Casino Proprietor in Malta Declares Innocence, Accuses Others in Homicide
A casino owner in Malta suspected of orchestrating the 2017 assassination of anti-corruption journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia denies being the main perpetrator. Instead, his lawyers suspect Keith Schembri, former Prime Minister's chief of staff, who stepped down in 2019 following the scandal.
Fenech, one of Malta's wealthiest citizens, was nabbed by the military as he attempted to escape the island on his yacht shortly after midnight on November 20, 2019.
The prosecution maintains Fenech learned that the suspected go-between in the crime, Melvin Theuma, was ready to divulge information to authorities in exchange for immunity.
According to Theuma, Fenech ordered the murder of Caruana Galizia, who perished in a car bomb placed by crime brothers George and Alfred Degiorgio and their partner, Vince Muscat.
Fenech is said to have embarked on the killing to preempt the journalist from divulging a supposedly corrupt energy contract granted to one of his firms, Electroglas, by the Maltese government.
The Panama Papers leak showed that a United Arab Emirates-registered firm, later discovered to be controlled by Fenech, planned a $2 million payoff to two offshore shell companies owned by Schembri and another politician, Konrad Mizzi, a former Energy Minister.
During pretrial proceedings for Fenech's murder conspiracy case last week, his legal team noted that Schembri's cellphone vanished the night before his arrest and hasn't been traced since, as per The Times of Malta.
They also stressed that "Schembri's name comes up in all Melvin Theuma's [classified] tapes. He also appeared in declarations and testimonies."
When Theuma was first detained on suspicion of his role in the plot, he owned an ice cream box that contained a photo of him shaking hands with Schembri.
Police also uncovered a note written by Theuma mentioning Schembri as "the one who involved him in this entire fiasco," the lawyers added.
"The actual mastermind is a third party. If you do your job diligently, you'll discover him," they proclaimed, according to The Times of Malta.
Caruana Galizia's slaying triggered global headlines and intense anti-corruption demonstrations in Malta, ultimately resulting in the collapse of the government two years later.
Until his arrest, Fenech served as CEO of the Tumas Group, one of Malta's largest employers. The organization operates the Qawra Oracle Casino and the Portomaso Casino in Malta.
In 2013, Electrogas obtained a $500 million contract to construct a powerhouse in Malta and supply the state-owned energy provider with power. At the time of her death, Caruana Galizia was probing this deal while browsing through a cache of 600K emails stolen from Electroglas.
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Source: www.casino.org
