Yorgen Fenech spoke of having contact with Malta's prime minister in one of several phone chats with a Bangladeshi minister presented to court on Wednesday.
The chats, on messaging application WhatsApp, also included exchanges in January 2019 with former PN media head Pierre Portelli.
Chats were presented to court in a constitutional court case where Fenech is claiming that the repeated denial of bail since his arrest two years ago, breached his fundamental rights.
The businessman who is awaiting trial over his alleged complicity in the murder of Daphne Caruana Galizia, is claiming that the court's refusal of bail amounts to arbitrary arrest.
Inspector Kurt Zahra presented a number of chats from Fenech’s phone, which was seized upon his arrest in November 2019.
Zahra explained that he had examined the data retrieved from Fenech’s electronic devices to check which was relevant to investigations into the Caruana Galizia murder.
Chats with Bangladeshi minister
Asked by State Advocate Chris Soler to explain any of Fenech’s business relations and financing outside Europe, the inspector said that he would make reference to four chats extracted from Fenech’s phone.
Only parts of those chats were being exhibited and his testimony would be limited to those parts, Zahra, said, explaining that certain financial information contained in the chats fell under the remit of another police unit.
One chat took place between the businessman and Salman Rahman, who was appointed cabinet minister in Bangladesh, in an advisory role to the prime minister of the country.
In those conversations, the businessman discussed several projects he was planning to undertake in Bangladesh, including a housing project. He also mentioned the dimensions of the projected housing units, said the inspector, making reference to a chat with Electrogas commercial director Catherine Halpin.
In one of the conversations, Fenech told Rahman of his “contact” with the prime minister in Malta.
Rahman’s name cropped up in another conversation with Portelli dated January 26, 2019, in which Fenech referred to the Bangladeshi minister as his "partner" and told Portelli that he would be travelling to the Bangladeshi capital “tomorrow.”
Another group chat involved SOCAR representatives Turab Musayev and Libyan national Hayal Ahmadzada, where the parties discussed business opportunities in Libya.
In winding up his testimony, the inspector explained that the chats exhibited had been the subject of other testimonies by prosecution witnesses and that investigations into the data were still ongoing.
The case continues in January.
Lawyers Gianluca Caruana Curran, Charles Mercieca and Marion Camilleri are assisting Fenech.
State Advocate Chris Soler is representing the State.
Lawyers Therese Comodini Cachia and Jason Azzopardi are representing the Caruana Galizia family.