Corruption problems need to be discussed in a European context, former Prime Minister and Labour MEP Alfred Sant said on Friday evening, insisting that this was an issue across Europe and not one that was found only in Malta.

Speaking during a debate on freedom of speech on Friday evening, the former Prime Minister argued that the issue needed to be looked at from a holistic point of view.

“Let’s not be too insular about this. There is a problem with corruption not just in Malta but in Europe,” Dr Sant told those at the debate held in Valletta.

Dismissing claims that the murder of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia in October 2017 was a result of her work against corruption in Malta, Dr Sant insisted that it had yet to be proved whether the cause of her death was corruption.

Dr Sant insisted that it had yet to be proved whether the cause of Caruana Galizia's death was corruption

When it was pointed out that a delegation of MEPs had flagged instances of corruption in Malta following a fact-finding mission to the island at the end of last year, Dr Sant dismissed the report as a “total manipulation”.

“I’m in the European Parliament and I know the background to that. Do not take that [the report] at face value. That delegation was a total manipulation,” Dr Sant went on.

A report on Malta was compiled after a cross-party delegation of MEPs from the Pana and Libe committees carried out a two-day fact-finding mission on the rule of law in Malta last year.

Among other things, the report says that keeping politicians implicated in serious acts of corruption in office affected the credibility of the government, fuelled a perception of impunity and may result in further damage to State interests by enabling the continuation of criminal activity.