Malta: Police Arrest 10 For Murder of Journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia Who Investigated Panama Papers

The journalist ran a blog, Running Commentary, in which she had posted controversial articles. She was sued by several personalities for her blog posts.

Malta, Dec 5:  The Prime Minister of Malta, Joseph Muscat announced on Monday that the police have arrested 10 people in connection with the murder of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia, whose car was blown up in October. The journalist was a part of Panama Papers investigation.

Muscat informed that the suspects were Maltese nationals and all had criminal record. He didn’t elaborate, saying anything he said could compromise prosecution of the suspects. According to Maltese law, the police have 48 hours to question the suspects, charge them or release them.

Caruana Galizia, 53, was a bitter critic of the Prime Minister. She had been writing blazing commentary against Muscat and his associates on her blog. She was murdered on October 16 as she was driving away from her house.

This was the first breakthrough in the sensational murder that attracted international condemnation.

Galizia was reportedly following leads from the Panama Papers and had accused senior government functionaries and politicians of Malta of graft and  money laundering. Due to her reports, she had been sued 36 times in the past nine months before her death.

Europol, the police agency of the European Union, with help from FBI and Dutch forensic experts, joined the Maltese police in the investigation.

The journalist ran a blog, Running Commentary, in which she had posted controversial articles. She was sued by several personalities for her blog posts. Opposition leader Adrian Delia sued her for stories linking with a prostitution racket in London; economy minister Chris Cardona also sued her for writing that he visited a brothel in Germany.