Nationalist Party leader Adrian Delia this evening challenged the police to launch an investigation into the allegations made by slain journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia about his involvement in a brothel in Soho, London.

She had contended that he held client funds which stemmed from the brothel, while Delia had denied the claims. "You have the weapons, the institutions you have hijacked, and you can start an investigation this evening. I will be there to collaborate," he said.

Delia was speaking on Wednesday evening in Parliament during a special debate on the allegations being made against Economy Minister Chris Cardona

18 news organisations from around the world, including The Times of Malta, published a story yesterday saying that two separate witnesses on separate occasions had seen one of the murder suspects speaking with Cardona after the journalist's murder at a particular bar, and saw them together at the same bar before the murder. The journalists collaborated on a project called The Daphne Project, a series of stories continuing Daphne Caruana Galizia’s work after she was brutally murdered in a car bomb on 16 October.

In a highly contentious debate, Deputy Prime Minister Chris Fearne said that the House should give credence to all of what Caruana Galizia said, and not just about the government. Delia said he has no problem to have those allegations investigated, adding that PN MPs backed a motion for all of Caruana Galizia’s allegations to be investigated in full, which was not accepted by the government.

Fearne had also previously challenged to say whether Delia had been to the same bar in question since it is very close to his resident.

Delia conceded he went into the bar since it is 100m away from his home either to buy something, or to have a drink with his wife.

He reminded the House that the motion raised by the PN was related to the allegations being made against Cardona, and called on the government to shed some light on what is being said.

He said that the government did not speak about the motion presented in any way, instead it chose to attack him.

Spokesperson for Justice Jason Azzopardi detailed the information published this evening related to Mizzi and Schembri and their offshore structures.

Azzopardi said beyond partisan politics, is it acceptable for Minister Cardona to appear very close to “certain individuals?”

He questioned whether it was reasonable to meet the murder suspect at a bar if he really needed to speak to him, before and after the murder.

Azzopardi insinuated that certain circles within government could have been aware of a plot but did nothing.

He went on to highlight how the suspects knew they were about to get raided, as revealed by the international consortium of journalists. He went on to question whether Malta’s secret services have been compromised in any way, since the suspects knew they would be raided.

Azzopardi made reference to how reportedly, the bomb used in the attack was made in Malta, questioning whether authorities knew a bomb was being made and did nothing or are had no clue that any of this was happening under their nose.

He continued to say that in the best case scenario, Prime Minister Joseph Muscat had no clue about this plot being executed, or else he knew of the plot brewing but did nothing about it.

Justice Minister Owen Bonnici interrupted by saying that the police denied any knowledge of the bomb being made in Malta, to which Azzopardi animatedly said that the police had decided there was nothing to investigate in a string of major scandals such as the Panama Papers, so they are not the most reliable.

Azzopardi accused the Prime Minister, the Attorney General and the Police Commissioner of being complicit in the alleged crimes should they fail to investigate these fresh allegations.