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Yorgen Fenech’s Legal Team Have Two Days To Submit New Evidence For Constitutional Case

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Yorgen Fenech’s lawyers will have two days to submit any new or additional evidence they would like to include in the constitutional case to get Chief Homicide Inspector Keith Arnaud kicked off the investigation into the Daphne Caruana Galizia case.

Judge Lawrence Mintoff, who has set a date for sentencing on 23rd September, called this morning’s sitting over concerns that recent developments in the case could have altered both the defence’s or state prosecutor’s submissions.

“We are not living in a vacuum,” Mintoff, who confirmed he has already started authoring his decision, said.

The constitutional case claims that Arnaud was compromised during his investigation and had even leaked details to Keith Schembri, which were eventually passed onto Fenech.

Arnaud has admitted to regularly updating former Prime Minister Joseph Muscat and his chief of staff Keith Schembri on the case during unprecedented official meetings. However, he denies any wrongdoing.

Meanwhile, Arnaud’s predecessor, Silvio Valletta, and former boss Lawrence Cutajar were also allegedly leaking sensitive information on the case.

Fenech’s lawyers argued that recent testimonies by doctor-turned-messenger Adrian Vella, former Police Commissioner Lawrence Cutajar, and Arnaud himself had changed the complexion of the case.

They made particular reference to recent serious allegations that Cutajar and Melvin Theuma confidante Edwin ‘Il-Gojja’ Brincat could have colluded before the latter testified in the case. Allegations that Fenech received bribes for Theuma’s pardon have also been floated.

“How can the court make a decision without taking note of [these] later developments?” Fenech’s lawyer Marion Camilleri said.

State Advocate Victoria Buttigieg insisted that the details were irrelevant, given that the case focused on Arnaud’s removal from the investigation.

Mintoff sided with Fenech’s team but gave them two days to file an application listing any new evidence they would like to be included in the case.

The next sitting is on Wednesday 9th September at 8.45am. However, Mintoff will still issue his judgement on 23rd September.

Fenech is also currently appearing in a bail request launched yesterday. You can follow that on Lovin Malta’s live blog.

Who do you think will be called to testify? Comment below

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Julian is the former editor of Lovin Malta and has a particular interest in politics, the environment, social issues, and human interest stories.

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