Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1546491
YORGEN FENECH TRIAL SUNDAY • 6 SEPTEMBER 2026 | maltatoday What we couldn't report on during the Yorgen Fenech trial YORGEN Fenech was on Wednesday acquitted of masterminding the assassi- nation of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia. The 55-day jury trial saw live media coverage from a number of news outlets across Malta and the world. Among the barrage of de- tails and testimonies which emerged from court, media was subject to a ban on a number of details concern- ing individuals inside and outside the political arena. Among the details which the media could not publish were allegations of surveys being carried out to gauge potential jurors' views on the case, and calls concern- ing the accused's lawyers by former prime minister Joseph Muscat. Former prime minister Jo- seph Muscat was the "very important person" who informed Keith Schembri that Yorgen Fenech's de- fence lawyers wanted to meet him two days before he was set to testify. Muscat's name was sub- ject to a media ban during Fenech's trial when Keith Schembri was on the wit- ness stand. On Schembri's first day of testimony in the trial, he spoke about three instances involving Yorgen Fenech's defence team. The first was the lawyers' attempt to hand €2,000 to former Times of Malta journalist Ivan Martin, which he had refused. The second incident Schembri recounted was his claim that Johann Cre- mona approached him and said he had been offered €200,000 to testify in Yor- gen Fenech's favour. He added that the following day, Gianluca Caruana Curran and Charles Mer- cieca had offered Cremona €400,000 instead. The third incident is when the court ordered a media ban on former premier Jo- seph Muscat's name. Ac- cording to Schembri, Mus- cat, who he simply referred to as "an important per- son," informed him Yorgen Fenech's lawyers wanted to meet him. This was two days before Schembri was set to tes- tify in the compilation of evidence against Yorgen Fenech. Pre-trial survey A very interesting in- stance of a ban on media coverage came before the trial started, when the court was made aware of a survey commissioned by the ac- cused's uncle, Ray Fenech, with potential jurors. Yorgen Fenech's defence team, who aided pollster Vince Marmarà with ques- tions, was rebuked by Judge Edwina Grima due to the fact that the list of poten- tial jurors in the case had already been published. The survey sought to get a feel of the public senti- ment on Yorgen Fenech and Daphne Caruana Gali- zia. Respondents were also asked whether they believe the accused ordered the hit on Galizia. The proceeding, which took place before the trial began, was heard be- hind closed doors with no access given to the media. Speaking on this incident on Saturday, parte civile lawyer Jason Azzopardi stated he was the one who came forward with the discovery of the survey to Judge Edwina Grima. Azzo- pardi claimed that the sur- vey callers told respondents that they were calling from company Malta Surveys, which was untrue. Malta Survey's owner Sil- vio de Bono was eventual- ly summoned to court to respond to claims he was commissioned to carry out the survey. Speaking to MaltaToday, Debono de- scribed being "flabbergast- ed" as he had no idea why he was summoned to court. De Bono accused Vince Marmarà of falsely using his company's name, ulti- mately landing him in hot water. Speaking to this newspa- per, Marmarà denied de Bono's claim. The lead investigator in the murder case, Assistant Commissioner Keith Ar- naud, was ordered to in- vestigate the claims, but he informed the court an investigation had already been opened. In court, Arnaud refused to answer Yorgen Fenech's defence team when asked about his findings, repeat- ing that he "isn't comfort- able giving investigation details in front of the sus- pect." Azzopardi claims the names of survey respond- ents matched those pub- lished as potential jurors in the government ga- zette which was published last November. No action was taken against Yorgen Fenech's defence team, as the court only ordered a stop to the phone calls. In comments to Malta- Today, Marmarà insisted those called to respond to the survey were phoned through a random number generator. He also con- firmed the survey began be- ing carried out in the first week of June. The list of po- tential jurors was published in the government gazette less than a month before. Replying to questions by MaltaToday, defence law- yer Charles Mercieca in- sisted before the trial start- ed, all prospective jurors summoned to serve were asked under oath wheth- er they participated in any survey. None said they did. "It is to be noted that holding independent sur- veys is a recognised prac- tice in democratic socie- ties," Mercieca said. Yorgen Fenech's pardon requests and the site visits Although no publication ban was issued on Yor- gen Fenech's requests for a presidential pardon, the court gave the prosecution and witnesses clear instruc- tions not to mention this in front of jurors. Before Keith Schembri was summoned to take the witness stand, the defence asked the court to instruct the witness not to mention that Yorgen Fenech had re- quested a presidential par- don, and if he did mention it, the defence would've asked for the jury to be dis- solved. The court agreed with the defence and instructed Schembri to refrain from mentioning the pardon. Another instance which left Malta a bit puzzled was when a publication ban was ordered over site vis- its at places related to the investigation. While me- dia where provided with the locations, allowed to accompany court officials and jurors and take photos, during those two days any reporting or mention of the visits was barred by court. Live reporting was sus- pended for those two days in order to ensure the se- curity of jurors, witnesses, and the accused. MATTHEW FARRUGIA mfarrugia@mediatoday.com.mt Joseph Muscat