All data extracted from a phone belonging to Keith Schembri must be made available to Yorgen Fenech’s defence team, a court ruled on Friday.

The decision by Mr Justice Lawrence Mintoff came in a constitutional case filed by Fenech’s legal team, seeking to have lead investigator Keith Arnaud removed from the Daphne Caruana Galizia murder case. 

The phone in question is not the same phone that went offline shortly before Schembri was arrested in late 2019 in connection with the murder, police commissioner Angelo Gafá has previously confirmed.

Schembri later claimed to have 'lost' that phone, which has never been recovered. Police seized another phone belonging to him when they arrested arrested and charged him with financial crimes, in a separate case.

Gafá has argued that the phone in question is not relevant to the Caruana Galizia murder case and forms part of an ongoing inquiry.

Fenech’s legal team has however insisted that the phone contains information that is “essential” to their case. 

Superintendent Keith Arnaud is leading the investigation into the Caruana Galizia murder case.Superintendent Keith Arnaud is leading the investigation into the Caruana Galizia murder case.

Fenech stands accused of complicity in the murder of Caruana Galizia, a journalist who was blown up in 2017. He denies the charges. 

His bid to gain access to Schembri's phone data was put off for judgement three times as new evidence came to light, with the judge saying that he did not wish to deliver a judgment which, in light of evidence emerging before other courts in proceedings linked to the murder case, would be "clearly incorrect or defective."

The court wanted to have as complete a picture as possible for the purpose of reaching moral certainty and for the administration of justice, Mr Justice Mintoff said.

On Friday, the court ruled in Fenech’s favour.

State Advocate Chris Soler informed the court that there would be no appeal against this decision. 

Soler also informed the judge, in the presence of deputy police commissioner Alessandra Mamo and superintendent Frank Anthony Tabone, that the police commissioner would abide by the court order, even though disclosing the phone data might prejudice ongoing investigations. 

The police commissioner also suggested that the court should warn about the consequences anyone who divulged the data or made improper use of it would face, Soler added. 

The court decreed that anyone granted access to the data was not to disclose it to any unauthorised third parties. 

A representative of the police commissioner will present the phone data at a sitting to be held in December. 

Lawyers Gianluca Caruana Curran, Charles Mercieca and Marion Camilleri are assisting Fenech. Lawyer Jason Azzopardi represented the Caruana Galizia family.

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