Maltese leader will leave office after calls to quit over killing

JOSEPH MUSCAT, Malta’s embattled prime minister, has announced he will step down in January over alleged links of his former top aide to the murder of a Maltese investigative journalist.

He said: “I will write to the president of the Labour Party so that the process for a new leader is set for Jan 12 2020. On that day I will resign as leader of the Labour Party. In the days after, I will resign as prime minister.”

His statement came after he received full backing from his party’s lawmakers amid demands for his resignation. The ruling party parliamentary group yesterday expressed “unanimous support” for Mr Muscat and “all decisions he will be taking”.

Maltese media earlier reported that Mr Muscat might stay in office until January, when a party congress must elect a new leader. He has been under increasing pressure to quit since Keith Schembri, his former chief of staff, was linked last week to the 2017 killing of Daphne Caruana Galizia.

Mr Schembri was among the government members singled out by her investigative reporting. The former chief of staff, who resigned last week, was arrested in the inquiry but later released. He denies any wrongdoing.

The Labour group met Mr Muscat at his summer residence in Girgenti, it reaffirmed its full confidence in him.

Thousands of people held a protest in Valletta yesterday afternoon to urge Mr Muscat, elected in 2013, to leave.

According to Maltese media reports, Mr Muscat informed associates on Friday that he intended to step down as soon as Yorgen Fenech, a businessman, was charged with murder.

Mr Fenech, who was arrested then released, was charged with complicity in the murder on Saturday. He pleaded not guilty to that charge. He was charged after the government turned down his request for immunity from prosecution in return for information about an alleged murder plot.