The public inquiry into the murder of Daphne Caruana Galizia made several recommendations, the vast majority of which have gone entirely unheeded and unimplemented.

One such recommendation is to introduce a new law which would criminalise mafia-style association.

This was inspired from Article 416 bis of Italian Criminal Code, which stipulates that people belonging to a mafia-type organisation made up of three or more individuals would be liable to imprisonment. The term "mafia-type organisation" is defined as an organisation whose members use the power of intimidation, subjugation, and conspiracy of silence in order to commit illegal activities.

Prime Minister Abela had taken specific umbrage at this amendment when it was tabled in Parliament by the Nationalist Party back in early 2022, saying that introducing such a law would be "recognising Malta as a mafia state".

More recently, as the PN said that it would again be tabling such a legal amendment in Parliament, Abela again said that such a law would never be introduced under his watch.

"I totally, disagree because our country is not a mafia state... I have said it before and will say it again that I do not agree with a provision that suggests Malta is a mafia state and as long as I am prime minister it will never be introduced," Abela told parliament in recent weeks.

It is evident that this particular recommendation from the public inquiry will not be implemented any time soon - yet the logic that Abela is reciting in taking this conscious decision makes no sense.

Does the presence of a law that stops something automatically label a country? If the Prime Minister's argument was true - that having anti-mafia laws would label Malta as a mafia state - then what does that imply about the country elsewhere?

Does it mean that because Malta has anti-terrorism laws, then it is a terrorist state?  That because Malta has anti-money laundering laws, then it is a money laundering haven? That because Malta has anti-theft laws, then it's a den of thieves?

If anything, having a robust law to combat something is a sign of commitment that what is being fought against is not acceptable.  Like money laundering, theft, terrorism, and so on are not acceptable - equally, being part of a mafia organisation is also not acceptable.

The word 'mafia' is an ugly one with significant connotations, particularly here where there is a cultural familiarity with what goes on in Italy especially among older generations - but intrinsically it is a reference to an organised group of criminals.

Organised crime exists in Malta, it exists across Europe, and it exists across the world.  The Italians call it mafia, South Americans will call it a cartel, the United Kingdom will call it a gang - the crux is though that it does exist.

This same weekend, the Labour Party's own newspaper KullĦadd effectively admitted the existence of an organised crime network in Malta, as it reported that phones were found in the prison cells of Robert Agius, known as Tal-Maksar, George Degiorgio, known as iċ-Ċiniż, and Italian national Damiano Torrisi.

Agius and Degiorgio are both serving lengthy prison sentences in connection with the murder of Daphne Caruana Galizia via a car bomb.

KullĦadd quoted sources on Sunday saying that the trio were involved in planning "something big" - potentially a murder which was to take place in the coming days.

What more evidence of the presence of organised crime is there?  That three criminals somehow got mobile phones in prison and were allegedly using them to plan and coordinate a murder outside of the prison's walls?

It's evidence that has come, ironically, via the Labour Party's own newspaper - while the same Labour Party continues to block legal provisions that would punish such behaviour even more.

The Prime Minister's logic on blocking these legal amendments makes no sense - Malta needs laws that will punish those involved in organised crime, and which will hopefully go some way into breaking as many criminal circles possible.