Opposition leader Bernard Grech has described news that former minister Chris Cardona has been implicated in an aborted 2015 plot to kill Daphne Caruana Galizia as “shocking”.

Times of Malta reported on Friday that convicted murderer Vince Muscat, known as il-Koħħu, has over the past days walked investigators through a plan hatched in 2015 to kill Caruana Galizia which was later abandoned. 

He claims that Cardona, who at the time was economy minister, was behind the plan. 

Cardona has strongly denied the allegations, describing them as “pure evil fiction”.

In a statement on Facebook, Grech said that if the allegations were true, they confirmed the familiarity between the Labour government and organised crime. 

Those who formed part of the government had allowed the country to be taken over by people whose only interest was power and money, rather than the common good, Grech said. 

Not only had the country’s institutions failed to work, but they were also managed by those who were close to criminals and hindered the process as much as they could to protect themselves.

The story also showed how irresponsible the Prime Minister was to try to get involved in the investigation, Grech said, given that he was an extension of the Joseph Muscat cabinet which he used to form part of.

He said that it was important for the country to start anew as soon as possible. 

In a news conference on Thursday, Prime Minister Robert Abela hailed the arraignment of two men accused of supplying the bomb that killed journalist Caruana Galizia as evidence that there is rule of law in Malta.

However, he refused to be drawn on whether he could rule out political involvement in the 2017 assassination. 

Speaking on Wednesday evening, police commissioner Angelo Gafá said that investigators had no evidence so far that a politician was involved in the journalist's 2017 murder.