Updated 5.20pm with PL statement

Karl Gouder’s relatives and friends are still trying to come to terms with his death, saying everything seemed "so normal" and that he was excited about his bid to become the Nationalist Party's next general secretary. 

Gouder was found dead in Valletta on Tuesday morning, close to the former Customs House.

Police sources say the death is not being treated as suspicious, but the family's puzzlement - along with allegations that Gouder had received threats in the days before his death - have sparked many rumours about his final hours. 

Maxine Gouder, his sister-in-law, has now gone public with a request for information.

‘If anyone has information about Karl during the days leading to his death please reach out [to] Nicky Gouder [his brother],’ she wrote on Facebook.

Screenshot: Facebook

Their call was later backed by both the PN and Labour Party. The PN called on authorities to "uncover what led to the tragic death" of the 45-year-old, while Labour said it wanted the truth and justice to emerge. 

"At such a moment, maturity and national unity should prevail," it said.

Former PN MP Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando told Times of Malta he had filed a police report about "reliable information" that Gouder was threatened, though he acknowledged he had no proof. 

"I would not have been a good citizen had I received this information and decided to keep it to myself. I don’t have tangible proof. But it was my duty to inform the police", he said.

Pullicino Orlando declined to name the person who he believes threatened Gouder, and who he described as "vile and filthy" [aħdar u żibel] in a Facebook post. 

He told Times of Malta that after he published that post, a different source "just as reliable" as the first had given him similar information.  

Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando has filed a police report on 'reliable information' he says he has received. Screenshot: Facebook

Blogger and author Mark Camilleri has also claimed that Gouder was being threatened, saying former OPM official-turned-blogger Neville Gafà was behind those threats. 

Gafà told Times of Malta that was untrue and that he had never met, spoken or texted Gouder. 

PN MPs piece together Gouder's final days 

Meanwhile, sources within the Nationalist Party told Times of Malta that the party has formally asked the police to investigate comments about Gouder uploaded to social media.

Times of Malta also spoke to a PN insider who last spoke to Karl Gouder on Monday at 8pm, the night before his death. 

"I called Karl to wish him well on his next step in politics and the call lasted a couple of minutes.  Karl was in a public place, because I could hear a lot of noise in the background.  But he sounded as normal as ever."

Last Sunday, Times of Malta broke the news about Gouder’s intention to stand for secretary general of the Nationalist Party. He has was hief operations officer of the PN’s media arm, previously mayor of St Julian’s and also served as a PN MP for six years across three legislatures. 

A handful of PN MPs told Times of Malta that Gouder had contacted them one by one last Friday, to inform them personally that he had decided to run for the post vacated by Michael Piccinino.  

"He said he wanted to inform us directly before the story was out in the media.  That’s how things are done and shows what Karl was made of," one PN MP said.

Another source said that Gouder sounded "jovial and eager to get to work" in the past days. 

"His last message to me over the phone was simple: 'together we can do this', " said another MP.  

"Usually I would tell that if someone is going through a rough patch but Karl certainly wasn’t, or was he?"

On Sunday, Gouder took centre stage at the Mediterranean Conference Centre in Valletta, handing out trophies to the winners at the end of the Konkors Kanzunetta Indipendenza.

On Sunday night Karl Gouder handed out prizes at the Konkors Kanzunetta Indipendenza. Photo: Facebook

On Monday, he participated in PN internal meetings both in the morning and late into the afternoon. Then in the early hours of the evening, he received a phone call in a public place. The next morning, he was found dead. 

A police investigation and a magisterial inquiry into the death are currently ongoing.

"It is not prudent to divulge further information at this stage," a spokesman said.