Joseph Muscat spent more than five hours in court on Friday as he testified in a public inquiry into the murder of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia. 

The inquiry is tasked with establishing whether the state bears any responsibility for the 2017 assassination, and scrutiny of Muscat, who was prime minister at the time, is at the heart of its remit. 

In fiery testimony that began with Muscat reading out a statement in which he slammed the "failed" inquiry as having "deteriorated into a political exercise", the former prime minister defended his track record, dismissed Caruana Galizia as "irrelevant" and touched upon his relationship with murder suspect Yorgen Fenech.   

Here are nine things Joseph Muscat said during his testimony. 

1. He decided to quit after Keith Schembri was arrested

Early in his testimony, Muscat said that he knew his time as prime minister was over from the moment Caruana Galizia was murdered in October 2017.

That was just four months into his second term in office, though, and it would be more than two years before Muscat eventually bowed out as prime minister.

Muscat linked his January 2020 resignation to the arrest of his chief of staff, Keith Schembri, in connection with the Caruana Galizia murder case.

"Had one of my collaborators been called to answer on a case of corruption, that was one thing. But to be arrested on a link to such a major crime, then my position became untenable,” he said.

Keith Schembri was Joseph Muscat's right-hand man. Photo: Mark Zammit Cordina

2. Daphne Caruana Galizia had become ‘irrelevant’

Perhaps Muscat’s most inflammatory statement of the day came when he dismissed the murdered journalist as “irrelevant”.

"Caruana Galizia was killed when she became irrelevant to all, to the government and the opposition,” he said. “Whoever committed this crime is stupid!”

One of Caruana Galizia’s sisters, Corinne Vella, claimed on Twitter that traffic to Daphne’s blog peaked in October 2017, the month she was killed.

“Her writing was more relevant than ever,” Vella wrote.

Elsewhere during his testimony, Muscat said Caruana Galizia would veer between “world-class” journalism and “gutter gossip”.

“She would write about me and my children eating a burger,” he said by way of example.

We could find no posts on Caruana Galizia's blog about the Muscat family eating burgers, though she did write about him queuing up at a Burger King and mocked his wife Michelle’s table manners and dress sense.

Matthew Caruana Galizia visits the site of his mother, Daphne's murder. Photo: Mark Zammit Cordina

3. He had his photo taken with middleman Melvin Theuma

Muscat said Theuma had arranged to be one of the guests invited to a Christmas photo op with him, and that he knew this because the security services, who were listening in on Theuma’s calls, had warned him about it.

“Melvin Theuma came along with family. Right after him came a young lady who told me, 'what are we going to do about Vince Muscat il-Koħħu (alleged hitman)? I’m his daughter' she told me. I immediately called security.

“I’m not sure if there was some attempted frame-up,” Muscat added.

Muscat did not say what year that happened, but given that Theuma was already on investigators’ radar, this was most likely during the Christmas season of 2018.

Melvin Theuma in one of his first court appearances.

4. Keith Schembri “nudged” ministers, but did not run a shadow government

Muscat denied the existence of a “kitchen cabinet” led by Schembri, which called the shots from the sidelines.

Finance Minister Edward Scicluna had used the term when testifying before the inquiry, and Foreign Affairs Minister Evarist Bartolo has testified that Schembri had too much influence.

"None of my members ever told me about a kitchen cabinet. There was no government within the government,” Muscat insisted on Friday.

The former prime minister said that his chief of staff’s job was to “nudge” ministers and ensure projects were not bogged down in red tape, and described him and Konrad Mizzi as essential parts of his government.

“They were doers. Others would tell you that too,” he said.

Joseph Muscat pictured with cabinet members in 2013. Photo: Paul Zammit Cutajar

5. He regrets forcing Mallia and Falzon out...

Manuel Mallia and Michael Falzon both resigned as ministers during Muscat’s first term, at his request. Mallia was forced out in December 2014 after his chaffeur fired a gun at another man.

Falzon was made to resign in January 2016 after an NAO report found signs of collusion in a property deal between his ministry and developer Marco Gaffarena. 

On Friday, Muscat recalled those two resignations and said he regretted them.

"With hindsight and hand on heart, I think I was mistaken on both,” he said.

6. ...but also regrets keeping Schembri and Mizzi in 

Muscat seemed to struggle with taking the right human resources decisions, judging by his testimony on Friday: apart from saying he got it wrong with Mallia and Falzon, he also implied that he was wrong to cling on to Keith Schembri and Konrad Mizzi.

“It could be that I made the wrong political judgment. Here I agree with you," he told judges who pointed out to him that his own ministers had advised him to sack the two.

Joseph Muscats regrets keeping Keith Schembri and Konrad Mizzi (top) in their positions but regrets forcing Michael Falzon and Manuel Mallia (bottom) out.

7. He called an early election in 2017 due to Egrant claims

Muscat called a snap election in May 2017, when he had more than a year left in his term.

The election was announced just weeks after Caruana Galizia had alleged that Muscat’s wife, Michelle, owned secret company Egrant, and on Friday Muscat linked the two events.

The timing of that election has long been the source of debate: Caruana Galizia had argued that the election date was decided before her Egrant claims and murder suspect Yorgen Fenech told police that he knew of the election date in 2016.

"Then he knew before I did,” Muscat shot back on Friday when confronted with Fenech’s claim.

Joseph Muscat casts his vote in the 2017 election. Photo: DOI

8. He met Yorgen Fenech just eight times

Muscat said he was introduced to Fenech by former Labour minister Lino Spiteri in 2008 or 2009 and that he met the business tycoon on “one-off” occasions.

“There was a friendship, I don’t deny that,” he said when it was pointed out to him that he, Keith Schembri and Yorgen Fenech had a shared WhatsApp chat group.

The men shared photos of food and wine in the group, “but not of women”, Muscat emphasised.

The prime minister has also confirmed that he holidayed at a Hilton hotel in France which is owned by Fenech’s family. 

Later in his testimony, Muscat put some further distance between himself and the murder suspect, saying the two had only met eight times in all the years they knew each other.

"We met socially and rarely spoke about projects,” he said.

Times of Malta has revealed that Fenech gave Muscat wine and watches worth thousands of euro and was among the guests at Muscat’s 2019 birthday party. Fenech was already on the police’s radar by then.

On Friday, Muscat reiterated that he had invited Fenech to that party on the advice of investigators, but hinted that he wished he hadn’t, saying “with hindsight..."

Joseph Muscat said he met Yorgen Fenech eight times. Photo: Mark Zammit Cordina

9. He has no intention of leaving Malta

Muscat wrapped up more than five hours of testimony by telling the board of inquiry that he was staying put.

"My family and I have no plan of fleeing from here, we are happy [in Malta]," he said.

Rumours about Muscat leaving the country have persisted over the past year, as his administration crumbled into chaos and he moved out of the political limelight. US financial crime blogger Kenneth Rijock has further fuelled those claims by writing that Muscat will be moving to Dubai in 2021.

Muscat described Rijock as “a man from the US who is writing about me” and appeared to dismiss Rijock’s claims that he is running scared from a US Justice Department investigation.

Rijock quickly countered with a new post in which he said that Muscat would "learn about criminal charges filed against him when he is taken in US custody, and brought before a United States Magistrate Judge, in America, and no sooner."

Protests calling for Joseph Muscat's resignation in 2019. Photo: Jonathan Borg