.png)
.png)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.png)
Keith Schembri denies ever passing on information to Yorgen Fenech on Caruana Galizia murder investigation
Keith Schembri, the former chief of staff in the Office of the Prime Minister, has testified in the constitutional case that businessman Yorgen Fenech filed to get lead investigator Keith Arnaud off the Daphne Caruana Galizia murder case
18 December 2019, 10:05am
Matthew Agius
Matthew Agius
2 min read
Keith Schembri arriving in court to testify in the constitutional case filed by Yorgen Fenech. (Photo: James Bianchi/MediaToday)
12:23 That is all from court. Thank you for following.
Kurt Sansone
12:22 The case continues on 14 January.
Kurt Sansone
12:22 State Advocate Victoria Buttigieg objects saying that her evidence was now closed. Camilleri argues that it is legally permissible.
Kurt Sansone
12:22 Marion Camilleri says that she has no more witnesses, but asks that CCTV footage mentioned by Keith Arnaud be given to the parties.
Kurt Sansone
12:20 Theuma's testimony is over. Cross examination is reserved.
Kurt Sansone
12:19 Theuma says that Yorgen Fenech once sent for him and told him that Vince Muscat was revealing things. “I didn't know Muscat. I started drinking and messaged Yorgen telling him that I didn't deserve this treatment. That evening I got a call from Johann Cremona, he's a business partner with Fenech and I rent shops to him. He came to meet me with a certain Kenneth. Kenneth asked me what's up. I had a lot of pressure to get Degiorgios bail. I told him they are constantly pressuring me. Then Kenneth moved away and spoke to someone on the phone. He told me they are going to get bail on the 22nd and a million euro each.”
Kurt Sansone
12:17 Theuma says that after the Castille meeting he went to the ministry, then to Jobsplus and then they did a small interview and he started work. “I didn't ever go to work. I got paid about four times then it stopped.”
Kurt Sansone
12:15 Theuma says that he met Schembri on two occasions. Once at a farmhouse, "well before the election" and then again at Castille. Theuma recounts his encounter at Castille in which he was offered a job with the government.
Kurt Sansone
12:14 Asked about how Yorgen Fenech got his information, Theuma says that Fenech had said that Keith Schembri would pass through fire for him (jidħol fin-nar għalih) and he did this for him.
Kurt Sansone
12:13 Theuma says that before the December 2017 arrests of the Degiorgios and Vince Muscat, Yorgen Fenech asked him to pass on the information of a possible raid to Mario Degiorgio (another brother of the Degiorgios).
Kurt Sansone
12:09 Theuma testifies that after the murder of Daphne Caruana Galizia the police found out the message which triggered the bomb. “Yorgen Fenech told me the whole message but I only recall ‘RL’.”
Kurt Sansone
12:08 Melvin Theuma is asked about his relationship with Yorgen Fenech. He says that they would go abroad together and so on. "Then one day he told me to speak to George iċ-Ċiniż."
Kurt Sansone
12:07 Melvin Theuma: “As far as I can remember, no.”
Kurt Sansone
12:06 Marion Camilleri: “Are you sure?”
Kurt Sansone
12:06 Melvin Theuma: “Not at all.”
Kurt Sansone
12:05 Marion Camilleri: “Does Keith Arnaud feature in the recordings?”
Kurt Sansone
12:02 Melvin Theuma: “To Yorgen Fenech and the police.”
Kurt Sansone
12:01 Marion Camilleri (Yorgen Fenech’s lawyer): “Did you pass on any recordings to someone?”
Kurt Sansone
12:00 Pardoned middleman Melvin Theuma takes the stand.
Kurt Sansone
11:59 Questioning is over. Cross-examination is being reserved.
Kurt Sansone
11:59 Schembri denies ever showing his mobile phone to anyone, to show them how “Arnaud is messaging me, look what he's telling me”.
Kurt Sansone
11:58 Keith Schembri: “No.”
Kurt Sansone
11:57 Marion Camilleri: “Had you ever told Yorgen Fenech that Arnaud was keeping you updated on what's going on?”
Kurt Sansone
11:57 Keith Schembri: “It's the third time you’re asking me this and the answer is no.”
Kurt Sansone
11:57 Marion Camilleri: “Had you spoken to Yorgen Fenech about the investigations?”
Kurt Sansone
11:54 “Whilst I was being interrogated, things were being reported live on news portals. When I was interrogated the media were already aware and at the depot. The story on Melvin Theuma was up before I got home. Leaks are leaks. I live in leaks.”
