Nationalist Opposition”.