The Tumas Group businessman charged with conspiring to assassinate journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia,  Yorgen Fenech, visited Castille no less than 26 times since the Labour Party entered into government in 2013, official records show.

According to Castille’s official registry that was revealed to Lovin Malta following a Freedom of Information request, Fenech visited the office on seven occasions in 2013, 17 in 2014, and a single visit in both 2015 and 2017.

The record shows that he met with the Prime Minister’s former Chief of Staff Keith Schembri five times, Konrad Mizzi 19 times, Michael Farrugia once, and Lyndsey Gambin once. The request did not make it clear when Fenech met each individual.

Fenech’s government work is mostly tied to the controversial Electrogas deal, which sees Malta pay for gas-to-energy conversion at above standard market rates. He worked significantly with both Schembri and Mizzi to get the agreement of the ground.

It should be noted that the web of interconnected offshore companies linking Fenech, Schembri, Mizzi, and the Azeri royal family is believed to be connected to the deal.

While the visits seem to have stopped in 2017, middleman Melvin Theuma has told the court that the assassination was planned throughout that year with the alleged involvement of several OPM figures, with Fenech first informing him of the plot a few weeks before the general election was announced.

For example, Theuma even visited Schembri and OPM Head of Customer Care Sandro Craus at Castille to acquire a phantom government job just days after planning the murder.

And while Fenech seems to have steered clear of entering the Office of the Prime Minister ever since 2017, his relationship with Muscat remained very much intact.

Despite having being informed of Fenech’s involvement in the assassination by the end of 2018, Muscat still invited the disgraced businessman to his exclusive birthday party at Girgenti, where cabinet members didn’t even make the guest list.

That evening Fenech gifted Muscat with Petrus wine bottles valued in the thousands.

Fenech was first arrested in connection with the crime in November 2019 and has since gone on to claim that Schembri leaked sensitive information on the investigation, including the dates of the imminent arrests of several people involved in the murder.

Theuma has corroborated the leaks, but he cannot confirm whether it was Schembri who passed on the information.

Later on today, protests calling for Muscat’s immediate removal will continue in Valletta.