Details of the close friendship between Yorgen Fenech, the main suspect in the assassination of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia, and disgraced former Deputy Police Commissioner Silvio Valletta, have been revealed in court.

“Fenech and Valletta even shared a WhatsApp group called ‘No Valletta, No Party’,” Matthew Caruana Galizia, the late journalist’s son, told a court today.

Caruana Galizia used the group as justification for why he and his mother were distrustful of authorities while investigating the Fenech-linked Electrogas deal in the months leading up to her murder.

Valletta, who is the estranged husband of Education Minister Justyne Caruana, was leading the investigation into the murder until he was forcibly removed from the case. He has been named a major leak on the case by both Melvin Theuma and Vince Muscat.

These details included the arrest of the three men charged with carrying out the murder, Muscat’s potential pardon, information that Theuma’s and Yorgen Fenech’s phones were wiretapped, and that Cardona’s number was discovered on the phone of one of Daphne’s killers.

He also provided information to the hitman over Caruana Galizia’s whereabouts in the lead-up to her murder.

Valletta, who is referred to as “Valletta l-oħxon” in Melvin Theuma’s secret recordings of Fenech, was the one who set up unprecedented briefings with former Prime Minister Joseph Muscat and his chief of staff Keith Schembri on the case.

The briefings started soon after the murder and continued up until a month before Theuma’s arrest. 

Media reports and court sittings have also revealed that Valletta had an intimate relationship with Fenech. He held dinners with Fenech and went abroad with him on at least two occasions. 

Meanwhile, there exists a video of Valletta “fooling around” in Fenech’s Rolls Royce.

It has already been confirmed in court that Valletta was in a WhatsApp group with Fenech, Schembri, then-MFSA head Joe Cuschieri, and Schembri’s private secretary Kenneth Azzopardi.

The group was closed just before the arrests of the three men charged with carrying out the assassination of Caruana Galizia in December 2017.

Several WhatsApp exchanges have already been laid bare. Fenech shared over 700 messages with Justice Minister Edward Zammit Lewis between January 2019 and October 2019. There are also roughly 800 WhatsApp messages between Fenech and Schembri.

It has also been confirmed by inspectors that Muscat, Schembri, and Fenech had a shared WhatsApp group between themselves.

Former PN leader Adrian Delia has also been confirmed to have exchanged messages with the businessman.