Updated 10.15am, adds AD statement

The Nationalist Party has asked if there is some kind of pact between Prime Minister Robert Abela and his predecessor Joseph Muscat in view of the former's inaction following damning court evidence on Monday.

During the court sitting, the middleman in the Daphne Caruana Galizia murder plot, Melvin Theuma, claimed involvement by Chris Cardona, deputy leader of the Labour Party. The claims were denied by the former minister. 

In a statement, PN General Secretary Francis Zammit Dimech asked if such a pact meant that Chris Cardona would not be removed from his post as Labour deputy leader, even if he was implicated in the murder of Dahne Caruana Galizia.  

"What does Chris Cardona know about Robert Abela which bought the prime minister's silence and complicity?" Zammit Dimech asked. 

What did Cardona's phone contain such as to be enough to bring down the government, according to what was said in court?

Would the prime minister immediately ask the police to investigate the allegations made against Cardona and also against former police assistant commissioner Silvio Valletta? 

Did 'normality' for the prime minister mean that he would continue to act like his predecessor, offering impunity to people such as Keith Schembri and the clique in Castille, Zammit Dimech asked.    

Remove Cardona from deputy leader - AD

In another statement, Alternattiva Demokratika said that in recent months the police had already turned their attention to Cardona in the context of various leads they were following.

"So long as the police are left free to act, we are confident that they will investigate all the leads they have in detail.

"But it is also high time for the Labour Party to get its act together. It is high time that the Labour Party does what is right in these circumstances and remove Chris Cardona from the post of deputy leader. "