These are the leading stories in local newspapers this Monday.
Times of Malta leads with junior minister Rosianne Cutajar saying she has always “acted correctly”, following reports that she accepted a €46,500 cash payment as a brokerage fee in a property sale to Yorgen Fenech.
The newspaper also reports an ECHR judgement which found that the government should return a parcel of land it had expropriated in Birżebbuġa to its original owners.
The Malta Independent gives front-page coverage to Prime Minister Robert Abela, who on Sunday said he was looking forward to reading the conclusions of a public inquiry into the murder of Daphne Caruana Galizia.
The newspaper also notes that Malta had the EU’s second-highest rate of first-time asylum seekers between July and September.
L-Orizzont also leads with Robert Abela’s Sunday speech, although it focuses on the prime minister’s remarks that a first batch of COVID-19 vaccines will reach Malta on Boxing Day. The newspaper also notes that the EU’s medicines watchdog is expected to authorise that vaccine, manufactured by Pfizer/BioNTech, today.
In-Nazzjon leads with PN leader Bernard Grech’s calls for Rosianne Cutajar to “resign or be sacked”, following reports that she acted as a property broker for a deal involving Yorgen Fenech.