Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1545722
8 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 5 JULY 2026 FEATURE Coming of age In a rare interview he gave Times of Malta in 2002, George Fenech briefly spoke of how he was teaching his two sons, Yorgen and the eldest, Franco, the ropes just as his late father Tumas, who died suddenly in 1999, had done with his own children three decades earlier. George Fenech had a boom- ing voice and jovial personali- ty. He loved horses, a tradition rooted in the Fenech family, and was well-connected with politicians from either side of the political divide. At the time of the interview (2002), Yorgen was only 20 years old and pretty much an unknown quantity, lingering in the shadows of his father. Nonetheless, he was destined to inherit his father's legacy as the group's chief executive in later years. In 2013, at the age of 31, Yor- gen was the Tumas Group's point man for the investment it was making in the Electro- gas consortium that was bid- ding for a government-issued tender to construct a gas-fired power station and LNG termi- nal at Delimara. The Labour Party had just come to power on a promise to shift Malta's electricity genera- tion to gas. The pledge was ac- tioned immediately after the March 2013 election with Energy M i n i s t e r K o n r a d Mizzi taking charge of the pro- ject. T h e Electrogas c o n s o r t i u m won the con- tract amid accu- sations the tender was tailored for it. The corruption allegations became stronger three years later, when jour- nalist Daphne Caruana Gal- izia pre-empted the Panama Papers—an international jour- nalistic expose on secretive companies opened in Panama by Mossack Fonseca—and re- vealed how Konrad Mizzi and the powerful chief of staff in the Office of the Prime Min- ister, Keith Schembri, had opened secretive companies in the central American state shortly after the election. It later tran- spired that these secretive companies were to receive millions in payments from two "target clients", listed in bank doc- umentation as 17 Black and Macbridge Ltd. Both these companies were registered in Dubai. In February 2017, Caruana Galizia had teased on her blog that 17 Black was a vehicle for government corruption. She was murdered eight months later and after her death, jour- nalists discovered that 17 Black was owned by Yorgen Fenech. It was the first time that Yor- Yorgen Fenech was Tumas Group's < FROM PREVIOUS PAGE Timeline of a murder trial 2017 February 22 February 2017: In a blogpost, Daphne Caruana Galizia pastes the words '17 Black Dubai' below the photos of Keith Schembri, John Dalli, Joseph Muscat and Konrad Mizzi. This is the first time that the name 17 Black emerges in public. 27 February 2017: Caruana Galizia elaborates on 17 Black and describes it as "the company which those crooks use to move money in and out of Dubai". She also says that the Financial Intelligence Analysis Unit and the police commissioner know all about 17 Black. June 4 June 2017: Joseph Muscat's Labour Party wins its second consecutive election with a massive majority. In the evening, prosecutors say, Yorgen Fenech tells Melvin Theuma to proceed with the hit. 26 May 2017: The Malta Independent publishes a story claiming that an investigation by the FIAU shows how a Dubai- based company identified as 17 Black had received money from the agent of the LNG tanker at Delimara. The report alleges that 17 Black had to transfer the cash to the accounts of two Panama companies set up by Keith Schembri and Konrad Mizzi. The FIAU report is not a finalised version and the agency continues working on the case. October 16 October 2017: Daphne Caruana Galizia is assassinated with a powerful car bomb shortly after leaving her house in Bidnija. December 4 December 2017: Eight People are arrested following a police and army raid at the Marsa potato shed. Prime Minister Joseph Muscat addresses a press conference to announce that the arrests are linked to the Caruana Galizia murder. Hours later, another two people are arrested. April April 2017: Prosecutors say that around this time Melvin Theuma, a taxi driver who ran an illegal lotto, is asked by Yorgen Fenech to recruit hitmen to kill Caruana Galizia. April 2017: Theuma meets Alfred Degiorgio at the Marsa potato shed and explains to him that someone wants Caruana Galizia dead. April 2017: Two days later, the pair meet again at Msida's Busy Bee. Degiorgio requests a €30,000 non-refundable deposit and €120,000 after the murder job is complete. May 1 May 2017: Prime Minister Joseph Muscat announces a snap election, using as a pretext Caruana Galizia's claims that his wife Michelle owns Panama company, Egrant. In truth, the election had been planned the previous December to coincide with the end of Malta's presidency of the EU. 3 May 2017: Prosecutors say Melvin Theuma receives a call from Yorgen Fenech telling him to hold off on the murder plan. 2018 18 April 2018: The Daphne Project reveals that 17 Black and a second company, Macbridge, were listed as a "target clients" of the Panama companies opened for Mizzi and Schembri. The prime minister's chief of staff releases a press statement admitting his company, Tillgate, had drafted business plans with 17 Black and Macbridge but nothing ever came out of them. He also denies money transfers occurred between the companies. April November 2019 9 November 2018: Reuters reveals that the owner of 17 Black is Tumas Group CEO Yorgen Fenech and the company has an account at Noor Bank in Dubai. Reuters says an FIAU report identifying Fenech as 17 Black's owner was sent to the police in the spring of 2018 for a money laundering investigation. November Yorgen Fenech Konrad Mizzi Keith Schembri Melvin Theuma Joseph Muscat Daphne Caruana Galizia A vigil in Valletta marking Daphne Caruana Galizia's murder The Hilton Hotel and grounds before the Tumas reshaped the area into Portomaso Left: The Bvlgari watch gifted to Joseph Muscat