Nationalist MP Clyde Puli provided a scathing attack on the Labour Party, saying that the party would never kill someone who they do not agree with, and that a murder like that of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia would never have happened under a PN administration.

Puli was answering a question from a journalist from Labour Party media on whether he agrees with NGO Repubblika’s call for Adrian Delia to resign if he was found to have been in contact with alleged murder mastermind Yorgen Fenech after the 17 Black revelations.

In response, Puli said that NGOs are free to criticise who they please and as they please, and that everyone is subject to their opinion.

“The one thing we don’t do to people we don’t agree with is that we don’t kill them. We never had a murder like that happen in our time,” he then said, referring to the murder of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia.

“Instead of asking questions like this, it’s better for us to discuss how to implement the recommendations of the [public inquiry] report made so that our country can get itself out of the dirt it got itself in,” he said.

The public inquiry into Daphne Caruana Galizia murder found that the state should shoulder responsibility for creating a culture of impunity which facilitated the assassination.

Caruana Galizia was killed in a car bombing on 16 October 2017.

Since then, the three alleged hitmen have been arrested by police, as have the alleged bomb suppliers.  The middleman in the case was granted a presidential pardon to tell all, which ultimately led to the arrest of Yorgen Fenech – at that time only known as a businessman – for allegedly masterminding the murder.

Since then, there have been countless instances and reports revealing the sometimes too close for comfort relationships which Fenech had with both Labour and Nationalist MPs.

Justice Minister Edward Zammit Lewis has recently come under renewed pressure after chats showed him describing Labour Party voters as fools, while Rosianne Cutajar has also come under fire for her relationship with the alleged murder mastermind.

Former PN leader Adrian Delia meanwhile was on the end of similar controversy while he was still leader, with reports that he shared friendly Whatsapp exchanges with Fenech – although much of the reports into this subject have showed that the conversation was mostly from Fenech’s side.

MP Jason Azzopardi – who has butted heads with Delia more than once – was also face with controversy after benefitting from a free stay at the Hilton in Tel Aviv, fully financed by Fenech’s Tumas Group.