The methods used by police during the investigation into Yorgen Fenech took centre stage on Friday as jurors heard testimony about the businessman's arrest, extensive searches carried out after he was intercepted aboard his yacht, and repeated defence challenges over how investigators selected, preserved and interpreted evidence recovered from Fenech's properties and the office of Keith Schembri, then OPM chief of staff.

The day's evidence also covered the searches conducted in the days following the arrest, and documents investigators considered potentially relevant to their inquiries.

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.

The sitting opened with testimony from homicide squad Sergeant Gary Scerri, who outlined his involvement in the murder investigation from its earliest stages. He told the court he had participated in fieldwork alongside Europol experts, retrieved CCTV footage, taken part in the raids that led to the arrest of the alleged hitmen and accompanied Yorgen Fenech to Mater Dei Hospital after his doctor, Dr Adrian Vella, requested that he receive urgent medical treatment.

Scerri also described his role in the search of Schembri's Mellieħa residence. He explained that he had been instructed to escort Schembri back to the property in an unmarked police vehicle to recover electronic devices that had not yet been collected. According to the witness, the search was attended by Schembri's lawyers, police officers and scene-of-the-crime experts, while he was also tasked with checking nearby buildings for CCTV footage.

Scerri said the operation was not a conventional search but was instead aimed at recovering specific items identified by lead investigator Keith Arnaud. He testified that Schembri himself indicated where the items sought by police were located, adding that such cooperation by suspects was not unusual in investigations.

During cross-examination, defence lawyer Giannella de Marco questioned Scerri about differences between his testimony in court and evidence he had previously given during the compilation proceedings. She suggested he was attempting to "patch up" his earlier evidence after he referred to workers present at Schembri's residence, an allegation Scerri firmly rejected.

The court then heard from Sergeant Kevin Pulis, who described the operation leading to Fenech's arrest on 20 November 2019. Pulis testified that after receiving instructions from Arnaud, he proceeded to Portomaso Marina carrying an arrest warrant after being informed that Fenech was leaving aboard his yacht, Gio 2. Upon boarding the vessel, he found Fenech seated with the captain, informed him of his rights and served the warrant before Europol experts and crime scene officers arrived shortly afterwards.

Pulis told jurors that searches carried out on the yacht, Fenech's penthouse and two Tumas Group offices at Portomaso resulted in the seizure of numerous items, including a MacBook wrapped in clingfilm, approximately €7,000 in cash, an internet key and a black iPhone. Additional searches at the residence uncovered further electronic devices, business cards and other material, while officers briefly suspended their work after concerns were raised about Fenech's medical condition and Dr Adrian Vella was called.

The witness said he was present for every search except one conducted in an office identified by Tumas Group financial controller Ray Sladden as belonging to Fenech. Among the items recovered were documents, computers and mobile phones, all of which were subsequently handed over to Europol for forensic examination. Pulis also listed corporate documentation seized during the investigation, including material connected to Wings Investments Limited, New Energy Supply Limited, offshore companies and Melvin Theuma.

Jurors also heard that investigators returned to Gio 2 eight days after the arrest for a more detailed forensic examination with the assistance of a Europol specialist. According to Pulis, officers recovered additional SIM cards, including cards issued by Italian mobile operators, during the second search.

Turning to events involving Vella, Pulis said police were instructed to ask the doctor to accompany them voluntarily to the lock-up, stressing that no arrest warrant had been issued. After repeated attempts to contact him failed, officers eventually reached Vella by telephone before he agreed to accompany police. Pulis described the doctor as appearing emotional and frightened, adding that although Vella was offered the opportunity to drive his own vehicle to police headquarters, he chose instead to travel with officers.

The witness also referred to events on 29 November 2019 after Fenech had been granted police bail. He told the court that he had been informed by then Police Commissioner Lawrence Cutajar that Fenech was not under police protection, prompting officers to proceed to his residence after a request from Fenech's lawyers. There they found him accompanied by lawyer Gianluca Caruana Curran.

After the prosecution concluded its questioning, defence lawyer Giannella de Marco cross-examined Pulis about the period between Fenech's arrest and his arraignment. The witness confirmed that Fenech had not been left alone by police during that period except for several hours while on police bail. He also confirmed that although Fenech had indicated he did not require medical treatment, Arnaud had nevertheless insisted that Vella examine him.

The defence also questioned Pulis about the searches carried out during the investigation. He maintained that investigators had followed the appropriate methodology and confirmed that no drugs or firearms were found during searches of Fenech's yacht. Under further questioning, he confirmed that a brand-new mobile phone was recovered from Fenech's office and acknowledged his involvement in Keith Schembri's arrest and subsequent escort from his Mellieħa residence to police headquarters.

