Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1281593
12 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 23 AUGUST 2020 NEWS Meet up safely with friends and family by keeping to your social bubble Whenever possible meet outdoors Keep a distance of 2 metres from others and wear a mask properly to stay safe Groups of more than 15 people in public are NOT allowed (Legal Notice 337/2020) C M Y CM MY CY CMY K COVID19 - Advert Eng 2020 (23rd Aug) Final.pdf 1 21/08/2020 08:46:24 CONTINUES FROM PAGE 1 MaltaToday understands that the contents of the WhatsApp group chat were retrieved from Yorgen Fenech's smartphone, and contain communications that underpin a certain level of intimacy between the three men. Muscat yesterday told Malta- Today he could not comment about "assumptions" in the questions from this newspaper about the police's questions on the WhatsApp group chat. "I have already stated publicly that I was advised to keep nor- mal communications with the said person," he replied when asked by MaltaToday wheth- er he continued using the WhatsApp group chat after the Malta Security Services named Fenech as a potential suspect in the Caruana Galizia assassina- tion. "The said communications are in possession of the author- ities and can be independently verified," Muscat said. Muscat's briefings from the MSS included Keith Schembri himself, who at that time had a long-time business relationship with Yorgen Fenech: a secret Dubai company called 17 Black was connected to Schembri's own Panama company, which had been revealed by the Pana- ma Papers in 2016. The 17 Black link to Fenech was revealed in November 2018, and since then the role of the company in channelling millions in cash from corrupt deals such as the Montengro Mozura wind farm project, has clearly exposed the Schembri-Fenech relationship. Yesterday Muscat also denied having any business relationship with Schembri when asked by MaltaToday. On Friday he could not deny being in contact with Schembri. "I never had a business rela- tionship with Keith Schembri, so the use of the word 'still' is totally misguided. I do not have any type of business [or] con- sultancy relationship with Keith Schembri," Muscat told Malta- Today yesterday. Muscat has previously denied claims by Yorgen Fenech that in November 2019 he had as- sured the then prime minister that he was doing his best to protect Schembri when asked about Theuma's recordings. Fenech claims that Muscat dis- cussed Theuma with him twice in early 2019, once at the former prime minister's birthday bash at Girgenti and on another oc- casion when he was summoned to a meeting with Muscat and Schembri at Auberge de Castille. Muscat has denied the Castille meeting, and has claimed he was threatened with "a claim on al- leged telephone calls that it was confirmed did not take place. Now it seems that the calls claim transformed itself in a claim on meetings." Theuma was granted immu- nity from prosecution by Mus- cat in exchange for testimony that has implicated Fenech as the person who ordered and fi- nanced the October 2017 car bombing. Fenech says Muscat also warned him that the police would be forced to carry out a raid on Theuma at some point, particularly due to mounting pressure from abroad. This fact alone was made clear to Theuma himself, through a mutual contact of Yorgen Fenech's, who in the recorded conversations reveals himself to be in knowledge of plans by the police to raid his homes on a money laundering investigation. Former police commissioner Lawrence Cutajar is mentioned as the source of the information on an impending raid on Theu- ma's properties. Muscat denies business link with Schembri Muscat: the former Prime Minister had a WhatsApp chat group with 17 Black owner Yorgen Fenech and his chief of staff Keith Schembri