Court Hears Schembri’s Assistant Reached Out To Fenech Pre-Arrest

Charlene Bianco Farrugia, who served as executive assistant to former Office of the Prime Minister Chief of Staff Keith Schembri, sent a message to businessman Yorgen Fenech just hours before he was arrested on his yacht. 

The revelation emerged during ongoing criminal proceedings against Schembri related to alleged leaks in the investigation into the 2017 murder of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia. Schembri faces charges of perjury and breaching the Official Secrets Act, both of which he denies.

During Monday afternoon’s court session, Bianco Farrugia testified that she held the role of executive assistant from 2013 to 2019, reporting directly to Schembri and focusing primarily on government projects. She was presented with a series of chat messages, which she identified as exchanges with Fenech, and asked to go through them page by page according to Times of Malta. 

“I do not remember anything. I do not recall the context in which this was said,” she told the court, prompting a comment from the bench: “What do you want her to remember exactly, inspector? As we’ve got to spoon-feed her.”

Some of the messages she sent to Fenech included questions such as, “You be consulting a lawyer?” and “Is K helping or not?” Fenech’s responses indicated that Schembri was “distancing himself,” a fact Bianco Farrugia confirmed by clarifying that “K” referred to Schembri. Another exchange on 18th November 2019, saw her text Fenech: “K needs to talk to you,” to which he replied: “I spoke to him.”

When questioned by police inspector Shaun Friggieri about the messages, Bianco Farrugia said she did not know the full context of her exchanges. “I would not know the context. I was not privy to the details of what went on,” she told the court.

A particularly early morning message, sent at 4.13am on 20th November 2019, asked: “You took care about what K said re grande fratello?” Fenech responded, “What do you mean?” Bianco Farrugia clarified: “He told me that they’re following you.” She insisted she only knew that someone was following Fenech but did not know who or why, adding that she “assumed” Schembri had informed her.

The court questioned why she did not ask Schembri to contact Fenech directly. Bianco Farrugia said she “did not think much of it at the time and I did not feel I had to question it.”

Following a request by her lawyer, Franco Galea, part of her testimony was heard behind closed doors. When questioned about the timing of her messages on the day of Fenech’s arrest, she confirmed: “Fenech was arrested,” and reiterated that she had no knowledge of who was following him.

Former deputy police commissioner Silvio Valletta also took the stand on Monday. He explained that his role was supervisory over investigations and that he did not investigate personally. Valletta detailed that then-assistant commissioner Keith Arnaud led the murder investigation alongside two others. He also described how he would inform the police commissioner, Lawrence Cutajar, and then Schembri when meetings were needed with the Office of the Prime Minister.

Valletta pulled out of the investigation after the First Hall of the Civil Court ruled that he had a potential conflict of interest due to his marriage to then-Gozo minister Justyne Caruana. Prior to that ruling, lawyer Arthur Azzopardi approached investigators concerning convicted hitman Vince Muscat, also known as il-Koħħu, who was seeking a presidential pardon. Valletta told Schembri that someone was willing to provide information related to the Caruana Galizia case.