Daphne Caruana Galizia would still be alive today if Malta had effective criminal law provisions in place to avoid the development of a de-facto state of impunity, Moviment Graffitti said on Friday.

Moviment Graffitti also addressed the concerning issue of the relationship between the political parties and the business class in Malta in its submission to the Daphne Caruana Galizia public inquiry.

The NGO highlighted that there still remain grave concerns regarding the state of Malta, as they argued that the State can never act completely independently to prevent criminal acts since, as recent findings are revealing, the same criminals are directly funding political party activities.

The NGO noted that this has been an issue with successive administrations and Governments, where the interest of big businesses is always kept intact. Had it not been such a case, the deaths of Daphne Caruana Galizia and Miriam Pace would not have occurred.

They also pointed out that legislative frameworks have been tampered with in order for the business class to benefit; such as developers, contractors, and high-level party donors.

The group added that at no point in post-independence Malta did the State have any effective criminal law provisions in place to avoid the development of a de facto state of impunity. “If it did, Daphne Caruana Galizia would still be with us today,” the group said.

Moviment Graffitti observed that this is a problem which goes beyond the Labour government, as history shows that cheap land grabs and unregulated construction have proven fatal to both construction workers and residents.

Corruption found its roots in the Nationalist administration and flourished under the Labour government, Moviment Graffitti said, as party financing led to backroom deals and cheap land grabs.

“In Malta, money talks,” the NGO said in its statement. “No state in Malta can guarantee prevention against a state of impunity if they are indebted to private corporate interests.”

The NGO stated that white collar crime was rampant in the Mediterranean island. Recent revelations about a Chinese energy negotiator reportedly behind Macbridge – which was set up to allegedly pay Keith Schembri and Konrad Mizzi each €5,000 per day in kickbacks – further show how bad the situation is, the NGO said.