Maltese tycoon Yorgen Fenech stands trial for ordering journalist murder

Businessman allegedly paid €150,000 to have investigative journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia killed in 2017 car bombing.

Maltese tycoon Yorgen Fenech stands trial for ordering journalist murder

A jury in Valletta has heard that one of Malta's wealthiest businessmen paid €150,000 to three hitmen to murder investigative journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia. The trial of Yorgen Fenech, a 44-year-old real-estate heir whose holdings include the Hilton Malta and a casino, began on Wednesday morning after years of delays.

Fenech pleaded not guilty to complicity in the deliberate homicide of Caruana Galizia and to association with persons in Malta for criminal purposes. He is the last of seven men to face trial; five have already been convicted and one was pardoned in exchange for testimony.

Caruana Galizia died in October 2017 when a powerful bomb planted under the driver's seat of her car exploded as she drove from her home in Bidnija. The 53-year-old magazine publisher, newspaper columnist and blogger was one of the country's most prominent media figures. Her reporting on senior government and business figures had made her a repeated target of politicians and their supporters, and her violent death sparked outrage across Europe.

Prosecutors told the jury that the alleged conspiracy began in April 2017, when Fenech allegedly called his friend Melvin Theuma, a taxi driver and bookmaker, and asked him to find someone to kill Caruana Galizia. According to the indictment, Fenech even provided the name of a potential hitman — a member of the George Degiorgio gang operating from a warehouse on the Valletta waterfront. Theuma allegedly contacted Degiorgio and his brother Alfred, and a price of €150,000 was agreed, with €30,000 paid in advance.

The murder was reportedly postponed when general elections were called for 3 June 2017. Prosecutors claim Fenech ordered Theuma to proceed two weeks after the Labour Party returned to power, and that he personally handed over an envelope of cash.

As weeks and months passed, Fenech allegedly pressed for the plan to be carried out, explicitly stating that Caruana Galizia was about to publish an article about him.

The hitmen allegedly broke into the journalist's vehicle the night before the attack after weeks of surveillance. Her son Matthew Caruana Galizia was the first to arrive at the scene and discovered her remains in the burning wreckage.

Under Maltese law, the jury will be sequestered for the entire trial, living in a hotel without access to computers, mobile phones or smartwatches.

Source: Delo

Source: Delo