Man on trial for Daphne Caruana Galizia murder claims he was framed

Yorgen Fenech tells jury he had nothing to do with killing and alleges top adviser to Malta’s then PM was instigator

A businessman on trial for the murder of the journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia has spoken about the charges for the first time in court since his arrest seven years ago, telling the jury he was framed by police and had nothing to do with the killing.

During four days of questioning by defence and the prosecution lawyers, Yorgen Fenech, 44, accused the most senior adviser to Malta’s prime minister of giving the go-ahead for the murder.

Fenech’s defence lawyers have repeatedly sought to identify Keith Schembri, Malta’s most powerful unelected official in the years leading up to the killing in October 2017, as the mastermind and instigator.

Fenech repeated those claims as he began giving testimony on Friday after unexpectedly waiving his right under Maltese law to refuse to give evidence at his own trial.

Fenech claimed that Schembri, who was chief of staff to the then prime minister Joseph Muscat, repeatedly leaked sensitive details to him, including advance warnings of raids and arrests.

During a court session on Saturday, the judge asked Fenech: “Do you know who the real mastermind is?” Fenech replied: “Keith Schembri.”

Police have told the jury that Schembri was never a suspect. He was called as a witness during the trial and has denied any involvement in the murder. The prosecution’s case rests on the testimony of the self-confessed middleman Melvin Theuma, a taxi driver who alleges Fenech gave him €150,000 (£128,000) to hire the three men convicted of planting the fatal car bomb.

In his testimony, Fenech spoke of his drug addiction and his close ties to senior police leaders and politicians, including WhatsApp messages he shared with Schembri and Muscat.

He began his testimony by describing a close friendship with Schembri. He said they had played football as children and reconnected as adults. Fenech said he had come to rely on Schembri, a successful businessman with interests in printing and packaging, and spoke to him most days.

Fenech claimed the idea of killing Caruana Galizia was raised during a barbecue at his family ranch. She had written about Schembri having a brain tumour before he had told his family about his condition.

“Keith was very emotional,” Fenech said. “He felt very strongly about it. We had to tell him to calm down … It wasn’t the first time he spoke about it, he was almost fixated with Daphne … He kept a file with all her articles.”

Fenech claimed Theuma, who also attended the barbecue, wound Schembri up further, saying of Caruana Galizia: “She’ll reap what she sows.”

“Then I was in the kitchen and Melvin came up to me and said ‘we can easily get rid of her’,” Fenech said. “It seemed a bit over the top, so I played it down and offered him a drink. I went outside for a smoke and Melvin and Keith continued chatting.”

Fenech claimed Theuma raised the subject again two weeks later. “Melvin was driving me to the airport. As soon as I got into the car, he told me that he had spoken to some people who told him there was already an active plan to murder Daphne Caruana Galizia.

“He said: ‘I’ve spoken to them, they’re already working on it and want €120,000.’ I was shocked, I told him I’d get back to him. At first I wasn’t going to tell Keith, but it kept playing in my mind and then I decided to tell him. He said ‘go ahead, go ahead, go ahead’.

“For Keith it was pure revenge, because he’d say she crossed a line by writing about personal matters.”

Fenech’s testimony painted a picture of a fixer gone rogue, with Theuma pressing ahead on his own initiative.

After the murder, Fenech claimed, Schembri began using him to relay messages to Theuma. One message was intended to warn the hitmen of their impending arrest.

“When I told Melvin, he brushed it off at first,” Fenech said. “He said it was normal for police to arrest people and then release them without charges 48 hours later. I relayed that back to Keith. He told me that the police had proof – a bomb code and some proof of phones being used. That one of the killers had topped up the bomb phone’s credit.

“I went back to Melvin and told him that, and that the arrest date was set for 4 December.”

Two brothers, George and Alfred Degiorgio, and their associate Vincent Muscat were arrested on 4 December 2017. They have all been convicted of the murder , with Muscat confessing his involvement in return for a shorter sentence.

Fenech claimed Schembri also warned him of Theuma’s arrest in 2019.

Under questioning by the prosecution, Fenech also said Schembri had shared a screenshot of a confidential report by Europol, which was helping the Maltese police, listing potential suspects.

The prosecution has relied in part on a series of recordings made by Theuma of his conversations with Fenech after the killing, in which they discussed the crime and leaks about the police inquiry.

Fenech said those recordings had been used to extract money from him. He claimed: “Melvin used recorded calls as blackmail … Keith got to know and panicked.”

He said he had handed over €400,000 to Theuma to pass on to the Degiorgio brothers to help pay their legal costs. He claimed the stress had destroyed his family life and his relationship with his wife.

“It drove me to drug addiction,” he said. “I spent my life being against drugs, seeing my brother abusing drugs. And I ended up taking drugs myself.”

He claimed investigators had helped to cover up Schembri’s role. “I felt betrayed,” Fenech said. “You combined Melvin Theuma’s lie and a cover-up of Keith Schembri to frame me.”

Challenging Fenech’s version of events, the prosecution lawyer Godwin Cini asked: “Would I be correct in saying you were the one with the power, not Melvin Theuma?”

The judge, Edwina Grima, later asked: “Why did Melvin Theuma feel he had power?” Fenech replied: “He knows who the real mastermind is.”

The judge then asked Fenech if he knew who the real mastermind was. He replied: “Keith Schembri.” Asked how he knew, he said: “I knew because Melvin Theuma would mention it and Keith Schembri intimated it.”

Ending his cross-examination, Cini said to Fenech: “Who are you trying to fool? Your fingerprints are all over this.”

Fenech is pleading not guilty to complicity in Caruana Galizia’s murder.

Transcript and translation by Amphora Media