If anyone abused their position they should be held accountable for the actions, Minister Michael Farrugia said today.

Farrugia, now Energy Minister, was responsible for the police at the time that Lawrence Cutajar was commissioner. Cutajar resigned in January, and had his consultancy contract terminated earlier this week after a magistrate ordered an investigation into allegations made about him in court. The court ordered that Cutajar be investigated after it heard testimony over how middleman Melvin Theuma had, allegedly, received information from Cutajar over ongoing money laundering investigations.

When asked by journalists about the allegations made in court, Farrugia said that he will let institutions continue doing their work. He said investigators were always free to carry out their work as was required of them. “If anyone abused their position, they should be held accountable." As a minister his role was to give investigators the tools to work with.

He said that back in 2017 when he was informed of the murder of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia, he said that he immediately instructed the Police Commissioner to bring investigators from abroad to help the local police. There was no limit on how much money was spent. The government went as far as offering €1 million to anyone with valid information about the case, he said.

When asked whether he was ever briefed about Valletta and Cutajar, Farrugia said that he barely spoke to either of them regarding the Daphne Caruana Galizia case itself. He said there were certain decisions he had to make as minister at the time to authorise investigations the police wanted to work on. He said he always asked for information regarding the cases and why he was signing them. This was why he was informed on certain issues happening at the time “because it was my obligation to know about what is to happen."

He said he had never received any information that people under investigation were being tipped off. If that had been the case, he said he would have ordered an investigation.