Keith Schembri uses food business to sponsor Bormla regatta club

Keith Schembri has appeared in a rare photo posted on Facebook by the Bormla Regatta Club of which his food business is a sponsor.

Schembri is seen posing at his Di Giorno outlet in Bormla, holding the regatta shield, which the locality’s rowing club won in the Victory Day races held on 8 September.

The Di Giorno chain of shops sells ready-made meals and frozen food products and is the trade name for Schembri’s food business, It’s Good Limited.

Schembri was charged with money laundering and other financial crimes in March last year. The charges related to his time as chief of staff in the Office of the Prime Minister and before. The directors of It’s Good Limited, Schembri’s father Alfio Schembri, and Malcolm Scerri, were also charged with money laundering along with several other people.

All have denied any wrongdoing and the cases against them are ongoing.

Bormla is Schembri’s birthplace and his Di Giorno business was announced as a sponsor of the locality’s rowing club in August. Schembri is seen in the photo standing next to his father, while holding the shield.

Schembri served as Joseph Muscat’s chief of staff between 2013 and 2019, resigning in a storm of political controversy after his business partner Yorgen Fenech was charged with masterminding the murder of Daphne Caruana Galizia.

Fenech’s Dubai company 17 Black had been listed as a target client of Schembri’s Panama company, Tillgate. 17 Black had to pay €2 million a year into Tillgate’s bank accounts.

Testifying in court two years ago, Schembri had said he intended to do business with Fenech after his retirement from politics although documentary evidence suggests otherwise.

Schembri acquired Tillgate in 2015 with the intention to carry out immediate business. Plans to set up a bank account for the company were disrupted in 2016 after Daphne Caruana Galizia exposed the secretive company structures held by Schembri and then energy minister Konrad Mizzi.

Schembri has been using his Di Giorno brand to sponsor several activities, including the Għaxaq Musical Festival held at the start of summer.