Former OPM employee Neville Gafa will testify in the public inquiry into the murder of Daphne Caruana Galizia on Wednesday.

He was due to testify today but, more than two hours into the sitting, Gafa was called in the courtroom and told that his testimony was being postponed to Wednesday. Gafa said he had no objection to that.

Early this morning, Gafa had initially told this newsroom that until today he had not been notified by the court or police to testify in the public inquiry into the assassination of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia.

However contacted again by this newsroom this afternoon, Gafa confirmed that he was to testify in the public inquiry later in the day.

His testimony will now be heard on Wednesday.

Gafa is known for being a close friend of former Chief of Staff Keith Schembri who had resigned last November after his name was mentioned during police investigations into the murder of Caruana Galizia.

Gafa kept close contact with Schembri after the resignation, visiting Schembri’s house soon after Joseph Muscat’s former right hand man had been arrested, and later released, in connection with the murder.

He had also defended former Prime Minister Joseph Muscat during the political crisis that Malta experienced in the last few months of last year.

He also caused a stir in December 2018 when he held diplomatic talks in Tripoli as "a special envoy of Prime Minister Joseph Muscat.”