The Prime Minister’s former chief of staff Keith Schembri has been called in for further police questioning, this time in connection with a phantom job given to Daphne Caruana Galizia murder middleman Melvin Theuma.

A number of people involved in giving Mr Theuma the job have been questioned over the past days. Mr Theuma was employed by the government on May 1, 2017, a few months before Ms Caruana Galizia was assassinated.

Tony Muscat, the former CEO of the government company that employed Mr Theuma, told police it was Mr Schembri who piled pressure on him to hire Mr Theuma.

According to Mr Theuma's testimony in court last Wednesday, murder suspect Yorgen Fenech told him to expect a call from the head of customer care at the Office of the Prime Minister, Sandro Craus, soon after the hit on Ms Caruana Galizia was discussed in April 2017. 

The following day, he says he was greeted on the steps of Castille by Mr Schembri. 

He left the meeting after taking a photo with Mr Schembri and landing a government job. He told a court he never showed up for work but still received a monthly salary, understood to be of around €1,200 a month. 

Mr Theuma said in court on Wednesday that the plot to assassinate 
Ms Caruana Galizia was put on hold the day Prime Minister Joseph Muscat announced a snap general election. 

It was reactivated the day Labour won the election in June 2017 with a landslide victory. 

Since his arrest, Mr Fenech has claimed that Mr Schembri was a co-conspirator in the assassination. 

Mr Schembri was arrested and questioned after the claims were made, but later released without charge. 

He resigned as the Prime Minister's chief of staff shortly before being called in by police in connection with the murder. 

Prime Minister Joseph Muscat has since announced his own resignation, come January. 

Dr Muscat has faced calls to resign immediately, including from his biographer and former adviser Cyrus Engerer.