Former OPM chief of staff Keith Schembri said that Yorgen Fenech indicated his involvement in the murder of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia in a conversation with him, but insisted that he believed Fenech was not acting alone and was under the influence of drugs.
Schembri was testifying for the second day in the trial of Fenech, accused of complicity in the journalist’s murder.
“The rumour that he was involved was going around, and he gave me that indication,” Schembri told the court on Wednesday.
He said Fenech had (indirectly) admitted to him that he had been involved in the assassination of Caruana Galizia, revealing for the first time in court that the accused businessman had spoken to him in a way that led him to understand that there was involvement on Fenech’s part.
The former chief of staff to then-prime minister Joseph Muscat described an encounter following Fenech’s arrest in November 2019, saying the two men embraced and cried.
Asked what Fenech’s behaviour had been when he disclosed his involvement, Schembri replied: “We burst into tears. We hugged one another and went home.”
Pressed on why he had not reported the admission to the police, Schembri insisted he believed Fenech was not solely responsible for the murder.
“What do you want me to do? I still believe he wasn’t alone,” Schembri told the court.
“I know what Yorgen was going through. I understand why he didn’t go to the police; he was under the influence of drugs.”
The testimony marks the first time Schembri has publicly stated under oath that Fenech personally acknowledged his involvement in the murder.
Throughout the trial, Schembri has sought to portray his relationship with Fenech as a close personal friendship, while denying that he had any role in the plot to assassinate Caruana Galizia.
Earlier in his evidence, Schembri acknowledged that he had concealed the extent of that friendship from then-prime minister Joseph Muscat.
Questioning turned to the extraordinary lengths Schembri said he went to in defence of Fenech after the businessman emerged as the owner of the Dubai company 17 Black and was later arrested while attempting to leave Malta aboard his yacht.
Schembri did not dispute that he had stood by Fenech, maintaining that his actions stemmed from loyalty to a friend rather than knowledge of the murder conspiracy.
“I helped him as much as I could,” Schembri told the court.
His evidence comes after days of testimony examining the close ties between senior government officials and Fenech before the latter’s arrest, including evidence about repeated contacts between Schembri and Fenech in the crucial days before and after the businessman was intercepted while attempting to flee Malta in November 2019.
Earlier in the trial, jurors also heard evidence that Schembri remained in contact with Fenech after the arrest and that meetings allegedly took place between Fenech’s legal team and Schembri on the eve of Schembri’s scheduled testimony – meetings that prompted concern because Schembri is one of the trial’s central witnesses and had previously denied coordinating his evidence.
Fenech denies the charges. The prosecution alleges he commissioned the assassination through middleman Melvin Theuma, who in turn engaged convicted hitmen Alfred Degiorgio and George Degiorgio, together with Vince Muscat, who later pleaded guilty and testified for the prosecution.
