Police protected Schembri and framed me, Fenech tells jury

Yorgen Fenech has accused police investigators of steering the Daphne Caruana Galizia murder investigation away from former OPM chief of staff Keith Schembri and using Melvin Theuma’s testimony to frame him.

Fenech made the claims during a tense cross-examination by prosecutor Godwin Cini, who confronted him with inconsistencies between his 2019 police statements and the evidence he gave before the jury last week.

“You combined Melvin Theuma’s lie and a cover-up of Keith Schembri to frame me,” Fenech told the court.

He claimed investigators initially treated him well during his interrogation, even bringing him food from McDonald’s, but changed their attitude as soon as he began speaking about Schembri.

“The moment I mentioned Keith Schembri, that was it,” Fenech said, describing the atmosphere in the interrogation room as hostile.

He also attacked lead investigators Keith Arnaud and Kurt Zahra, insisting he did not trust them and claiming Arnaud was too close to Schembri. The prosecution pointed out that Fenech had unsuccessfully filed a constitutional case against Arnaud.

Cini pressed Fenech over details included in his testimony that were missing from his police statements, particularly his account of a dinner at his Żebbuġ ranch involving Schembri and Theuma.

Fenech claimed Schembri had spoken about wanting Caruana Galizia killed since 2014 or 2015 and once told him he had paid €30,000 to people who would carry out the murder. He said he did not take Schembri seriously at the time and allowed him to “vent”.

Asked why he never questioned Schembri about who had received the money or why the alleged plan was abandoned, Fenech repeatedly replied that it was none of his business.

Cini described Fenech and Schembri as being “like brothers” and questioned how Fenech could have shown so little interest in such serious claims.

The prosecutor also challenged Fenech over his account of Theuma telling him that his “share” of the proposed murder payment would be €120,000.

Fenech insisted Theuma had grouped him with Schembri and denied ever contributing money. The prosecution highlighted that Theuma had used the singular form of “your share”.

The court also heard that Theuma, Vince Muscat and George Degiorgio had referred to a total €150,000 payment: €30,000 upfront and €120,000 after the murder.

Fenech argued that the difference between the figures showed he was not involved.

Cini accused Fenech of creating parts of his story for the jury and asked why, after allegedly learning of a murder plot, he did not warn Caruana Galizia or contact the police.

“Of all the options, you picked the worst one,” Cini said, referring to Fenech allegedly telling Theuma: “I’ll get back to you.”

“You ordered and paid for Daphne Caruana Galizia to be murdered,” the prosecutor told him.

“Never, never,” Fenech replied. “I never paid for anyone to be killed.”

Fenech attributed the omissions in his police statements to his mistrust of investigators, his psychological condition and his use of Ativan and drugs.

He said he had waited until the trial to give his full version because he had faith in the courts.