Former Deputy Police Commissioner Silvio Valletta’s closeness to Yorgen Fenech – a man accused in connection with the assassination of Daphne Caruana Galizia – and Justyne Caruana’s subsequent resignation from the post of Gozo minister, raise many questions and lead to ample concern about the investigation itself.

It was revealed last Sunday that Valletta had travelled abroad with Fenech in 2018 to watch a football match. Valletta said that he would never have travelled abroad with someone who he knew or thought was being investigated, and also said that he never knew of Fenech’s involvement in this case. While he may be telling the truth, given that the indication is that Valletta and Fenech were close, the question arises… did Valletta ever let slip any information to Fenech?

Valletta had been one of the main investigators on the case, until a court decision made him step aside. Valletta was privy, for quite a while, to the intricate details of the ongoing investigation, and of the information passed on by the foreign investigative bodies that were assisting the Malta Police Force.

Information revealed during testimony given in the court cases related to the case has shown that throughout the investigation, there were certain leaks to Fenech.

Melvin Theuma, the man who was granted immunity to provide details on the murder of Daphne Caruana Galizia, told the court that Yorgen Fenech had informed him about a “big” raid that the police were to make in connection with Daphne’s assassination. He was referring to the 4 December 2017 raid in which the murder suspects were arrested. The date given to Theuma by Fenech, however, was wrong, as Fenech had indicated 5 December. But this still raises questions about how Fenech knew about the raid in the first place. Another aspect revealed over the past several weeks is that former OPM Chief of Staff Keith Schembri was present during some briefings the police had with former PM Muscat. Schembri is also being seen as having been close to Fenech.

Police Commissioner Lawrence Cutajar himself confirmed in court that there were leaks, “which we tried to resolve but we didn’t find out where they were from. That is the truth. What I know is that where there were leaks, I told the investigators to have a look. There were also live leaks.”

While Valletta might very well have had absolutely no idea about Fenech’s alleged involvement at the time the two travelled together, and might never have said a word to Fenech about the investigation or anything of the sort… the suspicion is still there, and the question has to be asked, was he one of the leakers? An investigation must be launched into this. In addition, Lawrence Cutajar also needs to be investigated. Did Cutajar know that Valletta was so close to Fenech? If so, why did he still allow his deputy to be part of the investigation?

Questions also arise about Justyne Caruana. If she knew that her husband had travelled with Fenech, did she ever reveal this to the Prime Minister (either past or present), after it became known that Fenech was a person of interest? If she didn’t, then should she be investigated? If she did to former Prime Minister Muscat, why was she kept on as a minister then, and if she did to Abela prior to him forming his new Cabinet, then why was she appointed in the first place?

It was quite embarrassing, to say the least, that the first time Robert Abela spoke in Parliament as Prime Minister was to confirm a resignation of a minister he had appointed less than a week before.

These are all questions that require immediate answers, and an assessment of whether any damage to the investigation has taken place also needs to begin, and now. There is no time to waste.

On the political front, Caruana’s resignation under these circumstances was a necessity. Doubts remain whether Caruana would have been asked to resign if Joseph Muscat was still Prime Minister. So Abela’s move to accept the resignation (or to make her resign if that is what happened) was the right one to make, and if he had no idea of the Valletta-Fenech connection, then this is truly a successful step for the new Prime Minister, one that will perhaps set the country on the road back to normality. But if he knew before hand, and still appointed her to Cabinet and did not inform the public… then that would raise further alarm.