Summer used to be a quieter period in politics. Work continued behind the scenes, but locally, burning issues tended to make way for the burning sun. But nothing has been normal for quite some time. The Nationalist Party is deliberating the way forward to present itself once again as a credible alternative to government and that can meanwhile effectively maintain a check on corrupt powers.

While that is happening, the public inquiry is still hearing testimony.

For the benefit of those who lost track, the public inquiry is investigating whether the Muscat administration and the Maltese state in general had any role to play in facilitating the assassination of Daphne Caruana Galizia, whether by action or by omission. It is separate from the criminal trial, to which Yorgen Fenech is primarily subject.

The public inquiry will not likely level the sanctions which the criminal trial might. Instead, it is a unique opportunity to compel testimony from all the officials who have acted opaquely for too long.

When Daphne Caruana Galizia was assassinated by car bomb, the Labour Party message was that ‘murder can never be justified’. The idea was that Daphne had it coming, but maybe roughly half a kilogram of explosive was a bit much. To this day, Labour tries to paint her as a political stooge responsible for many of the nation’s divisions, unperturbed by their own so-called journalists working in their massively financed propaganda effort.

Nobody deserves to be killed, let alone someone who was exercising a fundamental right that is supposed to be guaranteed by the state. Daphne’s crime was that she made people in power feel uncomfortable. With a long list of libel cases, dehumanisation campaigns and every attempt to discredit her and her work, Muscat and his cronies did the opposite of protecting her fundamental rights. The inquiry is now investigating whether his administration actually undermined her right to life itself.

While the criminal trial of Yorgen Fenech and the public inquiry are separate, one can say they are connected by a common theme: corruption at the heart of Muscat’s administration.

Yorgen Fenech owned a company in Dubai called 17 Black, whose existence was revealed by Daphne. It was Malta’s FIAU that told the police to investigate Yorgen Fenech, identified as 17 Black’s owner, for money laundering. That didn’t happen. Now, Fenech is on trial for murder.

Today we know that millions of Maltese taxpayer money was funnelled through that company. Through emails leaked in the Panama Papers, we know that that money was intended to go to companies in Panama owned by Konrad Mizzi and Keith Schembri, along with the owner of Egrant Inc.

The structures that were being opened were there to siphon millions of taxpayer money that could be used to better Malta. Only criminals need to hide vast amounts of wealth in this manner, usually because their earnings are illicit. Illicit earnings mean people are hurt in the process.

We’re not talking about common criminals who commit petty crime to feed an addiction or to cope with a rough patch. In Lebanon, there was a report of a mugger who apologised to his victim, explaining that he needed the money to feed his family.

We’re dealing with an altogether different breed of criminal elite: an establishment class of wealthy people who have sufficient influence to buy wind farms in Montenegro as a cover to drain the coffers of law-abiding taxpayers; a class of person who uses corrupt and very expensive accountants to set up structures in places where banks don’t ask where the money comes from; a class of person who has little issue with ordering a journalist’s assassination.

Fortunately, that class of person also had the Labour Party on their side to demonise anyone who made them uncomfortable, like when Fenech’s Dubai assets were frozen after efforts on my part. My colleagues and I received countless threats, such that it is unsafe for me to go out by myself anymore.

I am fortunate to have been able to testify after so many years of ongoing attacks; still, the public inquiry is not a denouement to a prolonged saga. We have learned that the police have been totally impotent in prosecuting crime and corruption. Someone has to answer for this, and crimes that were allowed to go unpunished need to be picked up now. Ali Sadr might have been let off on a technicality in the US, but Pilatus Bank’s licence was revoked on different grounds, and he should be extradited.

Dubai have made it clear they are willing to cooperate with Maltese authorities because they do not want to be seen an accomplice to the murder of a European journalist.

Joseph Muscat almost certainly didn’t send the text that ignited the bomb under Daphne’s seat. But he is politically responsible for enabling the corruption that led to her murder, and for the expensive efforts to try and deflect blame from him and his cronies. Until the whole truth comes out, and until the guilty make good for what they have done to Malta, justice will not have been served.

David Casa is a Member and a Quaestor of the European Parliament