Who exactly is Yorgen Fenech?

Yorgen Fenech, one of Malta’s most powerful businessmen, was arrested by the Armed Forces of Malta this morning on a yacht as it was about to leave Maltese territorial waters and brought to shore, and he is now being held in police custody.

Yorgen Fenech was made the Chief Executive Officer of Tumas Group, one of Malta’s largest business groups, after his father, George Fenech, passed away in 2014.

The Tumas Group owns several thriving establishments such as the tallest building in Malta, the Portomaso Business Tower, together with the Hilton Hotel and the Portomaso Casino and Marina. The group has interests in gaming, hospitality and leisure, management and property development.

Together with the Gasan Group, Tumas Group is also behind the Quad Business tower in Mrieħel. In 2006, the group, along with Singapore-based Portek Group, was awarded a 30-year concession to operate and manage the Grand Harbour Terminals.

Tumas Group has recently also ventured into the energy industry through its company GEM Holdings - the Maltese company with a 30 per cent stake in the Electro Gas. GEM Holdings owns ElectroGas together with the Azeri state energy company Socar and German firm Siemens. The consortium was chosen by Enemalta in 2013 to build the gasfired power plant and related gas-handling infrastructure.

In April 2018, it was revealed that Yorgen Fenech was the owner of 17 Black, a company based in Dubai that was allegedly set up to transfer money to the Panamanian companies Hearnville Inc and Tillgate Inc owned by then Energy Minister and current Tourism Minister Konrad Mizzi and the Prime Minister’s chief of staff Keith Schembri.