Two pressure groups said they were "gravely concerned" about recent developments brought about by the Daphne Project as they encouraged civil society to gather for a protest on Sunday.

In a statement, Occupy Justice and Awturi said it is very clear now that minister Konrad Mizzi lied to the Maltese and European parliaments, and that both he and the Prime Minister’s staff chief Keith Schembri had lied to the people about their involvement in 17 Black.

Read: $1.6m wired to Mizzi and Schembri's Panama 'target client'

"We now know, through documentary evidence, that they set up a structure to earn €150,000 euro a month in bribes. The Prime Minister has not dismissed them," the groups said in a statement.

International media reports have also reported that it is likely that Maltese security services had been tapping into the phone communications of at least one of the alleged assassins of Daphne Caruana Galizia for some time before he killed her, "and they did nothing to stop him". 

"The Prime Minister leads the committee that oversees the security service and has not provided answers about what has really happened."

They urged the public to meet on Sunday afternoon in Valletta to call for political responsibility as well as for a serious and independent investigations into the "horrific revelations".