The PN is going to present once more its anti-corruption bill which form part of the recommendations of the Daphne Caruana Galizia public inquiry, Opposition Leader Bernard Grech said at a press conference on Tuesday.

The bill will be presented after Parliament’s summer recess and the Opposition expects a discussion on them on the first Thursday after, Grech said.

The government had shot down the PN’s bill earlier this year.

On 29 July 2021, three Judges completed the Public Inquiry Report on the assassination of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia. The concluding report was presented to the Prime Minister on the same day, and it was subsequently published.

The report contained several recommendations, with the most important ones being legal changes.

Six months later, the Opposition presented a bill with several proposals, saying that the government had failed to implement any of the recommendations.

All the members of the Opposition had voted in favour of the bill, whilst the Prime Minister and all the Members of Parliament of the Labour Party voted against, Grech said.

Six months have passed since the vote day of the vote, and a full year has passed since the report was presented to the government, he continued.

Grech said that, to this day, Robert Abela and the Labour government have not done anything about the Public Inquiry and that the Prime Minister wants the Maltese and Gozitan people to forget that a year ago three judges found him, Joseph Muscat and the PL government guilty of creating a culture and environment of impunity, which led to the murder of a journalist.

The PN believes that it has a duty to ensure that what the three judges recommended comes into effect today before tomorrow, the PN leader said.

 Therefore, later on Tuesday, the Opposition will re-present the bill in Parliament.

PN MP Karol Aquilina delved deeper into the details of the bill. These include listing the duties of a government in the constitution, limiting the powers of a caretaker government, adding obstruction of justice to the Criminal Code, and adding new crimes, such as when a Public Officer in charge of Law Enforcement wilfully neglects his duty.

The bill would also see the introduction of new crimes, such as the illegal use of unofficial electronic resources by public officials and employees, a new law against organised and mafia crimes, the inclusion of Unexplained Wealth Orders in anti-money laundering laws and granting the authorities better tools to fight serious crimes such as homicide, money laundering and drug trafficking.

Another proposal is for the extension of the 48-hour arrest period to 72 hours through the authorisation of a magistrate.

The bill also provides for better protection to free, independent and impartial journalism as one of the main pillars of the Rule of Law and protection against SLAPP suits.

Present for the press conference was also PN Whip Robert Cutajar.