Investigators are planning their next move against former OPM chief of staff Keith Schembri given his “evident” knowledge about Yorgen Fenech’s alleged involvement in the Daphne Caruana Galizia assassination.

Secret recordings of conversations in 2018 between Mr Fenech and self-confessed murder middleman Melvin Theuma suggest the former chief of staff did not see anything wrong with the October 2017 assassination.

Mr Schembri has admitted under oath that he did not tell investigators about his friendship with the murder suspect but has denied any involvement in the crime.

In one recorded conversation played in court, Mr Fenech tells the middleman that “Keith” was angry he had not been told about the assassination but had “no problem”.

“Keith is going to tell me, as he has told me every time I have spoken to him... I told him ‘did I do something wrong?’ He told me ‘not wrong’. He told me ‘you should have told me before,’” Mr Fenech is heard saying in the recording.

During the same conversation, which took place sometime after April 2018, Mr
Fenech assured the middleman that Mr Schembri was on their side.

He got into this for me. He stepped into the fire for me- Yorgen Fenech

“He got into this for me. He stepped into the fire for me,” Mr Fenech says.

The recordings have started being heard in court in the compilation of evidence
against Mr Fenech.

Sources said investigators were now seeking to establish if Mr Schembri was
aware of, or even a participant in the plot prior to the car bombing which killed the 53-year-old journalist.

A legal source said Mr Schembri’s apparent knowledge of the plot after the assassination was not enough to make complicity charges stick, as the criminal code only caters for complicity prior to a murder.

Mr Schembri had denied any knowledge about the claims made in the recordings
when interrogated by police last November.

He claimed he had lost his mobile phone shortly before the arrest, depriving
investigators of potential evidence about his communications.

Sources familiar with the investigation said the homicide division and economic
crimes unit had now joined forces as part of the ongoing probe into Mr Schembri.

One source said the police were purposely treading carefully, as they were still
hunting for possible evidence to show that Mr Schembri had knowledge of the plot prior to the assassination.

We can’t let this case hinge solely on what Fenech is saying

“We can’t let this case hinge solely on what Yorgen Fenech is saying. We’re going over all the evidence again,” said a source close to the investigation.

Police are also trying to establish Mr Schembri’s role in trying to help obtain
bail for alleged hitmen Alfred and George Degiorgio, who were arrested in December 2017.

As part of his bid for a presidential pardon, Mr Fenech had claimed it was the
OPM chief of staff who commissioned the assassination, after Ms Caruana Galizia
wrote a blog post claiming Mr Schembri was dying of cancer.

Self-confessed murder middleman Melvin Theuma had also written a letter
stating both Mr Fenech and Mr Schembri masterminded the bomb plot.

He would later go on to say that he “assumed” Mr Schembri had also masterminded the killing.

Prior to Mr Theuma’s arrest last November and Mr Fenech’s subsequent claims,
investigators had not come across any evidence pointing towards Mr Schembri’s
potential involvement in the plot.

Apart from looking into potential complicity in the murder, investigators are
building evidence against Mr Schembri for potential breaches of the Official Secrets Act and security Service Act, as well as hindering the murder investigation.

Both Mr Fenech and Mr Theuma have testified that the OPM chief of staff, who sat in on high-level briefings by the police and security services about the murder, leaked information about the sensitive probe.

The former chief of staff has denied leaking such information, although he has
admitted he had a lengthy conversation with the murder suspect prior to his dramatic arrest on a luxury yacht.

Mr Schembri did not respond to a request for comment from Times of Malta.
Former prime minister Joseph Muscat refused to sack Mr Schembri even after revelations by Times of Malta and Reuters in November 2018 linking his chief of staff to 17 Black, a once-secret company owned by Mr Fenech.

By that time, Dr Muscat had already been briefed about Mr Fenech’s suspected
involvement in the murder plot.