It’s been almost 2 years since one of Daphne Caruana Galizia’s killers publicly said for the first time that he knew of an earlier plot that came to nothing to kill the journalist. Vince Muscat il-Koħħu was two years ago answering questions from Jason Azzopardi in court where he spoke about driving another one of the killers, Alfred Degiorgio, to meet Chris Cardona to discuss killing Daphne.

He repeated the allegation today answering questions in a civil suit brought by Daphne’s surviving family.

Vince Muscat may have been the first to speak about Chris Cardona, but he wasn’t alone. The Degiorgios themselves, at a stage when they still hoped to exchange information for some reduction in punishment for killing Daphne, were bursting to testify against Chris Cardona.

To testify they would need some incentive. Reducing their sentences is inconceivable but there are other ways witnesses could be given incentives to help the state get to criminals.

Let’s be clear. Plotting to kill someone is not quite the same as killing someone. But it is a major crime, punishable by several years in prison. And the allegation here is that the plotter was a government minister at the time which surely is a significant consideration.

More than one person, with a way of knowing, have publicly and repeatedly made the same allegation about Chris Cardona. Only criminals are witnesses of crimes. The state has already recognised Vince Muscat as a reliable witness. They gave him a reduction in penalty to turn state’s evidence against high ranking mafiosi in the murder case of lawyer Carmel Chircop. Surely, if he is a credible witness in a case against Adrian Agius, Jamie Vella, and Alfred Degiorgio, he would be a credible witness in a case against Chris Cardona.

The question then is, why have the police not charged Chris Cardona with conspiracy to commit murder? What have they done in these two years, if that’s as long as they’ve known about this allegation – which is less than credible in itself – to gather evidence and investigate this allegation?

I think I know the answers to those questions.