Yorgen Fenech was guest at Girgenti party in 2019, gifted Muscat three bottles of Petrus

Yorgen Fenech was one of Joseph Muscat’s guests at a party held at the Prime Minister’s Girgenti residence last February, The Times has reported, where he gifted him fine wine worth thousands of euros.

Fenech is accused of masterminding the murder of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia.

The February party at Girgenti Palace made headlines after a video was leaked on WhatsApp showing Muscat and his wife Michelle leading guests in chanting an old Labour Party anthem.

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The Times said Fenech gifted the prime minister three bottles of the premier Bordeaux red wine, Pétrus; one of the bottles was a 1974 vintage, the prime minister’s birth year, while the other two bottles – both 2007 vintages – mark the year Muscat’s twin daughters were born.

The three bottles would cost around €5,800 if purchased online.

A spokesperson for the OPM said that the Malta Security Services had told the PM that the Fenechs should not be excluded from the list of invitees for the Prime Minister’s birthday party, “for which the couple attended briefly.”

But the confirmation of Fenech’s presence at the Girgenti party also confirms that the Tumas magnate was not simply a friend of the former chief of staff, Keith Schembri.

Muscat knew that Fenech was a suspect in the Caruana Galizia case since at least May 2018, when he signed a warrant allowing the Malta Security Service to tap the businessman’s phone.