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CONTINUES FROM PAGE 1 However, during interrogation after his arrest—the footage was played in court—Fenech kept de- nying there was any plan to flee the country. Fenech says Schembri promised him presidential pardon Throughout the interroga- tion, Fenech repeatedly placed Schembri at the heart of the plot to murder Daphne Caruana Gal- izia. He told police Schembri had been asking him since 2014 to find someone to "get rid of" Daphne Caruana Galizia, de- scribing her as a personal "thorn in his side". He also claimed Schembri had put up €30,000 for an earlier attempt to have the journalist killed, a plan which ultimately fell through. When questioned about the money that later changed hands, Fenech denied wanting anything to do with the murder but ac- knowledged that he had paid hundreds of thousands of euros to the hitmen. During the interrogation In- spector Zahra pressed him on how he could reconcile those payments with his claim that he had nothing to do with the assas- sination. At one point, the inspector put the figure at between €400,000 and €500,000. Fenech's answer was that he had been trying to protect Schembri, stop the murder and protect himself from Theuma, whom he said had been blackmailing him and "bleeding him dry". He told police he had repeated- ly gone out of his way to shield Schembri, whom he regarded as a brother. "I tried to protect Keith Schem- bri time and again. I ended up hurting myself," he had said. He also claimed Schembri had given him a script shortly before his arrest and told him he could "rest easy" because he would ob- tain a presidential pardon if he followed it. That pardon never material- ised, Fenech said, leaving him feeling that he had been let down and betrayed. Joseph Muscat enters the picture Fenech's account also brought former Prime Minister Joseph Muscat into the mix. During the interrogation, Fenech told police that Muscat had personally spoken to him on two occasions about Theuma and his recordings. The meetings happened in January 2019. At a meeting during Muscat's Girgenti birthday party, Fenech claimed, Muscat was concerned about what Theuma was saying and what he had on Schembri. Fenech recalled telling Muscat: "Rest easy, I'm protecting Keith as much as I can." He later boiled down what he believed Muscat's concern had been into one sentence: "The prime minister's concern was Keith." Fenech also alleged that during a second meeting held at Cas- tille, in the presence of Schembri, Muscat told him police would eventually raid Theuma's home, ostensibly over clandestine gam- bling, while an undercover of- ficer would look for the record- ings. Fenech said Muscat told him to speak to Theuma and ensure that the tapes were not found. Importantly, Fenech drew a line between his allegations about Muscat and any suggestion that the former prime minister knew about the murder beforehand. "I'm not saying the prime min- ister was involved in the plot," he said. "And I'm not saying the prime minister knew before- hand." He claimed instead that Mus- cat only knew about the matter afterwards and was concerned about Keith Schembri's involve- ment. Theuma's recordings and the money trail Yorgen Fenech described Melvin Theuma as a man who repeatedly demanded money and used his possession of recordings as leverage. Theuma, he said, had told him: "I have a dictionary of record- ings. Mess with me and you'll find out." Fenech also recalled Theuma turning up with a photograph of himself and Schembri and de- manding cash. At one stage, Fenech said, Schembri came to his office carrying between €75,000 and €80,000 in a bag after Fenech told him about Theuma's demands. The investigator said the ac- counts given by Theuma and Fenech broadly tallied when it came to the overall sums paid out, with both placing the figure at around €400,000 to €450,000, including money intended for the Degiorgios and others. A timeline under pressure Zahra repeatedly tested Fenech's version. One example concerned the burner phones. Fenech had told investiga- tors that the phones were being used towards the end of 2016. But analysis showed no activi- ty at that time, with the phones instead beginning to show up in Bidnija in 2017. The investigator also put Fenech on the spot over his claim that he had tried repeatedly to stop the murder. "How did he try to stop it?" Zahra asked, pointing out that no evidence of such attempts had emerged, while there was evidence of substantial payments given to the hitmen. Fenech had said that he had been caught between Theuma's alleged blackmail and his efforts to protect Schembri. He also claimed that Theuma had threatened him, including an occasion when he alleged- ly turned up carrying a weapon wrapped in newspaper. Police, however, found no re- port substantiating Fenech's claim that Theuma had threat- ened him. Defence objects to Zahra's approach The afternoon session was briefly sidetracked by a legal argument after defence lawyer Charles Mercieca accused Zahra of going beyond describing the police investigation and effec- tively making submissions to the jury. Mercieca objected to the in- spector interpreting the evidence and picking out aspects which he believed undermined Fenech's credibility. The court ruled that Zahra could explain the investigative work carried out and what it had uncovered, but should steer clear of offering opinions, arguments or weighing the evidence. Furthermore, Mercieca told the court that a Facebook post from an unnamed society was claiming that "Yorgen Fenech is guilty" and that he had sought a presidential pardon. He described the claims as false and "fake news", warning that jurors could potentially encoun- ter such material through family members with access to Face- book. The judge told him that court marshals supervised jurors dur- ing their contact with relatives and told him to put his mind at rest. Mercieca nevertheless asked that the matter be investigated and that steps be taken to have the post removed. Zahra's testimony is set to re- sume today. 2 maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 19 AUGUST 2026 NEWS Yorgen Fenech accompanied by prison guards during a site visit to the police compound in Pembroke where jurors were shown Daphne Carauna Galizia's bombed car (Photo: James Bianchi/MaltaToday) Fenech denied planning to flee Malta despite police evidence Keith Schembri exiting court after ending his testimony in Yorgen Fenech's trial (Photo: Daniel Tihn/MaltaToday)