Two years ago, the Maltese police detained the well-known businessman Jorgen Fenech while trying to escape. He is suspected of organizing the murder of a journalist. Law enforcers have revealed the details of the crime.
In October 2017, Maltese journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia was killed in an explosion in her car. A few months later, the police brought charges of planting an explosive device to brothers Alfred and Giorgio Degiorgio, as well as their friend Vincent Muscat.
After two years of investigations, law enforcement officers found out that the probable organizer of the murder is 39-year-old Maltese businessman Jorgen Fenech, who owned a chain of casino hotels and a stake in an energy company.
Caruana Galizia investigated the so-called Panama Papers and discovered that 17Black, a Dubai-based company owned by Fenech, was planning to transfer $ 2 million to an offshore company linked to the Prime Minister and former Minister of Energy of Malta.
The corruption scheme was allegedly linked to an energy contract that the government of Malta signed with the Fenech company. The publication of this data led to the murder of the journalist and further protests that led to the resignation of the local government. Jorgen Fenech was detained on November 20, 2019 while trying to leave Malta on his yacht.
It was also recently revealed that the murder of the journalist was committed using one of three explosives that were smuggled into Malta in 2016 and 2017.
Vincent Muscat, who has collaborated with the investigation since his arrest, said one of these explosives was used in the attempted murder of gangster Romeo Bonet. The explosion tore off Bonet’s legs, but he survived.
Muscat also said that in preparation for the murder of the journalist, he and his accomplices set explosives under the seat.
Recall that at the beginning of 2021, the journalists of The Shift published an investigation about a network of bookmakers in Malta, which has the same money turnover as the legal gambling business in the country.
One of the key figures in the investigation is the former taxi driver Melvin Theuma, who became a well-known illegal bookmaker in the country with an income of several million euros a year and who laundered money through the acquisition of real estate.
Theuma also confessed to being involved in the murder of Caruana Galizia and was severely stabbed in the throat and torso several hours before he was due to testify in the case. Later he was pardoned in exchange for testimony about the murder of the journalist.
