Prime Minister Robert Abela held not one, but two press conferences over the past week to tell us that the justice system and rule of law work just fine in Malta.

He said this after one of the three men who had been accused of executing the murder of Daphne Caruana Galizia pleaded guilty as part of a plea-bargaining deal and after he received immunity over the 2015 murder of lawyer Carmel Chircop, in return for spilling the beans.

Vince Muscat was jailed for 15 years while the police finally moved in on four other suspects and arraigned them over their roles in the two murders. Two of them were charged with having supplied the bomb that killed the journalist – a fact that the media, let alone the police, had known for years.

In a press conference, Police Commissioner Angelo Gafa said that, so far, the police have no evidence linking any politicians to the murder, and that all persons involved in the crime have now been apprehended and charged.

Prime Minister Robert Abela also spoke as if the case has now been solved and closed.

But the fact is that there is much more to the story.

We have heard over the past three years how several other individuals, some of them high-profile politicians, were allegedly involved in the saga. We heard how the former OPM chief of staff, Keith Schembri, was in touch with suspected mastermind Yorgen Fenech for months, and had communicated with him even on the day Fenech tried to flee the country.

Notes and messages were exchanged through third parties who also became accomplices, if not in the murder per se, then at least in obstruction of justice.

The Daphne murder case is far from closed. Let us not forget that most of these claims came from pardoned middleman Melvin Theuma. He received immunity in return for telling the truth and nothing but the truth. The fact that the pardon has not been revoked should automatically mean that the police believe what he has told them.

If that is the case, then why have none of the people he mentioned been arrested and charged yet?

If other people played a role, not only in the murder but also in the months that followed – if people tried to help some of the murderers get away with it, they should also pay the price. Then and only then will full justice be done.

Addressing a press conference on Thursday morning, Robert Abela said this week’s developments show that the rule of law truly works in Malta. That the institutions operate without political interference.

The police did a sterling job over the past week and the latest developments a real breakthrough in the case. But the rule of law is much more than that.

If the rule of law really worked in Malta, we would not have politicians accused of leaking police information to the alleged mastermind still roaming freely.

If the rule of law really worked, we would not have had a Deputy Police Commissioner resign over his close friendship with the alleged mastermind – a relationship which was kept secret until it was exposed by the media.

We would not have had a Prime Minister receiving expensive gifts from the same suspected mastermind. And he would not have only received a slap on the wrist just because he is no longer and MP.

If the rule of law worked as it should, a serious investigation would be launched into repeated claims that a former economy minister was involved in high-profile crimes. Yet in Malta, such claims die down after a few weeks and life goes on as if nothing had happened.

If the rule of law really worked, the Vitals and Electrogas contracts would have been revoked years ago, and scandals of such magnitude would be investigated and those behind them prosecuted. We still have a system where politicians can get away with anything – where a resignation is deemed sufficient to erase all their sins.

If the rule of law really worked, the Prime Minister would not have had to – on the same day he made his televised speech – accept the resignation of a Parliamentary Secretary who allegedly pocketed thousands of euro from Yorgen Fenech. Dealings between big business and politicians would be unheard of.

Abela had been steadfast in his decision to see the Standards Commissioner’s probe concluded before taking action against Rosianne Cutajar. But he had to swallow his words and accept the resignation when it became clear that this evolving scandal could no longer be controlled.

Yes, improvements have been made over the past couple of years to strengthen the rule of law in Malta, but much more remains to be done. And the most important reform of all is to do away, once and for all, with the mentality that politicians are above the law and beyond the reach of justice.