Daphne Caruana Galizia, a Maltese journalist and blogger that uncovered corruption at the highest levels in Malta and Europe, died in a car bomb explosion on October 16. The journalist, whom Politico dubbed "a one-person Wikileaks", had been focusing on the Panama Papers document cache in recent years.

Some of her recent work connected Joseph Muscat, the country's prime minister, and two of his aides, to offshore companies and payments from the first family of Azerbaijan.

No one has claimed responsibility for the journalist's murder, caused by an explosive device planted in her car. In the last two weeks, Galizia had received death threats which she reported to the police, according to The Guardian.

The Committee to Protect Journalists has called on the Maltese authorities to swiftly ensure justice for Galizia. "Daphne Caruana Galizia investigated wrongdoing in Malta's political, business and criminal worlds... The investigation into her murder therefore must be thorough, credible and timely," said CPJ deputy executive director Robert Mahoney in a statement. 

Azerbaijan's first family and its murky business dealings and political machinations have been the subject of several investigations in recent years, starting with those by journalist Khadija Ismayilova, who published them on the Radio Free Europe/ Radio Liberty new site, and who was sentenced to a jail term over trumped up charges because of her work.

The first family was also one of the high-profile subjects of the Panama Papers document leak in 2016, which substantiated earlier findings by Ismayilova about how it owned large businesses in the country through shell companies.

The more recent "Laundromat" revelations published by The Guardian have used leaked bank documents to outline allegations of how Baku paid $3bn between 2012 and 2014 to European businesses and politicians to buy their support and secure luxury purchases for elites.