Keith Schembri’s late-night visit to then-Prime Minister Joseph Muscat just hours before his arrest in connection with the assassination of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia has raised endless questions. However, Muscat has now insisted that Schembri came over to announce his resignation.

Muscat confirmed the detail during questioning in the public inquiry linked to the murder. He stressed that he was not aware that Schembri would be arrested in just a few hours. Muscat claims he only found out about it during the morning.

Schembri was spotted at Muscat’s home late at night at roughly 11pm. At 11.30pm on 25th November, an army of officers, including Inspector Keith Arnaud, descended upon the home of Adrian Vella, the doctor-turned-messenger of Schembri and main suspect Yorgen Fenech.

Vella has confirmed under oath that he immediately called Schembri when he heard officers banging on his front door. However, he gave few details on the conversation, telling the court that Schembri told him to open the door.

There are more questions over what exactly happened that evening, with Schembri’s phone still missing, despite last being used within his Mellieħa home.

While Muscat denies all involvement, Schembri continues to hang over this case like a shroud.

Muscat confirmed that he knew that Schembri and Fenech were childhood friends from at least 2008.

He was reluctant to explain why he kept him on in unprecedented briefings on the case once they knew of Fenech’s potential involvement in 2018. Muscat will answer those questions behind closed doors.

“If things that are being said about certain people are true, then I’m shocked. I never saw any ill intent from them, and this is not a question of friends,” Muscat said.

Schembri has been named as the leak in the investigations on several occasions by both Yorgen Fenech and Melvin Theuma.

Schembri has been confirmed to have spoken to Fenech for at least 20 minutes on the even of the latter’s arrest. Muscat confirmed today that he did in fact tell Schembri to stop Fenech from leaving the country. However, he had no idea he would call him.

When it came to Fenech, Muscat said they did exchange messages regularly, but had only dined together around 10 times since they met in 2018. Fenech was invited to Muscat’s exclusive birthday bash, where not a single cabinet member was invited.

Muscat did confirm that he was made aware of Fenech’s arrest on drug charges in 2019. This was after Muscat found out Fenech was a suspect.

“I found out about it within a matter of days, and I was concerned about him and his family,” he said.

Muscat maintained that he kept in contact with Fenech after finding out his potential link on the orders of the Security Services. However, he does regret leaving the WhatsApp group a month before Fenech’s arrest, fearing it might have tipped him off.

You can follow the entire sitting over here.

Photo source: Net News

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