The following are the top stories in Malta's newspapers on Friday.

Times of Malta leads with news that Keith Schembri, the former chief of staff at
the Office of the Prime Minister, expects to be charged with criminal activity in “the coming days”.

In a lengthy Facebook post on Thursday, Schembri slammed as a “travesty of justice” the magisterial inquiry into allegations that he gave kickbacks to former Allied Newspapers managing director Adrian Hillman.

In a separate piece, the newspaper reports that the rate of admission to Malta’s
intensive care units last week was the highest since the pandemic hit the island a year ago.

The Malta Independent also reports on Schembri's claims, while the newspaper also refers to comments by Superintendent of Public Health Charmaine Gauci that three fourths of new COVID cases are linked to the UK variant.

l-orizzont quotes recent data showing a gender pay gap of €3,000, and in a separate report it also refers to Gauci's confirmation that 75 per cent of COVID cases are of the UK variant.

In-Nazzjon, similarly to the Times of Malta and The Malta Independent, refers to Schembri's Facebook post.

In a separate article on its front page, the newspaper meanwhile refers to a meeting between a PN delegation led by Bernard Grech and President George Vella, during which they discussed proposed changes to the Interpretation Act.