A judge has thrown out a complaint by alleged murder mastermind Yorgen Fenech that a freezing order covering all his assets was breaching his fundamental human rights.

Presiding over the First Hall of the Civil Court in its constitutional jurisdiction, Mr Justice Grazio Mercieca observed that the freezing order was justified in the circumstances.

He also noted that Fenech had failed to use several other remedies that were available and had, instead, opted to immediately file constitutional proceedings. This included a request to the court which imposed the freezing order to amend some aspects of the seizure.

Fenech had been arrested in late November 2019 while trying to leave the Portomaso marina on his yacht less than 24 hours after a pardon was announced to middleman Melvin Theuma, to turn state witness.

The businessman stands charged with having masterminded the murder of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia in a car bomb explosion outside her home in Bidnija on October 16, 2017.

He is separately facing criminal proceedings over money laundering and with ordering weapons over the dark web.

He has pleaded not guilty to all charges.

The court has repeatedly turned down his several requests for bail and he remains in custody. The constitutional court had also ruled that the repeated refusals to grant bail did not breach his human rights.

In one of his string of constitutional cases, Fenech claimed that the freezing of all his assets was in breach of his fundamental rights, specifically the right to the enjoyment of his property. The freezing order had been imposed as part of money laundering proceedings against him.

In his ruling, Mr Justice Mercieca noted that the proceeds of a crime need not be derived

directly from that specific crime as it could be any economic or other benefit.

“The constant suspicion in the investigation of the murder of Caruana Galizia is that the motive was to eliminate her before revealing a history of corruption related to the Electrogas project in which the claimant was involved,” the judge said.

He said that, although no evidence was brought about Fenech’s assets, it was a fact that he was one of the wealthiest people on the island and has many legitimate businesses. Therefore, in the opinion of this court, the assets acquired before the Electrogas project could have been connected ‒ directly or indirectly ‒ with the crimes he is charged with and, therefore, should be subjected to the freezing order. Assets acquired later should be assessed on their own merits.

The judge also noted that Fenech had not used the option of requesting a reduction in the amount frozen under the order.

The assets which Fenech had inherited had, in fact, been excluded from the freezing order, the judge said, as he pointed out that only the criminal court could order such a reduction.