Kurt Sansone
11:53 The lawyer asks: “Were you investigated about the leaks?”
Kurt Sansone
11:53 He is asked about the leak mentioned by Keith Arnaud. Did anyone tell him about it? “No.”
Kurt Sansone
11:52 “Not true… I had spoken to him normally.”
Kurt Sansone
11:51 Marion Camilleri: “Mr Schembri are you aware that Yorgen Fenech said under oath that you had passed on information. What do you say to this?”
Kurt Sansone
11:51 The court allows the request.
Kurt Sansone
11:50 Schembri tries to smile and grimaces as the lawyers ask for a few minutes with Fenech.
Kurt Sansone
11:50 Schembri again says that he did not know that Yorgen Fenech’s mobile was tapped. He assumed that his phone was tapped but had not been informed of it.
Kurt Sansone
11:48 "No I didn't. With hindsight, I know it appears to be bad. I did what I had to do. I had told no one of my friendship with Yorgen," Schembri says.
Kurt Sansone
11:48 The lawyer asks whether Schembri informed Arnaud about this.
Kurt Sansone
11:48 Keith Schembri responds: “Mine too. Yorgen asked whether he could leave Malta. I knew he was under a spotlight. I communicated with him for 24 minutes.”
Kurt Sansone
11:47 The lawyer interjects. "So what did you know? Please don’t insult my intelligence."
Kurt Sansone
11:46 Keith Schembri: "I don’t recall. Perhaps weeks, I’m not sure."
Kurt Sansone
11:46 Marion Camilleri: "How long had you known that?"
Kurt Sansone
11:46 The lawyer asks: "He was a suspect. Did you know that?" Schembri answers: "Yes I knew."
Kurt Sansone
11:45 Schembri responds: “Yes there was. He asked if someone was following him. I answered no. He told me he was taking his boat to Sicily for some repairs. I told him, 'do you think that it’s the right moment to leave Malta'… How would Malta react? Wouldn’t everyone turn against us and allege that we had helped him escape.”
Kurt Sansone
11:44 The lawyer asks: "Was there communication with Yorgen Fenech on the day?"
Kurt Sansone
11:44 Schembri says he does not recall the exact day of Fenech's arrest.
Kurt Sansone
11:35 He is asked whether he discussed the tapping issue with Inspector Arnaud. “Tapping is a matter for the Security Service. The police do not have anything to do with it.”
Kurt Sansone
11:33 He is asked whether he was aware that Yorgen Fenech's mobile phone was tapped. “No… In my position, I would not be privy to who is tapped or not.”
Kurt Sansone
11:30 "I had nothing to do with it… I did not know about it,” Schembri says.
Kurt Sansone
11:29 Marion Camilleri is asking about the day of Yorgen Fenech’s arrest. “Did you try to help Fenech escape from Gozo?”
Kurt Sansone
11:29 Asked about Arnaud's wife's job, Schembri says nobody spoke to him about it.
Kurt Sansone
11:28 “Sometimes people are suggested by the minister and I'd say ‘give him importance’ but I don't go too much into it.”
Kurt Sansone
11:27 Schembri tells the court that he had two secretaries and a long list of people to meet.
Kurt Sansone
11:27 “Melvin [Theuma] came to my office. He was sent by someone, I don't remember who. If someone comes asking for a job and says he doesn’t need a job I would say thank you and send him away. There are many people like Melvin Theuma who came to me, five or six every day. Sometimes ministers send people, even the Curia sends people to me.”
Kurt Sansone
11:25 The lawyer interjects: "But you met him?" Schembri replies: "Once."
Kurt Sansone
11:25 On Melvin Theuma's phantom job with the government: “I would pass on similar requests to customer care.”
Kurt Sansone
11:24 Schembri says they would talk about their daughters and the terrors of raising teenagers.
Kurt Sansone
11:23 Schembri is asked about his relationship with Inspector Keith Arnaud. "I got to know him in the first briefing. He had come to Castile with other people... we engaged in small talk, we never ate together (qatt ma kilna l-kirxa flimkien).”
Kurt Sansone
11:22 Schembri says he was not involved in the pardon to Melvin Theuma. The pardon was discussed by the Attorney General and the Police Commissioner and they advised the Prime Minister.
Kurt Sansone
11:21 And about the investigations? "Never," Schembri reiterates.
Kurt Sansone
11:20 Marion Camilleri – the lawyer appearing for Yorgen Fenech – asks whether Schembri ever communicated with Fenech about the police briefings. "Never.”
