Keith Schembri had informed Yorgen Fenech that one of the men found guilty of assassinating Daphne Caruana Galizia was talking to police in the hopes of securing a presidential pardon, a court heard on Tuesday.

Fenech is out on bail facing charges connected to the Caruana Galizia assassination.

On Tuesday, the compilation of evidence of the case brought against Keith Schembri resumed before Magistrate Claire Stafrace Zammit.

Inspector Shaun Paul Friggieri testified that a forensic analysis of Yorgen Fenech's mobile phone led police to uncover communication between Schembri and Fenech.

The inspector was testifying in a criminal case filed against former OPM chief of staff Schembri for allegedly leaking information around the Caruana Galizia murder investigation. 

The two would communicate through direct phone calls, WhatsApp messages, and also messages on Signal. This app is similar to Whatsapp but had a feature which could delete ongoing messages. This feature was not yet available on the Whatsapp platform at the time.

The court heard that police identified two WhatsApp messages sent from Schembri to Fenech referencing the word "confi", meaning confidential court information. The message stated: "Confi, ghax ghadha ma hargitx" (Translation: "Confi, because it hasn't come out yet") .

In a previous sitting, the prosecution presented evidence that Schembri had access to a confidential internal police email.

While the defence claimed that the internal email sent to Fenech was unrelated to Caruana Galizia's murder, the prosecution claims it proves that Schembri had unauthorised access to sensitive police information.

The word "confi" was mentioned in this instance.

The word was also used a second time when Schembri had also taken a photo of the court decree and sent it to Fenech. The decree had not yet been published when the photo was shared.

Up until January 11, 2019, there were 149 attempted or completed calls via Signal between the two.

Further analysis showed that the app's disappearing messages settings were adjusted 13 times by Fenech, indicating an attempt to conceal communications.

Inspector Shaun Paul Friggieri also revealed another key focus of the investigation, referencing a critical period when Vince Muscat, also known as il-Koħħu, began cooperating with the police.

Muscat is currently serving 15 years in prison after admitting to the murder of Daphne Caruana Galizia.

The court heard how Keith Schembri informed Yorgen Fenech that Muscat was talking to the police in a bid to secure a presidential pardon in connection to the Caruana Galizia murder.

Inspector Friggieri told the court that Fenech informed Melvin Theuma, the middleman in the murder who went on to become a state witness in the case. Fenech told Theuma that "my friend does not know who is behind the middleman, but he knows who's the middleman", the court heard.

Friggieri also revealed that between the 23-24 April 2019, prior to this meeting, two phone calls were made from Schembri's home landline to Yorgen Fenech's mobile phone.

On 23 April, Vince went to police headquarters and gave information on the murder to the police. Shortly after this, the first phone call between Schembri and Fenech was recorded.  The next day, Vince spoke to the police again and that evening, the second phone call was recorded.

The prosecution told the court that, to arrange a meeting to hear Vince Muscat's plea for a presidential pardon, Schembri would be the only person who could be aware of this, as he was the contact point on behalf of the Office of the Prime Minister to set up a meeting.

The recording also revealed that Fenech instructed Theuma to warn Mario Degorgio, the brother of Alfred and George Degorgio, that Vince Muscat was talking to the police. Theuma proceeded to inform him.

Theuma was so worried about what Muscat was revealing that he went out, got drunk, and fell asleep till the afternoon and was not responding any messages.

Inspector Farrugia explained that, since he was not responding, two people, Johann Cremona and Kenneth Camilleri, went to Theuma's residence to attempt to calm him down. 

At the end of the sitting, Inspector Farrugia read from the transcript in the constitutional case before Lawrence Mintoff. He said that when Schembri was asked if he had sent Kenneth Camilleri to speak with Theuma, Schembri replied "never".

However, during his interrogation, Camilleri had told the police that he had been sent by Schembri. In the previous sitting, Camileri had also testified this.

The case will resume on 6 April.

Schembri is being represented by lawyers Mark Vassallo and Edward Gatt, while Superintendent Hubert Cini and Inspector Shaun Paul Friggieri are leading the prosecution. Lawyer Jason Azzopardi together with Therese Comodini Cachia are appearing parte civile.