Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1546283
YORGEN FENECH TRIAL SUNDAY • 23 AUGUST 2026 | maltatoday Yorgen Fenech's trial by jury Anna Calleja is a Maltese visual artist who works across figurative her usual studio practice, capturing the immediacy of the trial as Yorgen Fenech's police interrogation is aired in full in court CONTINUES FROM PAGE 1 Cini immediately challenged the accused, asking whether he was simply making an as- sumption to shift blame away from himself. Fenech rejected the suggestion, insisting that while he had passed money to Theuma, he was manipu- lated and drained financially. "His fingerprints are all over it, you're just not seeing it," Fenech told the court. Fenech further claimed that pre-prepared interrogation "scripts" delivered to him by his doctor, Adrian Vella, while under police surveillance had been authored by Schembri to direct him what he should tell investigators. Pressed by the prosecution on the exact movement of funds, Fenech provided the ju- ry with an account of his deal- ings with Melvin Theuma, de- scribing how the middleman grew increasingly aggressive. Fenech acknowledged hand- ing over payments totaling approximately €450,000 to Theuma, but maintained the money was extracted for law- yers and the hitmen's bail funds, insisting he never fund- ed the actual hit. Describing encounters with the middleman, Fenech testi- fied that Theuma intimidated him by placing a handgun on a table during one meeting, and resting a gun on Fenech's foot during another. The afternoon sitting saw prosecutor Godwin Cini pres- ent digital evidence extracted from mobile devices, interro- gating Fenech over message histories with key political fig- ures. Cini presented January 2019 text exchanges showing that after former Prime Minis- ter Joseph Muscat messaged Fenech, the businessman re- plied days later claiming his phone had been stolen in the US and that he had remote- ly wiped all data. Questioned in court on what he meant, Fenech claimed he could not recall the incident and denied even having remote-erase ca- pabilities enabled. The prosecution then high- lighted messages showing for- mer Energy Minister Konrad Mizzi instructing Fenech to delete files "from the laptop" and "delete WhatsApp". Asked why he remembered detailed personal memories—such as cooking lamb—from years prior but could not remember wiping data, Fenech quipped: "A mobile phone is very differ- ent from a lamb." When shown a photo sent to Mizzi showing a stadium seat numbered "17" on a black backdrop, Fenech rejected Judge Grima's assertion that it was a reference to 17 Black or Mizzi's offshore company Hearnville, dismissing it as a casual comment on heavy me- dia coverage at the time. The court also focused heav- ily on Fenech's relationship with top figures in law en- forcement. Fenech confirmed a close personal friendship with for- mer Deputy Police Commis- sioner Silvio Valletta, who led the homicide investigation un- til mid-2018. Fenech acknowl- edged they traveled abroad together and that his children referred to Valletta as "Uncle Silvio," though he denied mis- using the friendship. The accused admitted pass- ing operational updates to Theuma regarding impending police raids at the Marsa po- tato shed. He testified that he acted strictly on Schembri's instructions to reassure Theu- ma that Castille was protecting him. Fenech admits €450,000 payments to Theuma Fenech acknowledged handing over payments totaling approximately €450,000 to Theuma