Parliament is this evening discussing a private member's bill presented by the Nationalist Party MP Chris Said proposing that independent inquiries are set up to investigate all the serious allegations made by slain journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia.

However, upon the start of the session, the government proposed amendments to basically nullify the whole bill proposed by Said. The government amendments proposed text which praised the local police force for their arraignment of the three men charged with the murder of Daphne.

Chris Said had proposed this parliamentary debate only two weeks after the journalist's death. The PN leader, Adriana Delia, was also one of the many who was targeted by serious allegations by Caruana Galizia.

Chris Said said that the amendments proposed by the government, which basically remove all of the text in the private members bill, shows that the government is not willing to have these allegations investigated.

"We have recently heard a lot the phrase that justice must be seen to be done, but we often don't understand this completely. The government wants things to move on with business as usual and act as if nothing happened."

This motion, he said, gave the opportunity for those who have nothing to hide, to vote in favour and show that they have no issue with having these investigations. "We have a very serious situation where the tentacles of criminals have now made to the government level. To ignore the serious problems, to look the other way, is wrong."

Chris Said referred to the compilation of evidence in the case of Daphne Caruana Galizia and said that so far, there is no indication as to who ordered the execution of the journalist. He said that he never agreed to the claim that the government is behind the murder, but insisted that the Labour Party in power has created the environment for criminals to flourish. "This government has tried to portray Daphne as an enemy of the state and its people. Such murders happen in countries where the only truth comes from honest and courages journalists. 

"The assassination of Daphne started a long time ago," he added, "even by those who called her a witch, the witch of Bidnija or bicca blogger." PN leader Adriana Delia was the one who uttered the words 'bicca blogger' during his PN leadership election campaign. 

If the government truly had nothing to hide, it would vote in favour of this bill, Said added. "To have the Prime Minister say that he instructed the police to leave no stone unturned is worrying. Were they waiting for the Prime Minister's green light? All I am proposing is to have another stone turned," he said. 

Deputy Prime Minister Chris Fearne started his speech by praising the local police force for their rapid action to the death of Caruana Galizia. "I went to Valletta to protest against this terrible crime. What happened today in court shows that those protests were there for nothing. Now we know that the authorities in our country function properly."

He said that the most important thing is to analyse why Said moved this bill, and why he did it without the knowledge of the PN leader. "Let's truly analyse what Chris Said really wants out of this motion. Said knows what he's doing. There were a lot of allegations by Daphne. Almost all of the allegations are already being investigated." Simon Busuttil interfered and said that this was not true.

Fearne said that the allegations are being investigated because Busuttil himself went to court with the 'evidence'. "There's one allegation which is not being investigated and is about a person who is not even in this room, maybe because it's better for him not to be present this evening." 

“Chris Said is using this motion to lash out at the person who beat him in the PN leadership election”, Fearne said. “Don’t use the country’s highest institution for internal issues within the party.” Fearne asked Said "where were you when Daphne wrote about the justice ministry in 2012 and 2013? Why didn't you call for an investigation at the time?"

Chris Said's private member's bill calls for the investigation on the actions by public officials, examine every government department including the Attorney General and the Police, and investigate government services in the light of allegations made by the slain blogger. The inquiring board should also present recommendations necessary. 

Aaron Farrugia noted that this motion is being boycotted by the team behind Adrian Delia as only 'the clique of Simon Busuttil' was present. "This is a bill against Adrian Delia who conveniently did not attend."

Edwin Vassallo said that if, as the government is saying, Chris Said is trying to crucify Adrian Delia, the government MPs should vote in favour of the bill. “The government’s remarks are all bullshit,” Vassallo said. Speaker Anglu Farrugia told Vassallo to mind his language as “bullshit” is not a parliamentary word.