The €1 million reward to net Daphne Caruana Galizia’s killers was still on the table but would now be given to anyone who could provide information on the mastermind, Home Affairs Minister Michael Farrugia said.

Three men have been charged with killing Ms Caruana Galizia in a car bombing on October 16.

Dr Farrugia said it was investigations by the Malta police, aided by the Security Service and assisted by foreign experts, that led to the suspects’ arrests, with nobody providing any tip-offs.

“We’re still trying to find out why the murder was carried out and who sent them,” Dr Farrugia told the Times of Malta’s online programme Times Talk.

We’re still trying to learn why, and who sent them

Critics insist that the three men having been charged with hatching the bomb plot did not mean they were necessarily the ones who actually commissioned it.

But the minister was categorical: “It’s in the interests of everybody. The case is [only] resolved when it comes to the men who allegedly planted and triggered the bomb. The investigations are still ongoing to establish who sent them and the reason.”

Asked if investigators were probing money trails leading to the three accused, Dr Farrugia pledged: “We will leave no stone unturned.”

The government has said whoever comes forward with information will be given full protection when testifying under oath in front of the inquiring magistrate and in all subsequent stages of the criminal procedures.

Information passed to the police confidentially will be eligible for the reward, so long as it is corroborated with other independent evidence that leads to the identification of the murderers.

The victim’s family has refused to endorse the reward.