Yorgen Fenech to get disclosure on calls involving middleman made before his arrest

The court has ordered the prosecution into the murder of Daphne Caruana Galizia to disclose information about four phone calls made ahead of Yorgen Fenech’s arrest last November.

In a court session which lasted just two hours, Fenech’s lawyers argued that they sought phone intercepts leading to his indictment.

Lawyer Charles Mercieca said police Superintendent Keith Arnaud knew the “exact date and time” of the phone calls.

Arnaud reiterated that such calls were never in police possession, before adding that the calls concerned middleman Melvin Theuma, and hand no impact on Fenech’s arraignment.

Mercieca contested his statements and said that it would be “absurd” to think that calls about Theuma had no bearing on Fenech’s arraignment.

Magistrate Rachel Montebello agreed with the defence and ordered the handing over of the calls in question.

On Monday, the court also heard representatives from telecommunications companies GO and Melita.

A GO representative said they were asked by police to gather information on two separate phone calls.

The numbers concerned cannot be disclosed but the incidents purportedly refer to claims made by Fenech’s wife last summer that she received a call from

her husband’s mobile, which was in Europol’s hands.

One call was made in August and the other in November 2020.

The GO representative said one call didn’t last even a single second, while the other was just three seconds long.

The witness could not provide geolocation information related to the calls as the caller had used a Melita gateway.

He did confirm that the number had received the calls from the other number, but not who was making the calls.

Taking to the witness stand, the Melita representative confirmed the date and duration of the calls, telling the court that the numbers are not registered with Melita, but with roaming company Telia.

She could not say where Telia is based, or where the number was based.

Missing police notes

The defence then turned their attention to a set of missing police notes disclosed to them.

They argued that around 15 pages were missing and Melvin Theuma was mentioned in them.

Deputy Attorney General Philip Galea Farrugia said the middleman had disclosed information about other cases, and so information was redacted so as not to prejudice other cases.

The defence argued that some of the missing notes concerned the interrogation of Edwin Brincat ‘il-Gojja’, and so clearly important to the case.

Magistrate Montebello stated the court did not want all material evidence from the investigation, but only information related to the accused’s defence.

Media responsibility

The defence also sought a ban on media reports concerning the case, but the magistrate argued that Fenech is a well-known person and the case was of public interest.

She did say that public debates should be avoided, and only the media should report on the proceedings.

Montebello ordered the court registrar to take action against authors behind the articles cited by the defence team.

It is not yet clear against who the contempt of court action is being taken against.

The case was adjourned to 2 February 2021.