Prime Minister Robert Abela remains undecided when he should be removing Minister within the Office of the Prime Minister Carmelo Abela from cabinet until investigations are concluded, Opposition and PN leader Bernard Grech said in a statement.

Former Minister and Labour Party Deputy Leader Chris Cardona and sitting minister Carmelo Abela have been named in a letter which sees two suspects in the murder of Daphne Caruana Galizia claiming a conflict of interest. Both Cardona, named as being part of a plot to assassinate Caruana Galizia, and Abela, named as being involved in a heist on the HSBC bank in 2010, are rejecting these accusations.

Times of Malta today reported that George and Alfred Degiorgio, through their lawyer, have written to the European Commissioner for Justice, accusing the government of not being able to take an unbiased position on their request for a pardon because they have information which implicates a former and sitting minister. The request for a pardon was turned down.

“Robert Abela can’t continue to not take a decision on these very serious allegations which are being made on one of his Ministers and on another person who up until a short time ago, used to sit with him in Joseph Muscat's Cabinet,” Grech said.

“Robert Abela cannot to allow the reputation of our country to continue taking one hit after another; where his Minister is being implicated in serious crimes,” the Opposition leader said.   

He also said that this is not a shadow cast on the Minister or on the PM himself, but “this is an ugly shadow cast on our country”, and insisted that the Prime Minister “has no other choice but to act”.

“National interest has to win over the partisan interest of Robert Abela and the Labour Party. The least that Robert Abela has to do is to remove Minister Carmelo Abela from Cabinet until the police concludes its investigation,” the Opposition leader argued.

He said that Malta cannot afford to have a Minister “with such a heavy shadow over his head” sitting in cabinet.  

“These are unprecedented accusations against a Minister in office and Robert Abela's indecision further confirms how he has his hands tied and how he is not in a position to take the necessary decisions in the face of most serious and grave allegations… in the moment of truth, Robert Abela remains undecided,” Grech said.