Prime Minister Joseph Muscat on Wednesday morning insisted that the masterminds behind the murder of Daphne Caruana Galizia will be charged once there is all the evidence in hand.

Dr Muscat took questions from journalists following the inauguration of a Crane Currency centre designed to showcase the company’s work to its clients.

Asked whether the police were close to charging the masterminds who ordered the car bomb that killed Ms Caruana Galizia following reports in November that the investigation was “at a very advanced stage”, Dr Muscat insisted that he would not comment on specific details. This, he said, “was of no good to anyone” and reiterated that the investigations needed to take their course.

“This is for the simple reason that to prosecute there has to be all the evidence in place and I do not think that it is in anyone’s interest to take action and then a year or two down the line, when the processes get underway, it emerges that there isn’t enough evidence against those being charged in court.

“I am not saying that there isn’t, I am just saying that we need to let the prosecutors do their work,” Dr Muscat insisted. He then went on to “appeal to the media” to not give criminals an advantage when they came to phrase certain issues.

The Sunday Times of Malta reported last month that the police needed to gather more “rock solid evidence” before interrogating and proceeding against other suspects believed to be closely connected with the journalist’s murder.

In November, sources had told The Sunday Times of Malta that the investigation into those behind the car bomb was at a “very advanced stage”.