A magistrate has opened up an inquiry into allegations that Daphne Caruana Galizia murder suspect Yorgen Fenech offered or paid PN Leader Adrian Delia money to prevent MEP David Casa’s re-election following a request from police.

Police opened up an investigation earlier this month after claims of a bribe were made in court.  Magistrate Doreen Clarke will be leading the inquiry.

State witness Melvin Theuma has told the court that Fenech had told him he had offered the PN a sum of money to put spokes in Casa’s re-election campaign because the MEP was hounding him over his ownership of the Dubai company 17 Black.

Hours later, Labour TV host Karl Stagno Navarra alleged that Fenech had offered the sum of money to Delia personally during a meeting at Fenech’s Ħaż-Żebbuġ ranch. He claimed Fenech paid Delia €50,000 and offered him a further €200,000 if Casa wasn’t elected.

Former Prime Minister’s Chief of Staff Keith Schembri has said under oath with “100% certainty that Delia accepted a €50,000 payment, while former PN Head of Media Pierre Portelli would meet with Fenech once a month to collect €20,000.

Schembri is the third person to allege Fenech had offered or agreed upon a dirty deal with the PN to prevent Casa’s re-election to the European Parliament last year.

Former PN radio host and current MP David Thake was the first to bring up these allegations, during a Xarabank show back in June 2019, a month after the European Parliament election.

Back then, Thake had asked Delia to respond to an allegation that Fenech had offered the party €50,000 to prevent Casa’s re-election to the European Parliament.

Delia said he had no information in this regard and urged Thake to forward any information he might have to the police, while Fenech described the allegation as a “blatant lie” and “a cowardly and dishonest attempt to tarnish my reputation and good standing”.

Thake has since been called to testify in the inquiry on Thursday at 12:30pm.