Two PN members who were suspended by the Nationalist Party for being freemasons, have been photographed in the party’s Hamrun club posing with leadership candidate Adrian Delia and backers Kristy and Jean-Pierre Debono.

Olvin Galea and Jonathan Pace were long-time canvassers for Mario de Marco, but in 2015 were suspended by the PN after MaltaToday revealed they were freemasons. The PN’s statute prohibits members from being freemasons.

Church media Newsbook.com.mt published the group photo, latching on to PN official Karol Aquilina's claims about freemasonry in the PN leadership election, and reported Delia as saying he had no idea that two men had been freemasons.

Freemasonry became a minor theme in the taut PN leadership campaign after Karol Aquilina, the president of the PN’s administrative council, posted an enigmatic message on Facebook suggesting that freemasonry “would be the worst thing to happen to the party”. It was interpreted as a dig at Adrian Delia, after the administrative council issued a statement calling on the newcomer to “reconsider” his candidature following a PN ethics inquiry dealing with an offshore client account he serviced.

When asked by Newsbook.com.mt about the status message he posted, Aquilina was equally enigmatic: “Malta is small, its people are well-known. It is clear for anyone to see.”

Delia has denied being a freemason.

The Nationalist Party is the only Maltese party whose code of ethics specifically forbids Nationalist Party officials, MPs, local councillors, party candidates, members of Executive Committees of PN movements, sectional committees and party committees, from being freemasons.

Both Galea and Pace are actively involved in the PN’s Hamrun sectional committee, and the former had a vote in the PN general council which elected the PN deputy leader in December 2012.

A spokesperson for the PN had said membership of the PN and a secret society were “incompatible”. “The moment the membership of Mr Galea and Mr Pace in the Malta Grand Lodge became publicly known, they automatically stopped being members of the party. The matter is being referred to the Administrative Council of the party for its consideration.”

The Daphne Foundation is calling for fresh charges to be pressed against Yorgen Fenech, Keith Schembri and Konrad Mizzi after news broke on Monday that the elusive company Macbridge was linked to a Chinese executive who helped negotiate the Shanghai Electric investment in Enemalta.

"An international consortium of journalists has laid bare the ownership of offshore companies Macbridge International Development and Dow’s Media Co Ltd, confirming what Daphne Caruana Galizia had reported five years ago: that a criminal entanglement of political and illicit business interests that stretches across the world sat at the heart of Joseph Muscat’s government," the foundation said in their statement.

The foundation is further calling for Cheng Chen to be extradited to Malta to face justice.

"We also expect former prime minister Joseph Muscat’s role in the Shanghai Electric Power and Montenegro wind farm deals to be fully investigated by the Maltese authorities."

It added that action must be taken against Accenture - Cheng Chen’s employer and a consultant on the part-sale of Malta’s state energy company to Chinese state-owned enterprise Shanghai Electric Power in 2013.

"Accenture has known about Chen’s implication in corruption and illicit offshore dealings since 2016 and has chosen to retain him, suggesting that his actions are endorsed by his employer."

On Monday, an international investigation by Reuters and Times of Malta found that Chen Cheng used relatives to set up two firms in Hong Kong.

The first of the companies set up by the Chen family, known as Macbridge, planned to pay up to $2 million to Panama firms controlled by Mizzi and Schembri. It was listed as a target client alongside 17 Black, which was revealed to be owned by Yorgen Fenech.

The second Chen company was called Dow’s Media Company, and the investigation revealed how it received €1 million from 17 Black.