Comment is supposed to be free, and with great care not to prejudge anything in the current maelstrom of developments regarding the state of corruption – or rather, the corruption state – of Malta, here goes.

On Wednesday, we woke up to the news that the Armed Forces of Malta had prevented a so-called “person of interest” from departing what might simply have been a winter early-morning pleasure cruise, but might also have been an attempt to flee.

The chips had been piling up for over two years thanks to the relentless collaborative work of Maltese and international investigative journalists and finally something had to give.

Let us turn the clock back to another fateful day – November 22, 1963, to be exact. That event has led to a still-unanswered million-dollar question.

Did Lee Harvey Oswald act alone in the assassination of John F. Kennedy? That same question will hopefully not haunt us for years to come, and it is vital for the nation’s healing that it is answered honestly through a proper investigation, with no political interference at all.

I already find it of concern that things move forward (slowly) only at the behest, or nihil obstat, of the Prime Minister.

The police seem to need his green light to proceed with investigations or arrests, something that has no place in a democracy with balance of powers between institutions supposedly providing checks and balances.

It would be presumptuous of anybody to express an opinion as to the guilt, or otherwise, of what, to date, is only a suspect. However, there are certain tried-and-tested approaches that we would do well to discuss objectively.

Criminologists emphasise the importance of understanding three key factors in solving crimes, which are means, opportunity and motive.

It is simply not enough to pin everything on the one suspect, however much responsibility he might have

The means are the tools or methods used to commit the crime, while opportunity is the occasion that presents itself to allow the crime to take place. In the case of the assassination of Daphne Caruana Galizia, once we have a suspect who seems to have had both means and opportunity through access to copious amounts of money, we are left with motive, the reason for committing the crime.

There is already an indication, but the investigations should delve deeply into exactly what this motive entails.

Did someone wake up one fine day and decide to order the hit, without consulting anybody, or letting anybody else into their plans? Was the purported motive theirs alone, or was it shared by others?

Investigators would do well to open up all possible avenues.

17 Black allegedly occupied a central position in this whole conspiracy, so the motive needs to be seen in that particular blackness.

The first question that needs to be asked and answered is who was this company created to serve? What was it set up to do, and what were its planned operations?

Where would the money for its operations come from? Once that is established, the second question is where would the money then go?

To put it simply, where was the money going to come from and where was it going to go?

This company undoubtedly had the role of an intermediary between whoever was buying the service and whoever was selling it. Third question: what was this service?

There are many other questions that need to be asked, but, in my view, looking at the motive and at the questions that arise from them, one could easily follow the money and come up with the answers.

The police might also decide to do their job and follow up on Joseph Muscat’s public words, that nobody is immune to these investigations.

It is simply not enough to pin everything on the one suspect, however much responsibility he might have. It is crucial that this corrupt flesh at the core of our nation’s administration must be weeded out, exposed and face judgement through the proper channels.

Only then can we hope to have approached the end of the very dark, very deep and very long tunnel into which we were plunged on October 16, 2017.

We are seeing a domino that is wobbling unsteadily. Will it fall leading to other dominoes following suit?

Roberta Metsola is a Nationalist MEP.