Yorgen Fenech’s case to have inspector Keith Arnaud taken off the Daphne Caruana Galizia murder case will be decided in September, a court said on Friday.
The court was due to hear evidence presented by lawyers from the state advocate’s office, but lawyers led by state advocate Victoria Buttigieg chose to rest their case, saying they had no further evidence to put forward.
Fenech wants Arnaud removed from the case as he says that the inspector was passing information about the investigation to Keith Schembri, the man Fenech alleges was behind the assassination of Caruana Galizia.
The court will now receive written submissions from both parties in the case over the coming months, with one party submitting its arguments by May and the other party having until July to reply.
Judge Lawrence Mintoff, who is leading the case, will pass judgement on September 23.
As it happened
A six-month wait
12.07pm Rather than present further evidence [or witnesses], lawyers for the defence have rested their case. That means today's ends before it could even really get started.
One party will now file their written arguments in May, with the other party getting two months - until July - to reply.
The court will then reconvene in September to pass judgement.
Case decision... in September
12pm With no further evidence to submit at this stage, the case will move to the next stage, when lawyers for both sides will make written submissions. This is normal procedure for civil cases, with parties filing written arguments before judgement.
They will have plenty of time to do that, because the court will pass judgement on September 23 - more than six months from now.
Il-Gojja
11.58am Caruana Curran makes reference to a recent Times of Malta article which revealed how former police commissioner Cutajar had twice met with a close associate of middleman Melvin Theuma [when Cutajar was still police chief].
It would have been interesting to hear what Cutajar had to say about that, the lawyer notes.
But that's not to be - there is no more evidence to submit and the case will now proceed with the evidence that has been submitted.
Who is in court
11.56am The case is being presided by judge Lawrence Mintoff. State advocarte Victoria Buttigieg is here, as is Maurizio Cordina from her office.
Marion Camilleri and Gianluca Caruana Curran are representing Mr Fenech.
What we’ve heard so far
11.50am In February, the court had heard the testimony of Peter Caruana Galizia and of inspector Nicholas Vella. Caruana Galizia told the court that he had “nothing to complain” about Arnaud, while Vella said that two officers from the Economic Crimes Unit had been investigating police leaks concerning the murder investigation.
Vella’s testimony contradicted what Lawrence Cutajar, who at the time was police commissioner, had said under oath late last year – that inspector Arnaud and his colleague inspector Kurt Zahra were investigating the leaks.
In previous sittings, the court has heard that:
• Keith Schembri spent 24 minutes on the phone to Fenech just before he [Fenech] tried to leave the island on the day of his arrest.
• Keith Arnaud said he met Schembri during police briefings at Castille about the Caruana Galizia murder. The two would communicate over WhatsApp and Arnaud testified that they never discussed the case.
• Fenech testified that Schembri – a childhood friend of his - would regularly pass him information about the case, which he obtained from inspector Arnaud. Schembri had also warned him that his phone was being tapped, Fenech told the court.
Welcome
11.45am Good morning, and welcome to this live blog. We will be bringing you minute-by-minute updates from the courtroom in Valletta, where Fenech's case against Arnaud is continuing.