Former OPM chief of staff Keith Schembri will continue testifying this morning following a dramatic sitting yesterday.

Tuesday's court hearing was a blistering one that ran well past the usual 6pm cutoff point.

Keith Schembri first spent hours answering questions about his relationship with Fenech, whom he described as a very good friend, as well as his knowledge of murder middleman Melvin Theuma.

He maintained that he never leaked any information about the murder investigation and denied ever instructing OPM security guard Kenneth Camilleri to go speak to Theuma, stating he did not even have Kenneth's number.

Things took a dramatic turn when Schembri spoke about Fenech's business associate, Johann Cremona, claiming that Fenech's lawyers had approached Cremona and offered him a bribe to testify in Fenech's favour, and that those same lawyers had also asked him to help Yorgen in a meeting arranged by a very important person.

The claim prompted Judge Edwina Grima to haul Cremona back to court, where he refused to answer questions by saying he did not want to hurt anyone, before claiming he made it all up and breaking down in tears. 

Yorgen Fenech, a businessman, has pleaded not guilty to two principal charges: complicity in the wilful homicide of Daphne Caruana Galizia and criminal association to commit the murder. 

Caruana Galizia, a columnist with The Malta Independent, was killed in a car bomb on 16 October, 2017.

Five men have already been convicted in connection with Caruana Galizia's assassination. Vince Muscat admitted his role in the murder in 2021 and was sentenced to 15 years' imprisonment. Alfred and George Degiorgio each received 40-year prison sentences after pleading guilty in 2022, while Robert Agius and Jamie Vella were sentenced to life imprisonment in 2025 for supplying the bomb used in the attack.

The prosecution is being led by Attorney General lawyers Godwin Cini, Anthony Vella and Danika Vella, assisted by Assistant Commissioner Keith Arnaud and Inspector Kurt Zahra. Fenech is represented by lawyers Charles Mercieca, Gianella Demarco and Gianluca Caruana Curran, while lawyers Therese Comodini Cachia and Jason Azzopardi are appearing parte civile on behalf of the Caruana Galizia family.

Judge Edwina Grima is presiding.

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10:29 Prosecutor Godwin Cini read from the transcript where Melvin Theuma says he wants the Keith thing sorted and Yorgen Fenech replies that he does not think Keith has the power to do it, to which Schembri responded that he had no idea and did not even know what they were talking about. When Cini asked what Fenech expected from him, Schembri stated he did not know. 

10:18 Prosecutor Godwin Cini reads further lines from the recorded conversation, pointing out a remark that as soon as a problem is seen, the government will panic, to which Schembri stated he did not have a clue what it meant. When Cini noted that Melvin said he got word to Keith and that Keith got him into this problem with Yorgen replying that it was a big problem, Schembri denied it, reiterating that he had only spoken to Melvin once in his office.

10:15 Cini read further lines from the recording in which Melvin Theuma is heard saying that Keith will come and send Kenneth, to which Schembri repeated his denial from the previous day, asserting that he did not send Kenneth. When Cini pointed out that Fenech tells Theuma that someone instructed him to figure out how to get word to the people inside, Schembri dismissed the claim as untrue.

10:13 Prosecutor Godwin Cini played an unclear audio recording to Keith Schembri, who identified the voices as belonging to Yorgen Fenech and Melvin Theuma and noted one speaker saying that the person who arranges something does not have as many problems as the person who carries it out. When Cini asked why Fenech was talking to Theuma about the hitman known as Il-Kohhu, Schembri stated that he did not know.

10:03 Prosecutor Godwin Cini asks whether Johann Cremona had ever told Keith Schembri he was afraid of someone or something.

"He never told me," Schembri replies. "But yesterday he showed me he was afraid."

"So, he told you he was afraid?" Cini asks.

"Not even you could get it out of him," Schembri responds.

Cini then returns to Schembri's earlier reference to the "trauma" he and Cremona had both experienced.

"What trauma was that?"

"The situation," Schembri replies. "I'm not going to mention it. I nearly lost all my businesses."

"Who created that situation?" Cini asks.

"Yorgen Fenech's arrest," Schembri eventually says.

09:59 The prosecution turns to the messages between Keith Schembri and Ruben 'ta' Fonzu'.

The screenshots were later passed on to Johann Cremona.

Cini asks Schembri why he appeared upset.

"What upset you?" the prosecutor asks.

Schembri sighs before replying: "Charles is the son of one of my closest friends."

Cini asks him to explain what he means by the "trauma" he referred to.

"Depression?" Cini says.

"Don't ask me what depression means, friend," Schembri shoots back.

The prosecutor then says that both Schembri and Johann Cremona had gone through difficult periods in their lives.

"What were you both going through? Did you have something in common?"

"Obviously. You'd be going on with your life as normal..." Schembri replies.

"What happened in your life?" Cini asks.

"Everyone knows."

Judge Edwina Grima interjects: "You'll have to tell us."

Schembri then begins speaking about his health problems before asking the court: "Is that enough?"

9:56 Prosecutor Godwin Cini returns to the meeting Keith Schembri had with Yorgen Fenech's lawyers just days before he was due to testify.

Cini asks what was said during the meeting.

"They asked me to help Yorgen, and I told them I had already helped him as much as I could," Schembri replies.

"What did you mean by that?" the prosecutor asks.

"I never harmed him when I testified," Schembri replies.

Pressed to explain, Schembri says: "The benefit of the doubt goes to my friend."

Cini wants specifics: "What sort of help did the lawyers want? And how could Schembri help Fenech just days before taking the witness stand?"

"They told me to help him as much as possible," Schembri repeats.

"How?" Cini asks.

"I don't know."

Asked again how he could have helped Fenech two days before testifying, Schembri replies: "Ask him."

"I'm asking you, Mr Schembri," Cini shoots back.

Schembri shrugs off the question.

He then adds: "They asked me certain questions and I said I didn't want to harm him because he's a good friend. I had visibility on many things. I mentioned some yesterday, and you didn't take me seriously. I could have said much more."

Prosecutor Godwin Cini opens by returning to the WhatsApp messages between Keith Schembri and lawyer Charles Mercieca eight days before he was due to testify.

Cini asks: "Was that before or after Schembri received the summons to testify?"

Schembri's answer barely changes: "I don't remember... I don't remember."

Cini presses on.

Was it before or after he was asked to meet Fenech's lawyers?

Again, Schembri digs in: "I don't remember."

The prosecution then turns to the meeting itself. Schembri says lawyers Charles Mercieca and Gianluca Caruana Curran were present, along with two of his colleagues.