Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1189466
maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 4 DECEMBER 2019 3 NEWS CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 "When we saw the contents of the letter, we were amazed that police had seemingly taken Keith Schembri's denial at face value. "There had been no tests or DNA testing car- ried out on the letter… it seemed that everything Fenech and Melvin Theuma said was corroborat- ed or scrutinised using technological means, but Schembri's denial was OK for them." Ministers even confronted investigator Keith Arnaud several times as to whether he believed Schembri had authored the letter in which in- structions were conveyed to pin the murder on minister Chris Cardona. "After repeated ques- tioning, he conceded that it was possible that Schembri could have indeed been the letter's au- thor." Ministers, enraged at learning of the letter's con- tent, surmised that Schembri's contacts with the police and even the Security Service were strong, with one minister concluding that the former chief of staff "must have passed on information to Yorgen Fenech." At one point, another staggering episode took place: after Labour MP Robert Abela railed at the prime minister and decried, "that cuckold fucked you" ('dak il-kornut fottiek'), Abela's wife Lydia Abela – the PL's secretary to the executive – was called by Keith Schembri himself, who told her that "I know what your husband said about me." "Schembri tried to call all ministers," one minis- ter told MaltaToday. "Everyone blocked him." Inspector: "Schembri could have authored letter pinning murder on Chris Cardona MATTHEW AGIUS ACCUSED "mastermind" in the Daphne Caruana Galizia murder, Yorgen Fenech, has claimed that former chief of staff Keith Schembri had made "considerable efforts" to stop Fenech from passing on in- criminating information to the police, including interventions by third persons and through promises. This had led to Fenech being impeded "for some time and in a most deceptive manner" if not also in breach of the law, from passing on all the infor- mation he had to the compe- tent authorities. This emerged in an action for judicial review filed by Fenech against the apparent refusal of his request for a presidential pardon, in return for informa- tion which could implicate Prime Minister Joseph Mus- cat's former Chief of Staff, Keith Schembri. In a sworn application to the First Hall of the Civil Court, Fenech, who described himself as a "person of interest" in the homicide investigation, said that he had not been informed of the outcome to his request, but that the media appeared to have been informed that it would not be granted. He argued that he had the right to a fair hearing, "free of the interference of political interests, if not frankly direct personal interests and a seri- ous conflict of interest." There- fore the situation whereby the Prime Minister and his Cabi- net, which up till a few hours ago still had Keith Schembri as a member, also decided wheth- er to grant or reject his offer to tell all, was "worrying," he said. Because Schembri had, un- til recently, been the Prime Minister's Chief of Staff and a member of the Cabinet which processed his request, he said he felt that his right to a fair hearing was being breached "in the most clear and blatant manner." The integrity of the investiga- tion had suffered serious prej- udice by the fact that he had practically been forced to ask the Prime Minister for the op- portunity to testify against one of his closest aides, and one he had chosen, appointed and de- fended for many years. "No amount of manoeuvres, media stunts and political ac- robatics could detract from the fact that the organ which decided on the presidential pardon was Joseph Muscat's cabinet, of which Schembri was until recently the chief of staff. One of the other two protago- nists in the evaluation process was the Commissioner of po- lice who was also appointed by the Cabinet, added the lawyers. Fenech asked the court to de- clare the decision to refuse him a pardon as null and without effect and to have his request be reconsidered. Lawyers Marion Camilleri and Gianluca Caruana Curran signed the application. Yorgen Fenech claims Schembri made 'considerable efforts' to stop him passing information to police Yorgen Fenech has filed a court write claiming Keith Schembri had made 'considerable efforts' to stop him from passing on incriminating information to the police Yorgen Fenech wants the Court to reconsider the decision to refuse him a pardon