Businessman was ‘preparing champagne’ to celebrate Caruana Galizia murder, court hears

A taxi driver says he acted as middleman between Yorgen Fenech and three men already convicted of carrying out the €150,000 contract killing

The businessman accused of paying for hitmen to murder journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia was impatient for the killing to take place, and once texted from his boat to say he was “preparing champagne” to celebrate, a jury in Malta has heard.

Yorgen Fenech, the 44-year-old heir to a property empire that includes several Hilton hotels, is on trial in Malta for complicity in the murder of Caruana Galizia. She died in a car bombing in October 2017 after publishing a series of revelations about senior politicians that were so damaging they triggered a snap general election.