Nationalist MP Clyde Puli launched a harsh attack on the Labour Party on Tuesday when making his point that a murder like that of Daphne Caruana Galizia would not have happened under a PN administration.
"This is a free country and everyone can criticise, even journalists. One thing we would not do, even to people we don't agree with, is that we don't kill them. We never had a murder like that happen in our time," Puli said during a press conference, during which the PN called on the government to publish its school reopening guidelines.
(The question begins at 36.25. Puli's reply begins at 40.23)
Puli was replying to a question by a journalist from the Labour Party's ONE news station, asking whether he agreed with NGO Repubblika's call for former PN leader Adrian Delia to resign if it were true that he was in contact with Yorgen Fenech after Fenech was exposed as the owner of 17 Black.
The PN MP said that NGOs were free to criticise.
"We respect freedom of expression, which is something the Labour Party needs to learn more about," he said.
"Instead of asking these questions, it's better for us to discuss how we can implement the recommendations of the [Caruana Galizia inquiry] report, so that our country can get itself out of the dirt it's in, so that we can get off the grey list and build our reputation again."
The Caruana Galizia inquiry found that the state should be held responsible for the journalist's 2017 assassination.
He said that if the Labour Party believed that a member of the Opposition had done something wrong, they should report it to the proper channels.
"We know that there was closeness between certain people, but we need to look at the whole context," he said.
He said that the inquiry and numerous reports have revealed "worse" friendships between Fenech and party members.
Times of Malta reported that Yorgen Fenech offered Edward Zammit Lewis jobs for his supporters at Tumas. The offer came several months after Zammit Lewis complained to the former Tumas CEO how the "Laburist Ġaħan" (Labourite fools) were only interested in politicians who could dispense favours and patronage.