Maltese civil society group Repubblika says it will not attend a government forum being held at a hotel owned by the Tumas Group. In its statement, the NGO acknowledged that the discussion the government wants to stage is important and that it would like to take part. Then came the sticking point, phrased almost apologetically: 'above all, we are citizens with a conscience.' The venue is the problem. Tumas Group sits at the edge of Malta's biggest political scandal, since Yorgen Fenech, the group's chief executive, was charged over the 2017 murder of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia. Repubblika, which emerged from the public anger after that killing, has repeatedly refused any association with the businessman's interests. The boycott leaves the government in an awkward position at a forum built around civic dialogue.