Matthew Caruana Galizia, son of the late journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia, has been nominated by the US Embassy in Malta for the US Secretary of State’s International Anti-corruption Champions award.

Mr Caruana Galizia, an award-winning investigative journalist, was nominated by Gwendolyn Green, US Chargé d’Affaires.

The embassy said Mr Caruana Galizia was nominated because of his work undercovering financial crime, money laundering and tax evasion.

Ms Green said: “This award honours individuals who have worked tirelessly, often in the face of adversity, to defend transparency, combat corruption, and ensure accountability in their own countries.”

The journalist was a lead engineer at the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists’ (ICIJ) investigations into major global corruption investigations that sent waves across the globe: Offshore Leaks, Swiss Leaks, Lux Leaks, Fatal Extraction, Panama Papers and Paradise Papers.

The ICIJ, including Mr Caruana Galizia and his colleagues, was in 2017 awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Explanatory Reporting. “His work was instrumental in compelling Governments to fulfil their commitments to international anti-corruption standards,” Ms Green added.

The Caruana Galizia surname became known around the globe for the wrong reasons, when, in 2017, prominent journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia was brutally assassinated via a car bomb close to her Bidnija home.

With her son’s journalistic work spanning far before the horrific act was committed, Mr Caruana Galizia’s efforts against corruption have been a leading hallmark of his journalistic career.