Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1545828
YORGEN FENECH TRIAL SUNDAY • 12 JULY 2026 | maltatoday Misplaced indignation: The lost mobile Yorgen Fenech's trial by jury raises uncomfortable questions about the mobile phone Keith Schembri 'missing' laptop of Daphne Caruana Galizia—the murder victim—that is of concern 'WHERE is the laptop?' This was the message emblazoned on several banners that mysteri- ously appeared overnight on 17 April 2018. The target was the Caruana Galizia family and the fact that the Maltese police were not handed the slain journalist's laptop. The tagline first appeared in a blogpost by Glenn Bedingfield, critical of civil society groups holding vigils marking Daphne Caruana Galizia's murder anni- versary every 16th of the month. Today serving as home affairs minister, Bedingfield was a La- bour MP and communications aide in the Office of the Prime Minister at the time and operat- ed a private blog. Overnight, banners appeared in key locations with OPM aides Neville Gafa and Josef Caruana sharing photos on their Face- book pages of the banners, and the Labour Party's media arm, One News, doing a story about the banners, while insisting the missing laptop was crucial to in- vestigators. The government officially dis- associated itself from the myste- rious campaign even as key La- bour exponents fanned the fire. Gafa went as far as using Daph- ne Caruana Galizia's last words on her blog—'The situation is desperate'—to mock the family. The narrative was simple: The Caruana Galizia family was not really interested in solving the murder because it was with- holding key information and yet had the gall to call Malta a mafia state. The indignation over the miss- ing laptop among swathes of Labour supporters was pulpable just six months after Caruana Galizia's life was brutally termi- nated by a powerful car bomb. At the time, the police had ar- rested and charged the three hitmen and investigations were ongoing to identify the master- mind. A powerful narrative The missing laptop tagline lingered and came to represent a powerful narrative among La- bour Party supporters. On so- cial media exchanges about the murder, corruption and other controversial subjects, some La- bour supporters would pop the question 'Where is the laptop?' to try and shut down govern- ment critics. Even today—2026—as the trial by jury of Yorgen Fenech unfolds, diehard Labour sup- porters keep raising the laptop issue as if it were the biggest aberration in the whole case. It was not. The family had deposited the journalist's laptop and hard drives with the Ger- man Federal Police, fear- ing that her sources would be leaked and targeted if the laptop was given to the Maltese police. The fear wasn't misplaced and today we know that sensitive information about the murder investigation was being leaked to mastermind suspect Yorgen Fenech by then OPM Chief of Staff Keith Schembri. Indeed, Schembri is fac- ing criminal proceedings for breaching the Official Secrets Act. He denies the charges and the case is ongoing. In Fenech's trial by jury lead investigator Keith Arnaud tes- tified that the family, through Matthew Caruana Galizia, had provided the police with infor- mation from the laptop. The other 'missing' device But there is a much bigger is- sue concerning a missing device that somehow keeps falling be- low the radar of diehard Labour exponents—Keith Schembri's 'lost' mobile phone. During the Fenech trial by jury last week, lead investiga- tor Keith Arnaud testified that when Schembri was arrested he informed police that he had lost his mobile phone. The last- known signal from Schembri's device was emitted at around 5:04am on 26 November 2019 in Mellieħa and it was never switched on again. Schembri was arrested some 90 minutes later. Cross-examined by Yorgen Fenech's defence lawyers about the whereabouts of Schembri's mobile phone, Arnaud con- firmed that a cellular technology expert prepared a report on the matter. The lead investigator explained that the report includes a map showing the mobile phone's last known location, placing it in Mellieħa. At the time, Schembri lived in Mellieħa and was arrest- ed at his home, which was also Keith Schembri told police on the morning of his arrest on 26 November 2019 that he had lost his phone. Mobile phone location data placed the phone in Mellieha, where he lived, just 90 minutes before the arrest KURT SANSONE ksansone@mediatoday.com.mt Various Facebook statuses and comments by Labour Party supporters and canvassers last week questioning why Daphne Caruana Galizia's laptop was not handed to the Maltese police, while conveniently ignoring Keith Schembri's 'lost' mobile phone Yorgen Fenech is pleading not guilty to charges that he masterminded Daphne Caruana Galizia's murder