Civil society group Repubblika plans to officially become an "anti-mafia organisation", styling itself on an Italian group. 

In a statement, the activist organisation said it would add the function to its mission, claiming the inquiry into the Daphne Caruana Galizia murder had "recognised" mafia infiltration in the Maltese state.

"Repubblika has since its inception campaigned to raise awareness of the infiltration of the mafia in the economy of Malta as well as its government and state institutions," it said.

The group plans to adopt a new set of changes to its statute, saying laws alone were "not enough to fight the mafia" and so "honest citizens" needed to get involved.

It said it would now campaign for legislation to confiscate buildings and assets "belonging to mafiosi" and transfer them to the community as a "form of compensation". 

The group will style itself on Italian anti-mafia group Libera dalle mafie, with whom Repubblika cooperates closely. 

"Repubblika believes it is intolerable that even after they are indicted for mafia crimes, mafiosi continue to profit from their business fronts and honest citizens continue to subsidise their ill-gotten gains paying the price of social inequality and environmental degradation," it said.

"It is not just people who are robbed, cheated, extorted or killed that are victims of the mafia. The institutionalisation of corruption makes victims of all law-abiding citizens and compensation is due to them by mafiosi who are made to face justice for their crimes."