VALLETTA (MALTA) (ITALPRESS/MNA) – In the trial over the murder of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia, Maltese businessman Yorgen Fenech was subjected to tough cross-examination by prosecutor Godwin Cini, who focused in particular on Fenech’s decision not to go to the police after learning, according to his own account, that €30,000 had been paid to arrange the assassination.
Fenech admitted that he had learned about the payment and had not reported the alleged plot, saying he was afraid of Keith Schembri, the former chief of staff at the Office of the Prime Minister, whom he continues to identify as the real mastermind behind the plot.
“I have no doubt,” Fenech said, reiterating his belief in Schembri’s role. According to Fenech’s account during the trial, Melvin Theuma, the intermediary in the murder, told him that €30,000 had already been handed over to the men tasked with killing the journalist. Fenech then admitted giving Theuma €50,000, claiming that the money was intended to stop the assassination.
The prosecution disputes this account and has highlighted the sums of money Fenech allegedly handed to Theuma even after the murder. During the trial, it emerged that Fenech had told investigators about payments totaling as much as around €450,000, explaining that he had been blackmailed.
The prosecution is also comparing statements Fenech gave to police in 2019 with those he is now providing before the jury, pointing to several contradictions and new details that emerged only during the trial.
Fenech categorically denies ordering the murder and continues to accuse Schembri, arguing that investigators followed the wrong lead and sought to place responsibility for the crime on him. His version, however, conflicts with that of Melvin Theuma, who told the court that Fenech was the mastermind behind the assassination.
The trial therefore remains focused on Fenech’s role and on the clash between his reconstruction of events and the accounts provided by the prosecution’s main witnesses.
Daphne Caruana Galizia was killed on October 16, 2017, when a car bomb exploded near her home in Bidnija.
-Photo IPA Agency-
(ITALPRESS).