The final witness before the lunch adjournment was police officer Christopher Saliba, who testified via video link. Saliba recalled being instructed to go to Portomaso, where he informed Fenech that he was under arrest. According to the witness, Fenech responded: "So we won't be here long." Saliba said he immediately clarified that he was being arrested in connection with the murder of Daphne Caruana Galizia rather than any drug-related investigation and described Fenech as remaining calm throughout the exchange. He later confirmed previous evidence regarding items recovered during searches and told the court that Fenech had informed him he had resigned from a company two days before his arrest.

The afternoon sitting of the trial focused largely on searches carried out at Yorgen Fenech's Portomaso properties and Keith Schembri's office at Castille, with a succession of police witnesses describing evidence recovered, while the defence repeatedly challenged the manner in which investigators selected and interpreted documents during the operation.

The first witness after the lunch break was Police Officer Andre Grech, who was stationed with the Drug Squad and the Rapid Intervention Unit at the time of the investigation.

Grech testified that he was personally involved in the searches of both Yorgen Fenech's yacht and the apartment where the businessman was living. He recalled that officers informed Fenech at around 8am that he was being arrested in connection with the murder of Daphne Caruana Galizia before searches commenced. Asked about Fenech's reaction, Grech said he could not remember him saying anything, describing him instead as calm and behaving normally throughout both the arrest and the searches.

Grech explained that police had been instructed to recover electronic devices and confirmed that Europol officers, together with Inspector Kevin Pulis, were present while the searches were carried out. He said all electronic devices were collected, catalogued and seized by Pulis in conjunction with Europol officials. The defence then concluded its questioning.

Police Sergeant Antoine Micallef testified that he spent 12 days with Fenech while the businessman was on police bail. During that period, Dr Adrian Vella visited him frequently, although Micallef clarified that these consultations did not always take place in the presence of police because Fenech was no longer under arrest.

Under cross-examination, Micallef was questioned about Keith Schembri's arrest. He told jurors that Schembri was arrested sometime after 9am but before noon and explained that he drove an unmarked police vehicle escorting the police van carrying Schembri, while a forensic vehicle also formed part of the convoy.

The principal witness during the afternoon was former Inspector Keith Vella, who spent the final years of his police career with the Money Laundering Squad. Vella explained that his role in the case was confined to financial crimes investigations and that he was not involved in the homicide investigation itself. He told the court that searches of Fenech's properties began at Level 21 of Portomaso, where officers recovered, among other items, a flip chart containing handwritten references to Siemens, SOCAR and Enemalta.

Asked by Madam Justice Edwina Grima why investigators had seized the flip chart, Vella replied that the companies mentioned had, at the time, been reported in the media in connection with 17 Black. He also referred to further handwritten references to Siemens, Enemalta, SOCAR, GEM Holdings and another page containing references to the floating storage unit (FSU), LNG, Electrogas and a handwritten figure of €100 million.

The prosecution also questioned Vella about documents recovered from the Portomaso offices. He explained that investigators seized a number of documents because they referred to companies linked in media reports to 17 Black and Electrogas. Officers also recovered documentation relating to New Energy Supply Limited and an invoice written in French. Vella reiterated that his role was confined to identifying material that could be relevant to financial investigations.

The court further heard that officers discovered a handwritten letter allegedly authored by state witness Melvin Theuma inside a cabinet in the Level 21 boardroom. According to Vella, the letter claimed that Yorgen Fenech and Keith Schembri had engaged Theuma to arrange the murder of Daphne Caruana Galizia. He said the letter also referred to a government job allegedly secured for Theuma by "Keith tal-Kasco", as well as Theuma's fear for his own safety. Investigators additionally recovered Theuma's employment contract and two payslips from the same cabinet.

Cross-examination by Giannella de Marco focused heavily on the searches carried out at Keith Schembri's office in Castille. Vella confirmed that his task had been to search for evidence relating to financial crimes, while Keith Arnaud and Kurt Zahra conducted a separate search connected to the homicide investigation. The court viewed footage of the search, which Vella described as a meticulous drawer-by-drawer examination. He said investigators recovered 45 documents, 44 relating to Rotorua Trust and Tillgate Inc., while another handwritten document found on Schembri's desk was also seized because he believed it could be relevant to the parallel investigation. Schembri confirmed that all the documents had been recovered from his office in his presence before they were sealed as evidence.

The defence then questioned why a folder containing photocopies of Daphne Caruana Galizia's blog posts, together with documents inserted between the pages, had been examined but not seized. Vella replied that the blog posts were publicly available online and therefore did not consider it necessary to recover the folder, although de Marco continued pressing him on why the accompanying documents had not been treated as potentially relevant evidence.

Questioning also turned to the scope of the searches. De Marco pointed out that investigators had even recovered blank sheets of paper from Fenech's offices before asking whether Vella knew the identities of Tumas Group board members or the company secretary whose offices he had searched. Vella replied that he did not. He further confirmed that, unlike Fenech's Portomaso residence and office, which had been sealed and guarded by police, Keith Schembri's office at Castille was locked but was not placed under permanent police surveillance.