Yorgen Fenech, the Tumas Group businessman and the main suspect in the Daphne Caruana Galizia murder, is believed to be involved in a suspicious property deal linked to former Superintendent Raymond Aquilina. 

Lovin Malta is informed that police are examining an apartment Fenech purchased in Birżebbuġa. He then sold the property to Aquilina’s parents at a heavily reduced rate, who later passed on the apartment to Aquilina as a donation. 

Fenech’s lawyers have insisted that their client has not sold any property in Birżebbuġa to Aquilina’s parents or to anyone – adding that they are not privy to any such investigation.

Aquilina, who joined the police in 2004 and become a high-ranking official in the Economic Crimes Unit, was arrested on 28th April on suspicions of leaking sensitive information from the investigation into the Caruana Galizia assassination. 

However, further investigations have raised concerns over Aquilina’s links to financial crime investigations and some of Malta’s most powerful businessmen. 

Most recently, Gozitan construction magnate Joseph Portelli was interrogated under caution by police for several hours over his connections with Aquilina. Sources have told Lovin Malta that Portelli could face charges over the issue.

Similarly to Fenech, police are reportedly investigating property deals between Portelli and Aquilina’s parents, who would then donate the properties to Aquilina. 

His name first rose to notoriety after featuring in the testimony of middleman-turned-state-witness Melvin Theuma in the proceedings against Yorgen Fenech, Alfred Degiorgio, George Degiorgio, and Vince Muscat over the murder.

Theuma has revealed to the court that he, Fenech, and confidante Johann Cremona were well-informed of impending arrests in 2019. Recordings show that Cremona, who is also a business partner of Fenech, told Theuma that Aquilina would be handling the arrest and ensure that police interrogation does not extend beyond money-laundering allegations. 

Meanwhile, Theuma has also claimed in court that Fenech tried to assure him that a certain ‘Ray’ would be carrying out the arrest. 

Theuma has told the courts that the arrival of a different officer was the driving force in him revealing all his information to Homicide Superintendent Keith Arnaud. 

Aquilina retired soon after Fenech’s arrest. He was among a host of top brass figures in the Economic Crimes Unit that were shifted out of the department, including Antonovich Muscat and Ian Abdilla, who still remains an Assistant Commissioner. 

The men were the main investigators in Operation Green, which is the name of the investigation into alleged money laundering and corruption following the reveal of the Panama Papers.

However, Aquilina was appointed as the manager of Enemalta’s internal audit and governance section. He was removed once he was named in the case.