Malta offers $1.48M reward to discover who killed reporter

VALLETTA, Malta — Malta’s government on Saturday offered an “unprecedented” 1-million euro ($1.48 million Cdn) reward and full protection for anyone with information on who killed a reporter with a car bomb.

The government statement called Monday’s bomb slaying of Daphne Caruana Galizia, 53, whose reporting on corruption targeted the prime minister and other top figures on the southern Mediterranean island, a “case of extraordinary importance.”

It said, in an “unprecedented measure,” it was offering the sum for “information leading to the identification of those responsible” for her slaying.

“The government is fully committed to solving the murder … [and] bringing those responsible to justice,” the statement said.

The Maltese government offered a reward in a bank heist case a few years ago, but this was believed to be the first time it posted a reward in a murder case. In the past 10 years, there have been 15 Mafia-style bombings or similar attacks in Malta, and many of the crimes have gone unsolved.

Top European Union officials have denounced Caruana Galizia’s slaying as an attack on journalistic freedom and insisted that rule of law prevail. Malta is widely considered a tax haven and a tempting venue for those looking to launder or hide ill-gotten gains.

The blast, which blew up the car Caruana Galizia was driving, stunned the island’s citizens, who eagerly followed her blog on corruption to see which business, financial or political figures were the latest in her sights.

Her husband and her three sons — including one, Matthew, who is an investigative journalist himself — didn’t immediately comment on the government’s move Saturday. —