George Degiorgio’s partner has written to President George Vella following recent media reports claiming that a presidential pardon had been requested on her behalf by one of Daphne Caruana Galizia’s alleged hitmen.

Anca-Adelina Pop was prompted to address the head of state to clarify that, contrary to claims made in these reports, she had never requested a presidential pardon nor had any intention of doing so.

A request of the sort had reportedly been made on her behalf by George Degiorgio’s lawyer, “presumably” upon the instructions of Degiorgio himself, wrote lawyer Roberto Montalto, who has been Pop’s sole lawyer since last year.

The request had been made in respect of ongoing criminal proceedings in which Pop stands accused of money laundering, alongside George Degiorgio and his brother Alfred.

The trio had been jointly arraigned in June 2018 after suspicions about the unemployed men’s lavish lifestyle surfaced during police investigations into the Caruana Galizia 2017 murder.

All three pleaded not guilty and one month later, Pop was released on bail.

Almost three years down the line, those criminal proceedings have reached a “very advanced stage” and she was close to wrapping up her evidence, proving that charges against her were “unfounded”.

The woman was totally convinced of her own innocence which should eventually be proved through her acquittal, her lawyer said. Not only had she never requested a presidential pardon but had no intention of asking for one, her lawyer wrote, adding that this clarification should not impinge upon considerations relative to Degiorgio’s own request for a pardon.

Last month, the Degiorgios each asked for a presidential pardon in exchange for information about the Caruana Galizia assassination and a yet-unsolved attempted robbery, allegedly implicating the involvement of both a former and sitting minister.