The trial by jury of Yorgen Fenech continues today with the testimony of police inspector Kurt Zahra.
Fenech 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, Giannella de Marco 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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11:08 Jurors continue to follow audio-visual footage of Fenech's interrogation. Interrogators continued pressing Yorgen Fenech regarding the money that allegedly passed between himself and Keith Schembri. Fenech stated that he informed Schembri about the 120,000 euro fee and received the instruction to go ahead, using the phrase "mexxi, mexxi, mexxi". He explained that he was given an initial 50,000 euros after Melvin Theuma told him he had already paid 30,000 euros to the hitmen out of his own pocket. Inspector Kurt Zahra asked whether Fenech had been obliged to hand over the 50,000 euros, to which Fenech replied that he was not. Zahra then questioned why Theuma did not simply go directly to Schembri, prompting Fenech to explain that at that time, Theuma did not yet know Schembri, despite having previously mentioned dining with both of them at his Żebbuġ ranch.
11:00 Interrogators openly challenged Yorgen Fenech's narrative, telling him that his story was not making sense when he was asked how Johann Cremona became involved in the case. Fenech replied that, to his knowledge, Cremona had been brought in by Keith Schembri, adding that Cremona knew Schembri had been asking Fenech to find someone to eliminate Daphne Caruana Galizia since 2014.
When Inspector Kurt Zahra asked how this aligned with Melvin Theuma's version of events - in which Theuma claimed Fenech had summoned him to the Blue Elephant restaurant in Portomaso and ordered the hit because of a story concerning Fenech's uncle Ray - Fenech flatly denied it, insisting he had no idea Theuma was looking for someone to have the journalist killed. Instead, Fenech maintained that Schembri used to prompt him indirectly during their conversations to find someone for him.
"You're not making sense!" Zahra retorted during the interrogation, pressing him further. "Why did Melvin Theuma come to you with the 120,000 euro figure? He knew Keith Schembri was telling you to get rid of her."
10:51 In the footage, police are play a recording between Melvin Theuma and Yorgen Fenech. The recording isn't clear. In the footage, Fenech and his lawyer are seen craning forward in an attempt to understand what is being said.
10:43 Back in the courtroom.
Jurors are being shown footage of a second interrogation session with Yorgen Fenech.
This time he's wearing a dark suit with a white shirt. He is accompanied by lawyer Marion Camilleri.
10:23 Following this exchange, the judge ordered a short recess.
10:22 During the interrogation, Yorgen Fenech claimed that Melvin Theuma frequently approached him demanding additional money, which led Fenech to seek assistance from Keith Schembri. According to Fenech, Schembri subsequently delivered between 75,000 and 85,000 euros in a bag directly to Fenech's office.
When Inspector Kurt Zahra pressed him on why Theuma kept asking him for money, Fenech explained that Theuma was blackmailing him because the hitmen were demanding higher payments. Prompted further by Zahra on why he was being blackmailed, Fenech hesitated visibly in the video recording before responding, "Come on... we'll talk about it later."
Zahra then asked Fenech if he was being threatened by anyone, to which Fenech answered, "No, no, not at all."
10:13 Fenech told police that Keith Schembri kept him fully updated on the murder investigation and provided advance news regarding Melvin Theuma's arrest, including forewarning that police would also be detaining Theuma's partner and her daughter. Fenech admitted to investigators that he possessed a copy of Melvin Theuma's presidential pardon application, which he stated had been handed to him by Schembri.
Fenech claimed that he loved both Theuma and Schembri and genuinely wanted to protect them both, but his stance shifted when he was given a prepared script through Adrian Vella instructing him to request a pardon, at which point he realised Schembri had betrayed him. Fenech also alleged that Schembri had previously provided Theuma with a phantom government job to pacify him when Theuma grew agitated and threatened to speak to authorities.
During the interrogation, Fenech acknowledged that he knew he was being recorded and expressed belief that additional recordings still existed that investigators had not yet recovered. He told police he feared for his life and he had protected Schembri for the same reason because he did not want Schembri to come face-to-face with certain dangerous individuals.
