Edward Zammit Lewis, Malta’s under fire Justice Minister, once told Yorgen Fenech that “ignorant labour voters” underrated him amid a period of uncertainty of his support among party loyalists in 2019.

“They never wanted me,” Zammit Lewis allegedly told Fenech in a message in May 2019. 

At the time, Zammit Lewis told Fenech that he was considering stepping away from politics altogether, frustrated by the lack of support he had both in the parliamentary group and among grassroots voters.

“I had never been so humiliated,” Zammit Lewis reportedly said. 

Lovin Malta has previously reported how messages between Zammit Lewis and Fenech have revealed a close relationship between the Justice Minister and the Daphne Caruana Galizia murder suspect.

Well-informed sources detailed a wealth of exchanges between the pair from January to September 2019. The number of messages tallies up in the hundreds. 

One of the chats, dated April 2019, was published by Fenech in a leaked judicial document, and shows Zammit Lewis describing some of his colleagues as “kids and posers” with “zero political competence”.

“That is what the stupid (Ġaħan) Labour voter wants, someone who helps them out,” he says.

Beyond that, the Times of Malta revealed the existence of exchanges showing Zammit Lewis mocking attempts to have 17 Black investigated.

Fenech was already outed to be the owner of 17 Black, the Dubai-based company linked to government corruption, but had not been arrested for the assassination of Daphne Caruana Galizia. 

Zammit Lewis has apologised for calling PL supporters stupid (Ġaħan). However, he is refusing to resign and claims he is a victim of character assassination.

Zammit Lewis, as Justice Minister, will be instrumental in ensuring the many crucial recommendations outlined in the public inquiry linked to the assassination are introduced. 

Questions on the relationship between Fenech and Zammit Lewis have been rife ever since the arrest of the former in connection with the murder. 

Beyond WhatsApp exchanges, Lovin Malta had revealed in November 2020 that former Prime Minister Joseph Muscat and Zammit Lewis had both gone on a private holiday to Fenech’s Hilton hotel in France. Sources have said that the holiday was part-financed by Fenech.

Both Muscat and Zammit Lewis categorically denied Fenech had funded the holiday and had pledged to publish proof of this. Ten months later, however, and there was no sign of any documentary evidence showing that they had paid their own way.