PN MP opens fire at Labour: ‘A murder like Daphne's never happened under us’

Nationalist MP Clyde Puli scathingly remarked on Tuesday that the party would never kill someone they don’t agree with, and that a murder like that of Daphne Caruana Galizia never happened under the PN’s administration.

Puli was responding to a question by a journalist from the Labour Party’s ONE news station, who asked whether he agrees with Repubblika’s call for Adrian Delia to resign from the party if found to have been in contact with Yorgen Fenech after 17 Black revelations.

Puli said that NGOs have every right to make their own criticism, and that everyone is subject to their opinion.

“The one thing we don’t do to people we don’t agree with is kill them. We never had a murder like that happen in our time,” he stated, 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.

Puli added that if someone from the Labour Party feels that a member of the Nationalist Party did something wrong, they should flag this with the relevant institutions.

“We know that there was unnecessary closeness between certain people,” he continued. “I don’t think dining with a person is bad, but we need to look at the context.”

A public inquiry into the murder of Daphne Caruana Galizia held the state responsible for creating a culture of impunity that facilitated the assassination. Since her murder in 2017, three people have been arrested for carrying out the assassination, while the Tumas Group's business magnate Yorgen Fenech is facing court proceedings for having masterminded the murder.

Since his arrest, countless reports have revealed the intimate relationships Fenech held with both Labour and Nationalist Party members. Most recently, it was revealed that Justice Minister Edward Zammit Lewis would often ask Fenech for jobs within the Tumas empire whenever his supporters were in need of work.

A more devastating report showed a friendly Whatsapp chat between the two where Zammit Lewis referred to Labour Party voters as "Ġaħan Laburisti". Despite the flak, and admitting that he dined and chatted with Fenech, Zammit Lewis defended his position as Justice Minister and said he has no intentions of resigning.

On the Nationalist Party's side, former party leader Adrian Delia also reportedly shared friendly Whatsapp exchanges with the Tumas magnate. A February 2019 conversation saw Fenech asking Delia "How are you holding up?", while another message said "I think about you but I don’t want to bother you and add myself to the list of botherers you have.”

MP Jason Azzopardi faced similar controversy after benefitting from a free stay at the Hilton in Tel Aviv fully financed by Tumas Group.