Businessman held by Malta over murder of investigative journalist
MALTESE AUTHORITIES have arrested a prominent businessman who appears to be a “person of interest” in the assassination of a leading investigative reporter.
Yorgen Fenech was on a yacht that was intercepted sailing northwards away from Malta by the military early on Wednesday and forced back to port.
In remarks to reporters, prime minister Joseph Muscat did not directly tie the arrest to the murder of 53-year-old Daphne Caruana Galizia in a car bombing in
October 2017, but he said it appeared to result from comments he made a day earlier about the possibility of a pardon for an alleged middleman who had offered to identify the mastermind of the killing.
Ms Caruana Galizia’s three sons were more direct in their comments on Twitter, making a direct link between the arrest and their mother’s assassination.
Mr Muscat said he instructed police to be on the lookout for unusual actions by “people of interest” in the long-unsolved murder, after announcing on Tuesday that a pardon would be possible for the middleman if information he provided could stand up in court.
“If I had not given these instructions, maybe today we might be speaking of persons of interest who might have escaped,” Mr Muscat told reporters.
The prime minister said no politician was tied to Ms Caruana Galizia’s murder, but tweets from her sons tie the arrested businessman directly to Muscat’s chief of staff and a former energy minister.
Fenech is a prominent hotelier and director of the Maltese power company. His name was on leaked documents as a source of income for companies named in the Panama Papers.
Ms Caruana Galizia alleged on her blog eight months before her death that a company called 17 Black Ltd was connected to Maltese politicians.
That reporting was picked up by the Daphne Project after her murder. It reported in April 2018 that Malta’s anti-money laundering watchdog had identified Fenechas the owner of 17 Black.
The Daphne Project followed a paper trail to two Panama companies in the names of two people close to Mr Muscat – his chief of staff and the former energy minister – that stood to receive payments from 17 Black for unspecified services.
There is no evidence the payments went ahead.