The Constitutional Court has upheld a request to have Keith Schembri’s mobile phone data presented in a case opened by Yorgen Fenech for the removal of Superintendent Keith Arnaud from investigations into the murder of Daphne Caruana Galizia.

Judge Lawrence Mintoff has given the go-ahead to have a copy of all data extracted from the former chief of staff’s mobile phone as evidence in the case to have Arnaud removed from the investigation.

Fenech’s team gave various reasons in favour of Arnaud’s removal, among which was that the superintendent had close ties to Schembri.

During the sitting, State Advocate Chris Soler declared that the Commissioner of Police had exhibited a copy of all the data extracted from Keith Schembri’s mobile phone as given to him and provided by the inquiring magistrate.

Soler said that this could affect ongoing investigations but confirmed that the commissioner will comply with the court’s request so long as the information does not fall into the hands of unauthorised third parties.

He added that the commissioner would like the court to warn anyone who shares the data or makes improper use of it that their actions will have consequences.

The court accepted his request and asked that a representative of the Commissioner of Police come testify at the next hearing.

In a separate case, Judge Miriam Hayman denied a request by Yorgen Fenech’s lawyers to divulge the names of officials from the Malta Secret Service who passed on information that led to Fenech’s arrest on 19 November 2019 as he was leaving the Portomaso marina.

The ruling comes two years to the day since Fenech was arrested.

His lawyers made the request on the argument that the operation was unlawful. However, given that Fenech was ultimately intercepted when trying to flee Malta before his arrest, whether or not the names are divulged is irrelevant to the case, the judge argued.

The court also denied a request by the State Advocate, Attorney General and parte civile to have Fenech’s pending money laundering case presented as evidence in his murder compilation.

This request was met with heavy objection from Fenech’s lawyer Charles Mercieca. “God forbid that a person be denied bail because of other pending cases before them,” he said.

Mercieca argued that the two cases are separate. In Fenech’s case relating to the murder of Daphne Caruana Galizia, the prosecution can only work with his criminal conduct at the time of the charges. “And it wasn’t tainted,” Mercieca remarked.

Both requests by the prosecution and defence were thrown out by the judge.

These requests were put forward in the constitutional case opened by Fenech over his repeated denial of bail throughout the murder compilation.

The compilation was spurred by charges that Fenech was complicit in the assassination of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia.

Last summer, Fenech was also accused of money laundering and misappropriation from his company Glimmer Ltd, which he jointly owned with his uncle Ray Fenech.

He is alleged to have misappropriated around €40,000.

Lawyers Charles Mercieca, Gianluca Caruana Curran and Marion Camilleri appeared for Yorgen Fenech. Lawyers Jason Azzopardi and Therese Comodini represented the Caruana Galizia family.

The case will continue on December 15 at 1pm.