Yorgen Fenech has been granted bail, a court decreed on Friday, some five years after he was charged with complicity in the murder of Daphne Caruana Galizia.
The decree was handed down by Madam Justice Edwina Grima in a hearing on Friday morning.
Fenech was arrested in connection with the murder of journalist Caruana Galizia in a car bombing. He denies all charges against him, and has made multiple bail requests – all of which have been denied up until today.
Fenech must pay an €80,000 deposit to secure bail while his aunt Moira Fenech will serve as his guarantor, with her Tumas Group shares – she holds 15.45% of the company – as collateral.
The court ordered Fenech not to go within 50 metres of the coast or airport, sign a bail book at St Julian’s police station every day, and stay indoors between 5pm and 11am.
He will also be assigned a probation officer to supervise him and must only live at the address provided to the court. In a previous sitting, his aunt had offered a property across the road from her for Fenech to live in.
A police officer will be stationed outside the residence at all hours, and Fenech’s passport and identification documents are also being held by the court.
He was further instructed not to communicate with or approach prosecution witness, with the pardoned middleman Melvin Theuma and former OPM chief of staff Keith Schembri being two specific names mentioned.
Caruana Galizia’s relatives meanwhile will be issued a court protection order in their favour as well.
Writing on his Facebook profile, Daphne Caruana Galizia’s son Matthew said that the blame for delays in court cases lays at feet of the Prime Minister and Justice Minister.
“They had five years to fix the system and did nothing. Failure after failure by the courts, it’s become increasingly clear whose side they’re on. The side of criminals and not regular people,” he wrote.
In a short statement, the Daphne Caruana Galizia Foundation said that “the Maltese State failed to protect Daphne’s life and it is now failing her in death.”
“Almost eight years on, justice for her murder has not been delivered. The bomb that killed Daphne was a warning: the justice system is failing the victims of organised crime,” the foundation said.
In another short statement, NGO Repubblika said that the fact that after five years of his arrest, no date has as yet been set for Fenech's trial by jury is a failure of the State. The NGO hoped that this failure is rectified in the shortest time possible.
Caruana Galizia was killed near her home in Bidnija on 16 October 2017. Fenech was arrested and charged at the end of 2019, sparking a series of events which ultimately saw the resignation of Prime Minister Joseph Muscat.
He was arrested on his yacht as he allegedly tried to make his escape from Malta, and has made several attempts for bail since – all of which had been turned down.
The law dictates however that a person awaiting trial must be granted bail once 30 months after the bill of indictment is issued has elapsed.
Just last week Fenech faced new charges, this time together with ex-Police superintendent Raymond Aquilina, of corruption and money laundering.