MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 02nd December, 2019) Malta Prime Minister Joseph Muscat announced on Sunday he is stepping down amid political turmoil in the wake of the 2017 murder of investigative journalist Daphne Caruana Gilizia.
"We are starting the process for a new prime minister who will continue carrying out the work for this legislature," Muscat said in a televised address, as reported by Times of Malta newspaper.
Muscat said he has instructed his ruling Labour Party to begin the process of electing a new leader to replace him on January 12, according to the newspaper.
The announcement is the latest development in the political crisis unfolding on the Mediterranean island nation as an investigation into the car-bomb assassination of anti-corruption journalist Caruana Galizia reaches its final stages.
In a news conference late last month, Muscat told reporters he was determined to remain in his post until the end of the investigation.
A day prior, Maltese businessman Yorgen Fenech was charged with complicity in murder among other crimes. Fenech was arrested on November 20 while allegedly attempting to escape the country on his yacht.
The political crisis also saw Muscat's former chief of staff as well as two ministers resign over alleged ties with Fenech. Keith Schembri resigned as Muscat's chief of staff shortly before being detained and questioned by police.
Caruana Galizia documented payments by Fenech's company 17 Black to Maltese politicians eight months before her death. She was killed by a car bomb outside her Bidnija home in October 2017. The journalist was known for her investigations into various cases of corruption in Malta based on the so-called Panama papers, which revealed illegal finance practices of officials and public figures from various countries.
