The Home Affairs Minister would not say whether he had full trust in Police Commissioner Lawrence Cutajar, whose competence was questioned after a crime conference on Daphne Caruana Galizia’s murder.

Police Commissioner Lawrence Cutajar (centre) has been in the line of fire.

Instead, Michael Farrugia insisted that investigations into the car bomb attack were going “full-steam ahead” and that Mr Cutajar’s role was to solve the case.

Dr Farrugia was speaking to the Times of Malta outside Parliament after the debate on the Home Affairs Ministry’s Budget allocation.

As happened with regards to other ministries, the debate was dominated by the latest developments in connection with Ms Caruana Galizia’s brutal killing, especially the belated crime conference held on Thursday evening, 72 hours after the car bombing.

The Opposition has been calling for his resignation for months.

Many who followed the crime conference on Facebook, questioned Mr Cutajar’s competence. Asked whether he subscribed to such views and if he still had full confidence in the Police Commissioner, Dr Farrugia replied: “His job is to find out who was behind this cowardly act… investigations are going full steam ahead until the case is solved.”

His job is to find out who was behind this cowardly act

He justified the scant information divulged so far by the police saying they had communicated all known details at this stage while taking care not to compromise investigations.

“You will be informed when there are further developments,” he added.

A week ago today, the police had called a crime conference to announce a record cannabis haul, barely a few hours after the discovery and a day before the suspects were charged in court.

The minister defended the contrasting approach arguing that it was much easier to give details once a case was solved.

Home Affairs Minister Michael Farrugia insisted that investigations into the car bomb were going “full-steam ahead”. Photo: Chris Sant Fournier

The minister was also asked about the role of Deputy Police Commissioner Silvio Valletta, the husband of Gozo Minister Justyne Caruana, who is heading the murder investigation. Concerns were expressed in this regard due to the fact that Ms Caruana Galizia was a very strong critic of the government and, lately, also of Opposition leader Adrian Delia.

Dr Farrugia brushed away such concerns, even when it was pointed out to him that Magistrate Consuelo Scerri Herrera had accepted a request by Ms Caruana Galizia’s family not to conduct the inquiry into the murder due to potential conflicts of interests since the journalist/blogger had written about her.

“This concern on Mr Valletta’s role is the best way to play in the hands of the perpetrators by sowing suspicions on the investigators,” Dr Farrugia said.

He said “certain things” had been discussed at a meeting between the Prime Minister and the Opposition but he was not in a position to divulge them.