Caruana Galizia murder lead inspector labels Azzopardi’s tip-off allegations ‘baseless’

Keith Arnaud, the lead inspector in the ongoing investigation of the assassination of Daphne Caruana Galizia yesterday labelled the claim that the three suspects were tipped off prior to their arrest ‘baseless’ and ‘speculations’, and has asked to keep politics “away from such sensitive investigations”.

Arnaud was reacting to a statement made by Nationalist MP Jason Azzopardi, who, on Monday in Parliament, named a police sergeant who he said, according to his sources, had tipped off the three men accused of the murder about their impending arrest.

The Malta Police Force has refuted the allegations, insisting that it had never received any information about a leak from the murder investigation.

Reacting to the article on Facebook, Arnaud wrote, “How can anyone manipulate information and spin a sensitive case like this for personal gain?? These BASELESS and SPECULATIONS can only jeopardise the ongoing criminal proceedings, hinder the ongoing investigation and taint the hard work that with dedication has so far been achieved. PLEASE leave politics away from such SENSITIVE INVESTIGATIONS.”

In a separate post, Arnaud wrote, “It is INCREDIBLE how certain statements are said even though they supposedly know that those are not the facts!! It is a pity that not everyone’s agenda is the same and so I arrive at the conclusion that they hardly care about the damage that these extra words can cause!! Does it not pass through anyone’s minds that someone would think of exploding a bomb and killing a person??? I don’t know what to say anymore!!”

Speaking in Parliament last Monday, Azzopardi said that the accused had been tipped off from inside the police force were first made by La Repubblica, which is taking part in the Daphne Project.

Azzopardi named the ‘mole’ as Police Sergeant Aldo Cassar who, he said, was “close” to the PL and to Joseph Muscat.