Updated Saturday 2.55pm - Added police statement 

The investigation into Daphne Caruana Galizia's murder now involves "a number" of EU member states, Europol's outgoing chief has indicated.

In a letter sent to MEP Ana Gomes, Europol executive director Rob Wainwright wrote that the investigation was "highly complex and now involves a number of EU member states." 

Ms Gomes said the Europol letter was 'very serious'. Photo: Matthew Mirabelli

"New concerns have arisen which are now the subject of further, high-priority investigation by Europol", Mr Wainwright, who is in his final week in office, wrote. 

The Europol chief indicated that cooperation with Maltese authorities was not optimal, diplomatically writing that there was "some room for improvement" and that the agency was actively seeking to address this.

He also made it clear that the agency had no way of independently verifying the status of investigations. Instead, it must rely on information provided by member states - in this case Malta - in assessing how they are being handled. 

BLOG: Europol experts kept a close eye on Caruana Galizia murder searches

An OPM spokesman told members of the Daphne Project that Malta was cooperating with Europol "at every level" and added that it was willing to make "any improvements necessary" to improve cooperation. 

On Saturday, police said that they had discussed the letter with Europol and received assurances that Mr Wainwright's "room for improvement" comment was not directed at Malta or Malta's police force.

"It was also confirmed that the reference was made in relation to cooperation with other countries," the police said. 

Ms Gomes told journalists that the letter was extremely serious, because "it confirms that Europol has been involved with limitations, and here we are facing a government that has obviously been stalling investigations." 

The Daphne Project is an international collaboration between 18 news organisations which seeks to continue the work of Ms Caruana Galizia. It is led by Paris-based NGO Forbidden Stories. 

Europol's role in the case

Ms Gomes, who chairs an ad hoc MEP delegation which highlighted a "perception of impunity" when it visited Malta late last year, wrote to the Europol chief to better understand how the EU's law enforcement agency was involved in the investigation into Ms Caruana Galizia's murder.

While Mr Wainwright said that he would pass the request on to his successor, he nevertheless provided some insight into Europol's role in the investigation so far. 

The agency has been providing "continuous support" to Maltese authorities in the investigation, including:

• Collecting, storing, processing, analysing and exchanging information and intelligence
  
  
• Notifying Malta and "possible other EU member states" of information and connections between criminal offences concerning them
  
  
• Helping Maltese authorities with investigative and operational activities
  
  
• Sharing specialist knowledge, including forensic methods, with Maltese authorities
  
  
• Supporting cross-border information exchange
  
  
• Promoting investigative cooperation between Malta and possible other EU member states 

Europol began helping local authorities with the high-profile murder investigation from its earlier stages, MEPs were told earlier this month. 

Photo: Shutterstock

Police witnesses testifying in the compilation of evidence against three men accused of murdering Ms Caruana Galizia have also indicated that Europol experts were on hand while local police searched suspects' homes, with a Dutch expert reportedly coordinating a thorough forensic search of the Bidnija site where Ms Caruana Galizia was blown up last October. 

Europol has also been helping Slovakian authorities in the investigation of Jan Kuciak, an investigative journalist who was assassinated along with his partner last February. 

Europol's limited powers

Mr Wainwright noted similarities between the two cases - both Mr Kuciak and Ms Caruana Galizia were journalists who had alleged high-level corruption - though he made it clear that the two cases were "in no way connected". 

He also used the letter to Ms Gomes to emphasise that Europol had no way of checking whether EU member states were doing their utmost to investigate specific cases, and had to rely on national authorities' reports.

"The agency has no independent means to provide such assurance," Europol's boss bemoaned. 

Police seek urgent clarification

Mr Wainwright's letter came like a bolt in the blue for Malta's police force, which on Saturday morning said that it was seeking "urgent clarification" from Europol to understand what the outgoing agency chief meant when he wrote that there was "room for improvement" in cooperation with Maltese authorities.

"Until yesterday the Malta Police Force was discussing the way forward," police said in a statement. "We believe that the media are misinterpreting an ambiguous sentence." 

It subsequently said that it had received assurances from the EU's law enforcement agency that Mr Wainwright's "room for improvement" comment did not refer to cooperation with Malta's police force, but rather that "the reference was made in relation to cooperation with other countries."