Muscat continued to exchange texts with Yorgen Fenech, ‘in consultation with Security Service’

Prime Minister Joseph Muscat has admitted to having contact with Yorgen Fenech when the magnate’s name cropped up in the Daphne Caruana Galizia murder investigation, but this was done “in consultation with the Malta Security Services,” a spokesperson for his office told The Malta Independent.

Muscat was reported to have exchanged regular text messages with 17 Black owner Yorgen Fenech, who has now been arraigned in connection with the assassination of Journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia, Lovin Malta reported.

But a spokesperson for the Office of the Prime Minister said: “While the Prime Minister cannot at this stage comment on the specifics, one has to clarify that contacts with the said person were continued after the suspect’s name cropped up in the investigation, in consultation with the Malta Security Service.”

The statement is consonant with other informatino recieved by MaltaToday that the MSS had instructed the PM to continue ‘business as usual’ with Fenech, so as not to signal any drastic changes with the businessman, who in 2018 had already been revealed to be a main suspect in the Caruana Galizia investigation.

The spokesperson said Muscat cannot comment further due to the ongoing investigation. The content of the texts prior to Yorgen Fenech’s name cropping up, and after, are still unknown.

Fenech is still pointing his finger at the Prime Minister’s former Chief of Staff Keith Schembri in connection with the case. Schembri had been arrested and interrogated, however was eventually released from arrest.

A letter found during searches conducted by the police at the property owned by Yorgen Fenech at Portomaso, penned by middleman Melvin Theuma, allegedly implicates both the 17 Black owner and the prime minister’s former chief of staff Keith Schembri.