One of Malta's richest businessmen was charged with the murder of the anti-corruption journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia on Wednesday, as it emerged that a year after the killing he bought grenades, machine guns, pistols, bullets and poison on the dark web.
Malta's attorney-general has called for Yorgen Fenech to be given life in prison for allegedly masterminding the high-profile murder, which shocked the island nation and called into question its rule of law.
The journalist was killed by a massive car bomb shortly after leaving her home in October 2017. Fury over her murder among ordinary Maltese eventually forced the resignation of the prime minister, Joseph Muscat.
Fenech, who is at the apex of the alleged plot to murder the journalist, was charged with complicity in the murder and criminal conspiracy.
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Victoria Buttigieg, the attorney-general, requested life imprisonment for the murder charge and between 20 to 30 years behind bars for the conspiracy charge.
Fenech is accused of asking an associate of his taxi driver, Melvin Theuma, to hire three hitmen who would be paid €150,000 to kill Caruana Galizia.
They had allegedly planned to shoot the journalist with a sniper rifle, but at the last minute chose to use a car bomb instead.
Fenech has been in custody since November 2019, when he tried to leave Malta on his luxury yacht. Text messages found by prosecutors suggest he was hoping to go to Sicily and then France.
His attempts to purchase poison, firearms and ammunition on the dark web were cited in court by prosecutors as reasons why he should not be released on bail because he was a danger to public safety.
At a court hearing in Valletta, Malta's capital, Fenech was accused of using the cryptocurrency Bitcoin to pay for grenades, automatic weapons, 800 rounds of ammunition and poison.
Philip Galea Farrugia, the deputy attorney-general, said the tycoon had purchased "two grenades, two Glock pistols, two machine guns, Scorpions (a type of rifle) and some 800 bullets". He also bought silencers for the pistols.
The poison included a shipment of 20g of potassium cyanide – a chemical that releases a toxic gas.
"It's reasonable to suspect that all these things were intended for prosecution witnesses in the case," said Manuel Delia, the author of a book about the assassination, Murder on the Malta Express.
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Fenech made the purchases in November 2018, a year after the murder.
Caruana Galizia, who was married with three children, had revealed that Fenech was the owner of a shadowy offshore firm based in Dubai called 17 Black.
She was also investigating the granting of a contract to build a power station to a consortium in which Fenech was involved.
He has denied involvement in the murder and pleaded not guilty to all charges. The trial is expected to start within a year.
Two brothers who allegedly planted and detonated the car bomb, George and Alfred Degiorgio, are also both awaiting trial.
Theuma, the taxi driver and alleged middleman, was granted a presidential pardon in 2019 in return for divulging what he knew about the murder plot. He has accused Fenech of being the mastermind.
"The charging of Fenech is a major turning point in the quest for justice," Corinne Vella, the sister of the murdered reporter, told The Telegraph. "It's a step further in the criminal proceedings."
Muscat, the former prime minister, has denied any involvement in the murder but was close friends with Fenech.
"They were on a WhatsApp chat group together. Six months before Fenech's arrest, he was one of the select few invited to Muscat's birthday party. They called each other mates, they had known each other a long time," said Delia.
"Muscat kept up the friendship even as he was being briefed by police regarding their suspicions about Yorgen Fenech."