Kurt Sansone
11:19 Schembri tells the court that the police would only speak to him to organise the meetings. He says that during the briefings, the police would share the information with everyone who was present.
Kurt Sansone
11:18 After Valletta stepped down from the case, Inspector Keith Arnaud took over. Arnaud would send him a WhatsApp message to ask for a briefing. Schembri says that he used to speak to the Prime Minister and they would organise the meeting.
Kurt Sansone
11:17 “I used to liaise meetings with [then deputy police commissioner] Silvio Valletta. Any meetings that were not held at Castille, I was not involved in.”
Kurt Sansone
11:16 Marion Camillier asks if Schembri had contact with anyone else from the police.
Kurt Sansone
11:16 Schembri says that he had personally spoken to the police on the involvement of the FBI. “I contacted the Police Commissioner.”
Kurt Sansone
11:14 “This was not a normal murder,” he says.
Kurt Sansone
11:14 Schembri adds: "Castille doesn't investigate. OK? As OPM we aid... for example the foreign investigators, we ensure that they get the resources they need. Within 24 hours of the murder I contacted the embassy for any assistance they could offer us.”
Kurt Sansone
11:13 Schembri is asked about the police briefings on the Caruana Galizia murder case and who was present for these meetings. “The Prime Minister, sometimes the Attorney General and sometimes Justice Minister Owen Bonnici.”
Kurt Sansone
11:12 Schembri says he never had contact with the MSS.
Kurt Sansone
11:11 Asked about his role in Malta Security Service: "I have no role in MSS."
Kurt Sansone
11:10 One of the letters mentioned Economy Minister Chris Cardona. Fenech has claimed that Schembri asked him to pin the blame for the murder on Cardona. Schembri tells the court that Cardona and he are colleagues, but not friends.
Kurt Sansone
11:08 Schembri insists he had nothing to gain from the letters because they did not come from him.
Kurt Sansone
11:08 “I didn't write them, didn't send them, and didn't deliver them."
Kurt Sansone
11:07 The lawyer asks: “What was Dr Vella's involvement?"
Kurt Sansone
11:06 Schembri tells the court he was shown three letters. “None of them did I write myself.”
Kurt Sansone
11:06 “In the 50 hours I spent under arrest at the police depot, I spoke about the letter. I didn't write it, I didn't issue it,” Schembri says. The letter is a reference to a note that Fenech has claimed was delivered to him by Schembri, with instructions on what to tell the police.
Kurt Sansone
11:04 Apart from Inspectors Keith Arnaud and Kurt Zahra, he says, there were members of the Economic Crimes Unit present.
Kurt Sansone
11:04 Schembri recalls his arrest and the searches carried out in his home and office.
Kurt Sansone
11:03 Schembri tells the court that he has a phobia and gets a lot of prescriptions, when asked about the frequency of his communications with his doctor.
Kurt Sansone
11:02 Hesitant, Schembri doesn't recall visiting Vella on the day of Yorgen Fenech's arrest.
Kurt Sansone
11:01 Lawyer Marion Camilleri is asking about Dr Adrian Vella. "He is my doctor," Schembri says.
Kurt Sansone
11:00 Schembri says that he met Melvin Theuma – the middleman in the Caruana Galizia murder, who was granted a presidential pardon to tell all – once in his office.
Kurt Sansone
11:00 Schembri does not recall how many times he went on Fenech's boat. He neither recalls how many times he met him.
Kurt Sansone
10:59 Schembri would use WhatsApp to communicate with Fenech. "I have to charge my mobile four times a day," Schembri says, explaining that he gets so many messages.
Kurt Sansone
10:58 He dodges questions about how many times he called Yorgen Fenech a day. "I work long hours..."
Kurt Sansone
10:58 Schembri says that they went abroad together a few times.
Kurt Sansone
10:57 Schembri says: "I did not have any business with Fenech." Schembri describes Fenech as a friend. “I have lots of friends.”
Kurt Sansone
10:56 Schembri is asked about his dealings with Yorgen Fenech.
Kurt Sansone
10:56 Schembri says: "I am not capable of hating and I hate nobody. I felt she crossed the line because my children asked me daddy are you going to die?"
Kurt Sansone
10:55 Schembri says that all he saw were snippets of the inquiry report in the media. The Egrant report was published in full yesterday by the Opposition leader.
