Businessman charged over Malta journalist’s murder granted bail

A Maltese court on Friday granted bail to a prominent businessman who is charged with complicity in the murder of anti-corruption journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia in 2017.

Yorgen Fenech was granted bail by a court on Friday, more than five years after he was first arrested and charged with complicity in the assassination of Daphne Caruana Galizia.

Madam Justice Edwina Grima issued the bail decree at a hearing on Friday morning. Members of his family, as well as one of Caruana Galizia’s sisters, were in court at the time. 

After the judge exited the courtroom, Fenech was seen hugging family members in silence. 

Fenech’s bail conditions

Fenech’s aunt Moira Fenech is to serve as his guarantor, with her Tumas company shares – she holds 15.45% of the company – as collateral. He will only be released from prison once the court receives written confirmation that those shares have been provisionally transferred to the government. 

Once that is confirmed, Fenech must pay an €80,000 deposit and be bound by a €120,000 personal guarantee. 

Should he breach bail conditions, Moira Fenech will lose her share of the family business and Fenech will lose his deposit and guarantee money.

The unusual bail arrangements mean it will most likely be several days before Fenech is allowed out of Corradino Correctional Facility. 

The court ordered Fenech not to go within 50 metres of the coast or airport. He will have to sign a bail book at the St Julian’s police station every day and stay indoors between 5pm and 11am.  

He will be assigned a probation officer to supervise him and must only live at the address provided to the court. The judge did not read out that address, for security reasons. At an earlier court hearing, the Tumas group had told the court it could provide a property for him across the road from where his aunt lives. 

A police officer will be stationed outside his nominated residence for 24 hours a day. 

Fenech’s passport and identification documents will be held by the court. 

He was also instructed not to communicate or approach in any way prosecution witnesses in the case against him, with the court specifically mentioning two such names – middleman Melvin Theuma and former OPM chief of staff Keith Schembri. 

Photo: A file photo of entrepreneur Yorgen Fenech (R) leaves the Malta Law Courts, in Valletta, Malta, 29 November, 2019. EPA-EFE/DOMENIC AQUILINA

Source: The Times of Malta