Malta Casino Tycoon Yorgen Fenech Goes on Trial Over Daphne Caruana Galizia Murder

Almost seven years after casino tycoon Yorgen Fenech was intercepted by the military as he allegedly tried to flee Malta on his luxury yacht, his long-awaited trial for the murder of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia opened in Valletta.

One of Malta’s wealthiest businessmen, Fenech was arrested on Nov. 20, 2019, on suspicion of complicity in the murder of investigative journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia. As CEO of the family-owned Tumas Group, Fenech oversaw Malta’s Qawra Oracle Casino and Portomaso Casino.

Prosecutors are expected to allege that Caruana Galizia was targeted because she was on the verge of exposing a corrupt government energy contract designed to enrich Fenech. Her assassination by a car bomb in October 2017 sparked immediate international outrage and intense media scrutiny.

Blood Money

Fenech is accused of orchestrating the assassination and paying €150,000 (approx. US$177,000) for the hit through middleman Melvin Theuma. Theuma admitted to passing those instructions to gangster brothers George and Alfred Degiorgio and their associate, Vince Muscat.

The Degiorgio brothers were each sentenced to 40 years in prison in 2022 for planting the bomb in a child’s shoebox under the driver’s seat of Caruana Galizia’s Peugeot 108. Muscat, who cooperated with investigators, received a 15-year sentence, while two men found guilty of supplying the bomb were sentenced to life imprisonment in June 2025.

Theuma himself was arrested in November 2019. Just one day before Fenech’s alleged attempt to flee the island, authorities announced that Theuma would receive a presidential pardon in exchange for his state’s evidence testimony.

The Electrogas Deal

Specifically, prosecutors will allege Fenech ordered the hit because he feared Caruana Galizia would expose deep-seated corruption surrounding a $500 million government energy contract awarded to Electrogas, a consortium in which Fenech held a major stake.

At the time of her death, Caruana Galizia was sifting through the aftermath of the Panama Papers leak alongside subsequent financial trails.

Her reporting uncovered evidence that a Dubai-registered company called 17 Black planned to transfer US$2 million to offshore shell companies owned by Keith Schembri, then-chief of staff to the Prime Minister, and Konrad Mizzi, Malta’s energy minister.

Caruana Galizia was murdered before she could publicly reveal that Fenech was the ultimate beneficial owner of 17 Black—a crucial link later uncovered by an international consortium of journalists who vowed to finish her work.

Political Crisis

Fenech has pleaded not guilty to murder and criminal association, and faces life imprisonment if convicted.

While neither Mizzi nor Schembri has been charged in connection with the murder, both were forced to resign as mass protests gripped the country, with demonstrators taking to the streets to demand justice.

The fallout triggered a profound political and constitutional crisis in Malta, ultimately forcing the collapse of the Joseph Muscat administration in January 2020.