Journalist's murder is flashback of the violent 1980s - Beppe Fenech Adami

Painting a dire picture of a complete breakdown in the rule of law, Nationalist Party deputy leader Beppe Fenech Adami this evening said Daphne Caruana Galizia's murder was symptomatic of the government's "intentional" dismantling of the country's institutions.

In a very emotional and angry speech to Parliament, Fenech Adami recalled the violent 1980s, including his personal experience as a child when Labour thugs ransacked his family home in 1979. That day, known as Black Monday, occurred 38 years, almost to the day, of Caruana Galizia's murder.

Fenech Adami said Prime Minister Joseph Muscat's pledge to leave no stone unturned in the efforts to capture the culprits who murdered Caruana Galizia could not be believed.

"In 1986, a Labour prime minister had gone to Raymond Caruana's family promising them no stone would be left unturned to capture those who killed the young man only to find out that the government had been planning a frame up all along," Fenech Adami said.

Caruana had been gunned down in December 1986 after shots were fired at the PN Gudja club. Subsequently, the police charged Pietru Pawl Busuttil with his murder in what turned out to be a frame up. Busuttil was acquitted of all charges by the court that confirmed his arraignment was a police frame up. Nobody was ever charged with Caruana's murder after that.

READ ALSO: Raymond Caruana remembered

Fenech Adami insisted Muscat had intentionally dismantled institutions like the police, which failed to take action when wrongdoing by people close to the government was exposed.

He asked why had former PL secretary general Jimmy Magro not been charged yet despite the Commission Against Corruption having found grounds for him to be prosecuted. He also asked why no action had been taken yet against Edward Caruana, a former works manager at the Foundation for Tomorrow's Schools, despite proof that he had asked for bribes.

Fenech Adami said the police failed to act on reports by the Financial Intelligence Analysis Unit on its findings that implicated the PM chief of staff Keith Schembri in kickbacks over the sale of passports.

The PN deputy leader said this situation had made it possible for the people who murdered Caruana Galizia to act in the belief they could operate with impunity.

"This was a political murder and your legacy Prime Minister is one that will always be tainted with the murder of Daphne Caruana Galizia; your legacy is one of a corrupt country... it is now time to do justice with Caruana Galizia and the people; this is your moment of truth and for the sake of this country, leave now," Fenech Adami said.

At one point, the PN MPs protested loudly at what they claimed was Labour MP Rosianne Cutajar's sniggering each time Caruana Galizia's name was mentioned.