New Arrests in Case of Murdered Malta Journalist

News

A local businessman considered a “person of interest” in the murder of investigative journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia in Malta two years ago was taken into custody Wednesday, the Times of Malta reported.

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Reported by

Zdravko Ljubas
November 20th, 2019
Murder Police

A Maltese Navy vessel reportedly intercepted the yacht of Maltese national Yorgen Fenech, owner of 17 Black, a mystery company in Dubai to make the arrest. Shortly before she was killed in a 2017 car bomb explosion near her Valletta home, Galizia wrote about this firm in her blog -- alleging it was connected to certain Maltese politicians.

The AFP reported that the yacht was intercepted just after 5:30 am local time (0430 GMT), accompanied back to port and placed under tight surveillance by the police and army.

Fenech also is the director and co-owner of Electrogas, the winner of a multi-million euro contract from the Maltese state in 2013 to build a new gas power station on the Mediterranean island.

The news agency reminded that the arrest occurred just a day after an alleged middleman was offered a pardon to identify the mastermind behind the Galizia’s killing. Maltese police and Interpol, as Reuters reported, last week arrested several people as part of an anti-money laundering operation, including the alleged middleman.

Another three men suspected of carrying out the murder were arrested in December 2017, but until now the person who commissioned the murder has not been identified.

Galizia highlighted corruption, nepotism, clientelism, and all kinds of criminal behavior in her blogs about her country. Witnesses say that her car was blasted to pieces and her body catapulted into a nearby field near her home in October 2017.

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