Yorgen Fenech has asked the police commissioner to remove chief homicide inspector Keith Arnaud from the investigation into the assassination of Daphne Caruana Galizia, arguing that he has close ties with the Prime Minister’s former chief of staff Keith Schembri.

In a letter to Laurence Cutajar, Fenech’s lawyer accused Arnaud of having kept Schembri continuously informed of updates into the investigation. Fenech said that when he was arrested on 20th November, Arnaud told him to “be responsible” in his words.

Fenech also claimed that Schembri had helped Arnaud’s wife land a job at Infrastructure Malta on 14th January 2019.

The letter was first reported by Net News and has been independently confirmed by Lovin Malta.

The businessman’s letter comes hours after reports that the Malta Security Services had been tapping the phone of businessman Yorgen Fenech, who has been arrested in connection with the assassination of Daphne Caruana Galizia, for at least a year.

The Prime Minister’s former chief of staff Keith Schembri was reportedly also present for a briefing between the MSS and Joseph Muscat in which Fenech was being considered as a main suspect.

Lovin Malta is informed that while Schembri doesn’t feature in Fenech wiretap, his name does appear in recordings which were secretly taken by alleged middleman Melvin Theuma after the assassination had been carried out.