Malta PM Muscat won't resign after Schembri wrapped up in murder investigation

HIGHLIGHTS

• Maltese Prime Minister Joseph Muscat said that he had no intention of resigning following the resignation of his chief of staff, who is helping police in a murder investigation.
• Keith Schembri is a suspect in the 2017 murder case of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia.

Maltese Prime Minister Joseph Muscat said on Tuesday he had no intention of resigning at present following the resignation of his chief of staff, Keith Schembri, who is helping police in a murder investigation.

"My role right now is to ensure the country has stable leadership. My role is to make sure we navigate through this turbulent time," Muscat said.

Schembri is a suspect in the 2017 murder case of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia. Schembri had been facing pressure to resign because of his alleged financial ties to businessman Yorgen Fenech, who was detained last week as a person of interest in the murder probe.

Caruana Galizia, one of Malta's best-known investigative journalists, was blown up as she left her home on Oct. 16, 2017, in a murder that shocked Europe and raised questions about rule of law on the small Mediterranean island.

Three men are awaiting trial for setting off the bomb and police sources say the investigation into who actually ordered the killing has made big advances in the past week. A Reuters investigation last year revealed that Fenech was the owner of a secret company called 17 Black, which was named in emails as being the vehicle to fund secret Panama companies owned by Schembri and Tourism Minister Konrad Mizzi. It is not known whether any funds actually changed hands.

Schembri and Mizzi have always denied wrongdoing and Muscat has repeatedly resisted calls for their dismissal. Caruana Galizia regularly posted allegations of corruption on her blog and on various occasions targeted Fenech as well as members of the Muscat government, including Schembri. She mentioned 17 Black in one post before her death but wrote that she did not know who owned it.