Yorgen Fenech discussed escape plans before arrest: 'We need to prepare a car, we can't rent and run away with it'

Updated at 3:11pm with more details from the court sitting

A judge hearing a constitutional case for bail filed by Yorgen Fenech has heard how the businessman indicted over the murder of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia had plans to leave Malta.

Superintendent Keith Arnaud testified before Madame Justice Miriam Hayman this morning, explaining that chats found on Fenech’s mobile devices with his uncle Ray, his brother Franco as well as his mother detailed several plans to go to France or the USA, dating back as early as 2018.

On one chat he was looking for a last minute flight to Nice by private jet. “I am ready, 30 min max to get to airport” Fenech had said. However, later that plan is cancelled and a maritime option selected for the next morning as “leaving AM will look less fishy.”

There were chats about accommodation in France for two weeks with payment in cash and “no papers.”

Fenech had chatted with former OPM Chief of Staff Keith Schembri on Signal the night before his arrest, in which the latter had reassured Fenech that nothing was going to happen and to keep calm.

A chat with Fenech’s mother from 17 January 2019 was read out by Arnaud. “In it he speaks of personal business and issues and his intention to move to the USA ‘for a better future’,” explained the Superintendent by way of introduction.

On the eve of his arrest, Fenech wrote in a chat with his secretary that he was going by boat to France, the court was told.

Fenech’s lawyers objected to the relevance of some of the chats. Arnaud said they were relevant as they showed plans to leave.

Lawyer Therese Comodini Cachia, on behalf of the Caruana Galizia family said there was “a whole plan” to move abroad, detailing the houses seen and the potential schools for Fenech’s children.

She noted that in one of the chats with his brother, Yorgen Fenech spoke on the need to have a car ready for use. 'We need to prepare a car, we can't rent and run away with it', the chat read.

Other chats read out in court were those from Ray Fenech, informing his nephew that a certain Ivan from the Times informed him that journalists were on their way to Portomaso since they got wind of Yorgen's impending departure by yacht.

Fenech was arrested on 20 November 2019 as his yacht exited from the Portomaso marina. The arrest came hours after middleman Melvin Theuma was granted a presidential pardon to tell all.

Weapons and hacking

Arnaud also exhibited an email exchange with what appears to be an illegal mobile phone surveillance service from November 2018.

"Kindly send me target’s phone number so I can run a penetration test…" Arnaud read out in court. "I want you to know that the entire process: penetration test and the hack itself is completely undetectable so rest assured the target is never going to find out."

This exchange took place around the time of Vincent Muscat’s and Melvin Theuma’s request for a pardon, said the police superintendent.

Moreover, it was also at the same time that Fenech was trying to procure firearms and cyanide, he said, adding that the police did not know what number Fenech allegedly wanted to spy on.

Arnaud said that Fenech had made a payment in Bitcoin for a cache of weapons and cyanide poison in 2019 but this was not delivered. 'So total scam? Not one product?' Fenech had asked in an email at the time.

Beginning his cross-examination, defence lawyer Charles Mercieca said that just yesterday he had received questions from an unnamed journalist, asking about that which Arnaud had just testified about.

"It is clear that there is a coordination between journalists, the prosecution and the parte civile… This is to strengthen the siege on Yorgen Fenech’s character and the prejudicial pretrial publicity on Fenech since the beginning," said the lawyer, stating that this would lead to an unfair trial by jury.

The court put the ball back in the defence’s court, saying "if you have doubts, you can carry out the proper steps. From here you know where to go."

Caruana Galizia family lawyer Comodini Cachia replied to Merceica, denying all allegations made in the courtroom with regards to the intervenors in the case. "It appears also that the applicant even in these procedures is trying to fabricate a complaint about prejudice to his client’s trial, but no prejudice can be created when that which the witness is saying is that which Yorgen Fenech himself wrote and said."

State Advocate Chris Soler also denied the allegations and inferences made with regards to potential prejudice to Fenech. Article 575 of the Criminal Code makes explicit reference to the character of the accused, said the lawyer, arguing that the relevance of that being asked to the witness was not in doubt.

The case continues in September.

Lawyers Gianluca Caruana Curran, Charles Mercieca and Marion Camilleri are appearing for Fenech. Lawyers Therese Comodini Cachia and Jason Azzopardi are appearing for the Caruana Galizia family, as party to the case. State Advocate Chris Soler is representing the State.

READ ALSO: Yorgen Fenech’s mother speaks out: ‘My son is not a Rambo character’