Former Police Chief Lawrence Cutajar is now formally under police investigation, after Magistrate Rachel Montebello gave such an order.

The order came after a 9-hour sitting into the compilation of evidence into Yorgen Fenech, in connection to the assassination of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia.

The court ordered that Cutajar be investigated after it heard testimony over how middleman Melvin Theuma had, allegedly, received information from Cutajar over ongoing money laundering investigations.

Jason Azzopardi had made the appeal to Magistrate Montebello - whether the court can consider formally ordering the police to take criminal steps or carry out criminal investigations against Lawrence Cutajar for a breach of two points of the criminal code and 10 points of the police act. Inspector Arnaud said that there is an internal investigation going on within the police on these points and leaks on the case.

The court rules that it had already informally asked the prosecution whether the allegations in Theuma's testimony were being formally investigated, when the prosecution replied in the affirmative. "Therefore, the court is, at this stage, ordering the Police Commissioner to formally investigate Lawrence Cutajar."