Questions on whether Daphne Caruana Galizia was adequately protected before she was assassinated remained unanswered by the Council of Europe’s ministerial body, Dutch MP Pieter Omtzigt is insisting.
The “real” questions he made to the Maltese government were not answered, Mr Omtzigt told Times of Malta.
He was contacted after the Council of Europe's committee of ministers said on Tuesday it would not be taking any additional measures with regard to Ms Caruana Galizia's murder, money laundering allegations and the protection of whistleblowers in Malta.
Through questions made via the Council of Europe, the Dutch MP asked for information from the Maltese government on the failure by the police to investigate evidence of money laundering by government officials and their relatives, on its failure to adequately protect Ms Caruana Galizia and on the protection it intended to afford to whistleblowers.
“They gave no answer on whether Ms Caruana Galizia was adequately protected and there is no answer on the questions on whistleblowers.
“That probably means that the governments [forming part of the Council of Europe] could not agree on a joint text on that and they, thus, decided to evade the question. Otherwise, they would have stated that whistleblowers have adequate protection in Malta,” Mr Omtzigt said.
Read: Caruana Galizia sons react as CoE ministerial body rules out further action on murder
Referring to the statement that no further action would be taken by the Council of Europe, he observed that ambassadors “usually provided this kind of answer”.
“The tone comes as no surprise to me. It is good that the delegation of Malta twice had to provide information on the steps taken by the Maltese authorities on this issue and on the results achieved at this stage.
“It would be interesting to know what kind of information was provided,” Mr Omtzigt added.
Earlier this year, Mr Omtzigt tabled a motion to send a rapporteur to Malta to monitor ongoing investigations into Ms Caruana Galizia’s murder. It was signed by 114 MPs hailing from different parties, a number that was regarded “exceptionally high”.
The Prime Minister’s head of communications, Kurt Farrugia, welcomed the Council of Europe’s decision that it would not be taking any further action.
Ms Caruana Galizia’s sons, Matthew, Andrew and Paul, however, reacted and said that the government was quick to celebrate anything perceived as passivity from the international community about the assassination.
“A conservative response to an MP by a group of ambassadors in Strasbourg, including our own, is not cause for celebration by government officials, especially when that reply is based on open deceit. There is no such thing as ‘judicial investigations’ in Malta and there can be no judicial prosecution. Neither are any sort of investigations whatsoever open into any of Daphne Caruana Galizia’s reporting, with the one exception of a magistrate seeking to pin down a declaration of trust showing that Michelle Muscat is the beneficial owner of Egrant Inc, evidence which was clearly spirited out of the country over a year ago.