Former OPM chief of staff Keith Schembri is expected to appear before the Daphne Caruana Galizia murder inquiry on Monday, where he will be grilled about his close relationship with Yorgen Fenech, the businessman charged with masterminding the assassination plot in 2017.

Schembri will also be asked about his relationship with former prime minister Joseph Muscat as the inquiry seeks to establish whether the state could have prevented the murder.

After Muscat, Schembri is probably the second most high-profile individual to testify during the inquiry.

He is expected to be pressed on secret companies that he and former minister Konrad Mizzi opened in Panama, the link with Fenech’s 17 Black secret offshore company and his close ties with Brian Tonna and Karl Cini of Nexia BT, among others.

Mizzi was forced to appear in front of the three judges in spite of his protests. He refused to answer most of the questions put to him.

The Panama Papers data leak in 2016 had revealed how Schembri and Mizzi used Nexia BT to set up secret offshore structures while in office, confirming a report published months before by Caruana Galizia.

The former chief of staff was identified a ‘person of interest’ in the murder investigation. He stepped down in November 2019 after being questioned by the police in connection with the case. He has denied any involvement.

Yesterday, he was questioned at police HQ over an alleged €100,000 kickback he is said to have taken on passport sales.

Sources said he had his police bail over the case extended.