Nationalist MP Jason Azzopardi asked in Parliament on Tuesday how Labour MP Robert Abela had told a delegation from the European Parliament that there was never any mention of the murder of Daphne Caruana Galizia in phone intercepts recorded by the Malta Security Service.

Had the Labour MP been granted illegal access to Security Service information, or was he simply bluffing? Dr Azzopardi asked during the adjournment.

Had Prime Minister Joseph Muscat granted Dr Abela illegal access to information which was not even accessible to the inquiring magistrate? If not, was the prime minister comfortable with such statements by his MP?

Dr Azzopardi said Dr Abela's comments were recorded in the Mission Report filed by MEPs Ana Gomes, David Casa, and Sven Giegold after their recent visit to Malta.

He said that he had waited for the government to request a correction but none had been forthcoming.

Should it transpire that anyone had gained unauthorised access to the material in question, he said, it would be a “very serious crime” of “unprecedented gravity.”