A “gag order” by a court spurred by objections from murder suspect Yorgen Fenech has tried to shut down critical reporting about the alleged mastermind behind Daphne Caruana Galizia’s assassination. Times of Malta takes a look back at the articles Fenech’s lawyers did not want published.
Muscat introduced Yorgen Fenech to AC Milan boss for energy deal
February 2021
Joseph Muscat gave advice to murder suspect Yorgen Fenech about a potential energy deal involving AC Milan’s president.
The former prime minister introduced Fenech to Paolo Scaroni in March 2019, when the prime minister already knew the Electrogas power station investor was a person of interest in journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia’s murder.
Scaroni is a former chief executive of Italian oil group Eni and deputy chairman of Rothschilds bank. At the time of the introduction, Muscat was being careful to publicly distance himself from the 17 Black scandal involving Fenech, his top aide Keith Schembri and former energy minister Konrad Mizzi.
Sources said Muscat advised Fenech that if there was potential for a deal with Scaroni to be reached, the local partners should still retain a shareholding in the Electrogas project.
‘9k is a lot… you could have just bought me a birthday present’
February 2021
Exchanges between MP Rosianne Cutajar and murder suspect Yorgen Fenech shed further light on her role in brokering a €3.1 million Mdina property deal and her familiarity with the millionaire businessman, sources told Times of Malta.
Cutajar and her associate Charles Farrugia, known as It-Tikka, have both tried to downplay her involvement in the property transaction, with the MP insisting she never did any business with Fenech.
However, the sources said the exchanges between the pair show Cutajar was given a €9,000 cut from a pile of cash handed to her by Fenech after he went to Bank of Valletta in August 2019 to secure a loan for the property deal.
After the pair met, Fenech messaged Cutajar to inform her that there was an extra €9,000 in the cash pile for her, over and above the €31,000 in brokerage fees due to Farrugia.
Gaming Authority chief colluded with Yorgen Fenech to hide casino breaches
March 2021
Former Malta Gaming Authority CEO Heathcliff Farrugia colluded with murder suspect Yorgen Fenech to try to prevent the publication of findings of an inspection revealing weak anti-money laundering controls at the Tumas Gaming casinos.
The two casinos, which were at the time run by Fenech as Tumas Gaming’s CEO, were the subject of a joint compliance inspection by the FIAU and MGA in 2018 to ensure their adherence with laws designed to prevent money laundering.
Inspectors found several breaches of these laws, including a “complete failure” to establish the source of funds and wealth of the casino customers.
The findings also highlighted how the money-laundering reporting officer at the casinos struggled to prove his knowledge of the relevant anti-money laundering laws.
‘We can do business whenever you want,’ former Planning Authority chairman Johann Buttigieg told Yorgen Fenech
March 2021
Former Planning Authority chairman Johann Buttigieg had expressed a willingness to “do business” with 17 Black owner Yorgen Fenech, according to messages exchanged between the pair.
Buttigieg said he was open to doing business with Fenech in a March 2019 WhatsApp exchange, at a time when he still headed the authority.
When the conversations took place, Fenech had already been linked to government corruption via 17 Black and investigations were ongoing into his links with the murder of Daphne Caruana Galizia.
The topic of doing business popped up after Fenech offered to go halves with Buttigieg on a property development he was hoping to take over from fellow construction magnate Joe Portelli.
Regulator had drafted Yorgen Fenech’s letter lobbying for the renewal of his casino license
March 2021
A top official of the Malta Gaming Authority helped Yorgen Fenech draft a letter to her then-boss Joe Cuschieri, setting out the case for extending Fenech’s casino licence.
Edwina Licari was at the time legal counsel of the MGA, which, as regulator of the gaming sector, is charged with monitoring casino operations and issuing licences.
In this case, Fenech, as CEO of Tumas Gaming, was lobbying for an extension of Portomaso casino’s licence – with Licari and Cuschieri’s help.
Licari, who now holds an equivalent position at the Malta Financial Services Authority, sent the draft to Fenech using a private e-mail account rather than her official MGA one, in September 2015.
The drafting on Fenech’s behalf was done with Cuschieri’s full knowledge, as he was copied on his non-MGA e-mail account, documents show.
Producer sought to artificially inflate Malta’s odds in 2019 Eurovision contest
May 2021
A well-known producer sought to artificially inflate Malta’s Eurovision betting odds during the 2019 song contest.
Sources described to Times of Malta how Anton Attard turned to gambling magnate Yorgen Fenech in a bid to improve the odds being given to singer Michela. The contestant was chosen through Attard’s show X-Factor to represent Malta in 2019.
Concerns have been raised over the past week about the use of taxpayers’ money to fund this practice.
An investigation has been launched by Public Broadcasting Services Ltd into suspicions that part of the €650,000 budget for this year’s contest was used to boost Destiny’s odds with bookmakers.
Sources said the 2019 chats between Attard and Fenech indicate the suspected manipulation of betting odds was not a new phenomenon.
Why does this matter?
A court last March ordered contempt of court proceedings against Times of Malta over a series of articles about Yorgen Fenech’s dealings with public officials.
If found guilty, the Times of Malta journalist faces a fine and/or jail time.
The court contends that the articles defy a blanket ban on publication of evidence forming part of the murder charges Fenech is facing.
In a further decision on Thursday, magistrate Rachel Montebello said any further publications referencing communication between Fenech and third parties will automatically result in further contempt of court proceedings.
PEN Malta has described the gagging order on the media by the courts as “illogical and disturbing”.
“A gagging order on matters that do not prejudice the ongoing proceedings against Yorgen Fenech is not justified,” PEN Malta president Immanuel Mifsud said.
He said while the organisation understood the right of everyone to be presumed innocent until proven otherwise, it was “disturbed” that the magistrate saw fit to rule Times of Malta’s reporting as “not in the public interest”.
None of the stories published so far made any reference to Daphne Caruana Galizia’s murder case.
Last April, seven Maltese newsrooms raised deep concerns following a magistrate’s decision to charge journalists with contempt of court over the publication of stories that are deemed to be of major public interest.