Yorgen Fenech Confided In Joseph Muscat About His Cocaine Problem And Told PM He Was ‘Disappointing Him’
Yorgen Fenech had personally confided in former Prime Minister Joseph Muscat that he had a cocaine problem prior to his arrest for the assassination of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia.
This new snippet of information about the relationship between the two men emerged from an interview Reuters journalist Stephen Grey carried out with Muscat as part of the Wondery-produced podcast Who Killed Daphne?
“He admitted [his cocaine problem] to me,” Muscat said. “He told me ‘I’m disappointing you by doing this’. I told him that I thought he was disappointing his family, not me.”
Fenech’s cocaine problem has been well-documented. Earlier this year, his lawyers said he had ingested so much cocaine that he continued to test positive for it a month after his arraignment. They used this fact to cast doubt on the police interrogation of their client, as he was in a “vulnerable state” at the time.
Besides the cocaine habit, Muscat also noticed changes in Fenech’s behaviour prior to his arrest, with the businessman taking to wearing larger sunglasses and going on sudden messaging sprees.
“You’d hear nothing from him for one and a half months and then he would send 10 messages in one day, that sort of thing,” the former PM said.
Former Prime Minister Joseph Muscat
Muscat enjoyed a close relationship with Fenech and even invited him to his private birthday party at Girgenti in February 2019, where the businessman gifted him with three Petrus wine bottles.
Fenech has told police that he and Muscat had discussed the Caruana Galizia murder during the birthday party, but Muscat has dismissed this claim and said Fenech had actually apologised via message for not speaking to him at the party.
Muscat has also said that the Malta Security Services had advised him to act normally around Fenech so as not to arouse his suspicion that he was under investigation.
In his interview with Grey, Muscat insisted there was nothing untoward about his close relationship with Fenech.
“Everyone knew Yorgen Fenech. Today everyone feigns ignorance of him, but everyone knew him and wanted to be in his company,” he said. “Everyone considered him to be the bright star of Maltese business, the next big brilliant mind.”
Wondery’s podcast about this shocking event in Maltese history has received international acclaim and has been featured by major media outlets such as The Guardian and The Telegraph.
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