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YORGEN Fenech's defence yesterday sought to broad- en the focus of the Daphne Caruana Galizia murder case by raising questions about former OPM Chief of Staff Keith Schembri. On Tuesday, lawyers for Fenech continued their cross-examination of Assis- tant Police Commissioner Keith Arnaud as the trial by jury entered its sixth day. Fenech is accused of mas- terminding the murder of Daphne Caruana Galizia, financing it to the tune of €150,000 and urging the hit- men to act fast. He is plead- ing not guilty. Over several hours of ques- tioning, defence lawyer Gi- annella de Marco examined Schembri's alleged links to Melvin Theuma, the par- doned middleman and his role in securing Theuma's phantom government job. The lawyer also focussed her questioning on the disap- pearance of Schembri's mo- bile phone and laptop, and the so-called "doctor's letter" allegedly delivered to Fenech via medical doctor Adrian Vella. Keith Arnaud insisted that Schembri was not regarded as a suspect until Novem- ber 2019, telling jurors that the evidence generated up to that stage had not pointed investigators in his direction. The defence confronted Ar- naud with records showing he had searched Schembri's details twice on the National Police System database on 7 November 2017, mere weeks after Daphne Caruana Gali- zia's assassination. Arnaud explained the searches formed part of the broad investigative exercise carried out during the first weeks of the inquiry, when investigators were exploring every possible lead in an at- tempt to establish a motive. Personal Loans NEW BOAT? All loans are subject to normal bank lending criteria and final approval from the Bank. The term of the loan must not go beyond re rement age. Issued by Bank of Valle a p.l.c. 58, Triq San Żakkarija, Il-Belt Valle a VLT 1130. Bank of Valle a p.l.c. is regulated by the MFSA and licensed to carry out the business of banking in terms of the Banking Act (Cap. 371 of the Laws of Malta). Compe ve Interest Rates WWW.MALTATODAY.COM.MT €1.00 WEDNESDAY • 8 JULY 2026 • ISSUE 1001 • PUBLISHED EVERY WEDNESDAY AND SUNDAY EDITORIAL • PAGE 11 Malta has EU's highest use of AI MALTA is the EU's leading user of generative artificial intelligence— systems that generate text, images, videos, computer code and other content in response to prompts. According to the latest Euroba- rometer survey, 38% of Maltese use generative AI every day in their per- sonal lives—the highest rate in the EU and almost double the European average of 20%. To put Malta's lead into perspec- tive, daily use stands at just 13% in Portugal, the lowest in the bloc, while other high-adoption coun- tries such as Croatia (33%) and Cy- prus (30%) still trail Malta. Popular examples of generative AI include ChatGPT, Google Gemini, Microsoft Copilot and Midjourney. CONTINUES PAGE 6 WEDNESDAY EDITION Yorgen Fenech's defence seeks to shift murder spotlight onto Keith Schembri JAMES DEBONO jdebono@mediatoday.com.mt CONTINUES PAGE 5 FARRUGIA BROTHERS ACQUITTED IN OIL SCANDAL BRIBERY CASE PAGES 2-4 SEE PAGE 7 MAYA GALEA mgalea@mediatoday.com.mt Illegal Armier villa still stands