A Maltese MP has accused a police sergeant of tipping off suspects in the murder of a prominent investigative journalist of their impending arrest.Jason Azzopardi, also a lawyer for Daphne Caruana
Galizia’s family in the case against the three men, told fellow MPs the officer was removed after reports about the alleged leak.
Police denied the claims. A spokesman for the PM called them “lies”.
Caruana Galizia was killed by a car bomb close to her home last October.
The 53 year old was known for her blog accusing top politicians of corruption. Three suspects – the brothers George and Alfred Degiorgio and their friend Vince Muscat – were arrested in a massive police operation in December.
‘Rotten to the core’
Mr Azzopardi named the alleged leaker in parliament as Sgt Aldo Cassar and claimed that he had access to sensitive information about investigations and surveillance as member of the Criminal Intelligence Unit.
As indications that the men had been tipped off, Mr Azzopardi said the suspects had thrown their mobile phones into the sea before the police arrived and that one of them had his partner’s phone number on his arm.
He also cited a media report which claimed that one of the officers had told the suspects: “How did you know we were coming? Did you smell us coming?”, the Times of Malta reports.
