Lead investigator in Caruana Galizia murder case lambasts Jason Azzopardi over 'baseless' allegations

Police inspector Keith Arnaud has admonished Nationalist Party MP Jason Azzopardi over shocking statements he made in Parliament on the Caruana Galizia murder investigation.

In two separate Facebook posts, Arnaud described the allegations as “baseless”, insisting they could only jeopardise ongoing criminal proceedings and hinder investigations.

Arnaud asked incredulously: “How can anyone manipulate information and spin a sensitive case like this for personal gain?”

On Monday, Azzopardi named a police officer in Parliament and accused him of having tipped off the criminals before the massive security operation that led to their arrest last December.

One of Keith Arnaud's Facebook posts

Azzopardi said the officer, named as Aldo Cassar, had placed a phone call with one of the accused just before the raid on the potato shed in Marsa. The PN MP also accused the Police Commissioner of being aware of the information but failing to take criminal action against Cassar.

Azzopardi also accused the Security Service and the police of having known about the intentions of the killers before the car bomb exploded and did nothing to prevent the crime. His was a reference to information that emerged in court that the Security Service had been tapping the mobile phone of one of the accused for quite some time before the Caruana Galizia assassination.

Arnaud's first Facebook post

The police had issued a denial, insisting that the facts of the case had been explained to Azzopardi when he first raised the matter as a lawyer representing the Caruana Galizia family. In a rare move, the Security Service also denied it ever had knowledge of the bomb plot.

In a strongly-worded Facebook post, Arnaud said it was “incredible how certain statements are still made when they know the facts are otherwise”.

“It is a pity that not everybody’s agenda is the same, which makes me start to believe that little do they care about the damage their loose talk can cause,” Arnaud said.

Caruana Galizia was killed in a powerful car bomb shortly after leaving her Bidnija home

The police inspector was lost for words as he questioned whether it could ever cross anyone’s mind that the police would allow a bomb to explode and kill a person.

Arnaud pleaded for politics to be left out of the “sensitive investigations”.

Caruana Galizia was murdered on 16 October last year and three men have been charged with the assassination. However, the people who ordered the murder are still at large.