Updated 6.35pm

Former OPM chief of staff Keith Schembri has had his police bail lifted after facing questioning by financial crime investigators, his lawyer has said.

But police later stressed that investigations into his WhatsApp chats is actually still ongoing, dismissing lawyer Edward Gatt's statement that the police had closed the probe.

Schembri was questioned for two hours at the financial crimes investigation department in Ħamrun on Thursday before leaving with his lawyers.

He confirmed Schembri was being quizzed about WhatsApp chats "between my client and others", understood to refer to businessman Yorgen Fenech. 

Keith Schembri's lawyer Edward Gatt speaks to journalists outside the police's financial crime unit. Video: Mark Zammit Cordina

"Today we had the second ongoing investigation regarding our client, and we have just been informed that this investigation has been concluded and that our client will no longer remain on police bail as there is no need for the investigation to continue," he said.

Questioned to clarify, a police spokesman said Schembri's lawyer "has a right to reflect his client's opinion" on the proceedings.

It is understood he was being quizzed by police as part of an ongoing investigation into trading in influence but the details remain unclear.

Former minister Konrad Mizzi was seen entering the same department on Wednesday, where he was quizzed for about 90 minutes.

The pair had both been called in for a day of questioning in November last year and later released on police bail.

At that stage they were grilled by financial crime police as part of what is understood to be chats linked to businessman Yorgen Fenech, who is facing separate charges of conspiring to murder journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia.

A number of other high-profile people have been questioned over their communication with Fenech, including former prime minister Joseph Muscat.

Schembri and Mizzi resigned their positions almost exactly a year ago amid the fallout of the murder investigation. They deny wrongdoing. 

Caruana Galizia had bbeen the first to reveal in 2016 that both political figures had secret offshore companies, later confirmed in the Panama Papers leak. 

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.