10:04 Fenech told investigators that the plan to spirit him away to Tunisia was supposed to be carried out during a trip to Gozo that he had taken alongside Adrian Vella, claiming that Keith Schembri was the mastermind behind the push for him to escape the country. Fenech stated that he initially had no idea where they were headed and simply thought they were traveling to Gozo. Fenech explained that Vella subsequently returned to mainland Malta to retrieve Fenech's brother, Franco, along with his passport, at which juncture Fenech said he began to grow suspicious that Schembri had turned against him.
9:55 When Inspector Kurt Zahra asked Fenech during the interrogation whether he ultimately paid the 120,000 euro fee, Fenech avoided a direct answer, replying that he would tell them at the appropriate stage. Later in the questioning, Zahra inquired about the presidential pardon Fenech had requested, asking specifically whether he had mentioned Keith Schembri in that application. Fenech confirmed that he had indeed brought up Schembri. He also revealed that he had spent approximately 30 minutes on the telephone with Schembri right before attempting to leave Malta on his yacht on the day of his arrest. Fenech insisted to investigators that he had no intention of fleeing the country, claiming instead that Schembri and Adrian Vella had devised a plan to take him to Tunisia to buy him time to assemble a legal team.
9:50 As the jurors continued watching the 2019 police interrogation footage, Yorgen Fenech recounted that Melvin Theuma told him he had successfully found someone to carry out the assassination during a taxi ride to the airport. Fenech told investigators that he had no personal interest in knowing the identity of the killers, but immediately went and spoke to Keith Schembri about the development. According to Fenech, Theuma later informed him that the hitmen were demanding 120,000 euros for the job, to which Fenech responded that he would get back to him.
9:40 During the interrogation, police pressed Yorgen Fenech further about his alleged meeting with Joseph Muscat. Fenech insisted that three individuals were one hundred percent aware that Keith Schembri wanted Daphne Caruana Galizia killed, naming the Prime Minister himself alongside Johann Cremona and Adrian Vella. He challenged investigators by asking why they thought the Prime Minister had summoned him, claiming Muscat called him in because he knew Fenech's phone was being tapped and wanted to ascertain whether Fenech trusted Melvin Theuma.
Fenech went on to claim that Schembri, frustrated by Caruana Galizia's investigative reports, had approached him back in 2015 stating that he had already found someone to kill the journalist and had paid that person 30,000 euros for the job. Although that initial plan fell through, Fenech alleged that Schembri continued urging him to find someone else. Fenech recounted that they discussed the matter over a meal at his ranch in Żebbuġ in the presence of Theuma, around the time Caruana Galizia published an article concerning Schembri's illness. Fenech added that as they were driving home after that dinner, Theuma remarked to him that it would not take long to get rid of her.
9:30 During his police interrogation, Yorgen Fenech claimed that the entire plot began with Keith Schembri, telling investigators that it was disgraceful he was being questioned while Schembri was not, and accusing the police of corruption for allegedly shielding him. Fenech stated that Schembri had asked him to find a way to have Daphne Caruana Galizia killed, adding that another individual was also aware of Schembri's involvement. Furthermore, Fenech alleged that former Prime Minister Joseph Muscat had summoned him to his office at Castille alongside Schembri. According to Fenech, Muscat asked him during the meeting if he knew Melvin Theuma and whether Schembri was mentioned in Theuma's recordings, and warned him that a series of raids targeting Theuma was inevitable. Fenech stated that this meeting took place in January, and noted that he had met Muscat on only one other occasion, which was during his birthday celebrations at a party held at Girgenti in February 2019.
9:24 Police Inspector Kurt Zahra returns to the witness stand as the trial resumed. Before his testimony continued, the jurors were informed that they would be shown footage of Yorgen Fenech's four-hour police interrogation from his November 2019 arrest.
In the video, Fenech is seen wearing a black polo-neck sweater and black trousers, seated with his hands crossed. He is accompanied throughout the questioning by his defence lawyer, Marion Camilleri.
9:18 Before proceedings began, Judge Edwina Grima was informed that prosecutor Anthony Vella would be leading the state's case for the day, as prosecutor Godwin Cini, who had led the questioning for the majority of the trial, was unwell.