A journalist’s death linked to a power station deal and offshore firms
Daphne Caruana Galizia was investigating suspected corruption involving Yorgen Fenech and members of Malta's government when she was killed in a car bombing in October 2017. A jury has heard that Fenech, heir to one of Malta's largest fortunes, is on trial for murder, accused of commissioning and financing her death. The case has drawn international attention due to claims of corruption connected to a major privatization deal and a web of offshore companies.
Her son, Matthew Caruana Galizia, a software engineer who helped win a Pulitzer Prize for the Panama Papers investigation, testified that he supported his mother's work as she uncovered suspicious activity. In 2015, while working with the Panama Papers leak, he discovered files directly related to Malta and shared them with her. Over time, the leaked data and his mother's own sources revealed evidence that then-energy minister Konrad Mizzi and the prime minister’s chief of staff, Keith Schembri, had created offshore companies soon after entering office.
Caruana Galizia documented the corruption in a comment posted under a 2017 article. It was their roadmap.” The statement was presented to the jury during the trial to highlight the depth of her findings.
A leaked email trove pointed to Fenech’s central role
Matthew also testified about working with his mother to process a second leak in 2017, this time involving thousands of emails from Electrogas, a company partially owned by Fenech. The leak was tied to a major privatization deal for Malta’s electricity infrastructure, which Electrogas had won. “I couldn't believe it, it was like a portal opened up and I could see into hell,” Matthew said of his reaction to the data. The emails showed Fenech at the heart of the network, appearing in numerous messages.
His mother, he said, had believed the tendering process was corrupt and that Fenech was the central figure in the web of connections. The data was still arriving the day of the bombing. Caruana Galizia had been planning to collaborate with other journalists to investigate the leak, in a manner similar to the Panama Papers team. However, the project never started because she was killed months later.
After her death, the Daphne Project expanded the investigation
After her death, Matthew founded the Daphne Project, continuing his mother's work with a coalition of international media outlets, including the Guardian and Reuters. The project aimed to investigate Electrogas and uncover who was behind his mother's killing. The findings suggested that Fenech had planned to bribe officials to secure the power station concession, leading to international condemnation and a European Parliament investigation into the scandal.
Fenech, along with Mizzi and Schembri, has denied any involvement in corruption. During the trial, Matthew described the day his mother died. They had been working at home, and she had prepared a mozzarella and tomato salad before leaving for the bank. He was working on a software project when he heard an explosion. Opening the door, he saw smoke and felt a wave of dread. “I started walking faster and faster toward the tower of smoke,” he said. “I saw fire on the road, pieces of metal, and flesh.”
The prosecution's cross-examination focused on the Electrogas leak and his mother’s findings. The judge reminded Matthew that some of his mother’s comments were opinions, not facts. Nevertheless, the evidence presented in court and the ongoing investigation by the Daphne Project have continued to shape the narrative of a journalist who was killed after exposing connections between powerful figures and offshore financial networks.