Kurt Sansone
10:54 Camilleri quotes from the Egrant inquiry report, asking him about his testimony in which Schembri had said that Caruana Galizia crossed a line when she wrote about his health.
Kurt Sansone
10:53 Schembri says that he had developed a thick skin over the years.
Kurt Sansone
10:53 The blog shown to Schembri is one in which Caruana Galizia claimed the former chief of staff was terminally sick.
Kurt Sansone
10:51 Lawyer Marion Camilleri for Yorgen Fenech is showing the witness a blog by Daphne Caruana Galizia. "That annoyed you. What did you ask Mr Fenech to do?"
Kurt Sansone
10:50 Schembri wants to excuse himself for yesterday and said that nobody notified him. The judge brusquely says that he could not wait for him to decide to open the door and so ordered his arrest.
Kurt Sansone
10:49 Keith Schembri is administered the oath.
Kurt Sansone
10:48 The court is clarifying the reasons for Schembri's arrest yesterday and the fact that he didn't end up testifying. The judge says constitutional proceedings such as these, are by their nature urgent.
Kurt Sansone
10:44 Keith Schembri is summoned to the witness stand.
Kurt Sansone
10:43 Lawyers Edward Gatt and Ishmael Psaila representing Keith Schembri are also in the courtroom now, as is murder suspect Yorgen Fenech. Judge Lawrence Mintoff has entered the courtroom.
Kurt Sansone
10:41 The press and the public have been ordered out of the courtroom, frisked and then allowed back inside.
Kurt Sansone
10:32 Armed security guards patrol the corridors of the law courts and are also present in the courtroom.
Kurt Sansone
10:31 The lawyers are also in place. Lawyers Marion Camilleri and Gianluca Caruana Curran, representing Yorgen Fenech, are on one side and State Advocate Victoria Buttigieg and Maurizio Cordina on the other.
Kurt Sansone
10:31 We've just been allowed into the courtroom. There are not enough seats for the press and the public, leading to some aggro between the two. MaltaToday’s court reporter Matthew Agius is inside the courtroom.
Kurt Sansone
10:10 Keith Schembri is expected to testify this morning.
Kurt Sansone
10:09 Fenech has claimed that he was kept abreast of the murder investigation by Schembri, who passed on sensitive information that he obtained from Arnaud.
Kurt Sansone
10:09 Fenech wants Inspector Keith Arnaud removed from the investigation because, he claims, the investigator was too close to Keith Schembri. Fenech stands accused in separate court proceedings of being the mastermind of the Caruana Galizia assassination.
Kurt Sansone
10:07 Good morning. We are in court again this morning to follow the constitutional case filed by Yorgen Fenech to have the lead investigator in the Daphne Caruana Galizia murder case removed.
Kurt Sansone
Keith Schembri, the former chief of staff to the Prime Minister, has repeatedly denied ever passing on information to Yorgen Fenech on the investigation into the murder of Daphne Caruana Galizia.
Facing intense questioning in court this morning, Schembri three times denied informing Fenech that his phone was tapped, or that he passed on information that reached him during police updates at Castille.
Schembri took the witness stand this morning in a constitutional case filed by Daphne Caruana Galizia murder mastermind Yorgen Fenech.
Fenech wants to have the lead investigator in the case, inspector Keith Arnaud, removed.
Schembri told the court that on the day of Fenech's arrest he had a 24-minute-long conversation with the suspect before he was stopped by the army from leaving the island on board his boat. Schembri said Fenech was his friend and regretted not informing Inspector Arnaud of this friendship because it now "looked bad".
Schmebri also denied writing any of the letters, which Fenech has claimed were handed to him by Schembri through a third party, with instructions on what to tell the police. The letters were passed on to Fenech while he was on police bail.
Fenech has claimed that Schembri kept him informed of progress in the murder investigation.
Fenech had filed the case in November, after his arrest, demanding that Arnaud be removed from the Caruana Galizia murder investigation.
Fenech is claiming that Arnaud was too close to Schembri to investigate the case serenely.
He has claimed that Schembri had kept him informed of all the progress in the murder investigation, passing on sensitive information including that Fenech’s own phone was being tapped. Schembri got the information from Arnaud, he claims.
Inspector Keith Arnaud and alleged mastermind Yorgen Fenech both testified at length yesterday.
During his testimony, Arnaud revealed that investigations into Keith Schembri’s involvment are ongoing, despite the man not being under arrest.
Matthew Agius is Senior Reporter on Law and Court Affairs at MaltaToday.
He is also a Leg...
