One of Malta’s wealthiest businessmen plotted to kill the investigative journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia, paying €150,000 (£130,000) for three hitmen to carry out the murder, a jury has heard.

Yorgen Fenech, the 44-year-old heir to a property empire that includes the Hilton Malta hotel and casino, is on trial for the 2017 murder.

Caruana Galizia died after a bomb planted in her car was detonated. A magazine publisher, newspaper columnist and blogger, she was one of the most recognised media figures in the country. Her reporting on leading government and business figures had made her a target of repeated attacks by politicians and their supporters, and her violent death caused outrage across Europe.

Fenech was arrested seven years ago. Following numerous delays and being released on bail in February after the time during which he could legally be held expired, his trial began on Wednesday morning at the courts of justice in Malta’s capital, Valletta.

The accused, wearing a navy suit and glasses, entered a plea of not guilty.

Fenech has been indicted on two counts: complicity in the voluntary homicide of Caruana Galizia, and association with a person or persons in Malta with the intention of committing a crime there.

He is one of seven men prosecutors accused of involvement in the killing, and the last to face trial. Five of the seven have been convicted and one secured a pardon in exchange for testimony.

Amid concerns over the level of media interest in the case and its potential impact on the public, the opposing parties took five hours to agree on a jury selection, while those reporting for duty waited outside the courtroom for their names to be called. Officials were called to help after one reserve juror fainted as temperatures rose to 33C.

Under Maltese law the jury will be segregated for the entire duration of the trial, living in a hotel and unable to access computers, mobile phones or smart watches.

The trial opened with a reading of the bill of indictment, a summary of the allegations written by government prosecutors.

The jury heard how, shortly before 3pm on 16 October 2017, Caruana Galizia’s car swerved off the road into a field as she was driving away from her home in the village of Bidnija.

A powerful bomb contained in a children’s shoebox had been placed under the driver’s seat, the jury were told. The bombers, who prosecutors say were paid €150,000 to carry out the attack, had broken into the journalist’s vehicle the night before after weeks spent watching her movements.

Her son Matthew Caruana Galizia, who had been with her at home, was the first to arrive on the scene, discovering her remains in the burning wreckage. She was 53.

The jury were told that the alleged plot to kill the journalist was hatched in April 2017. Yorgen Fenech called his friend Melvin Theuma, a taxi driver and bookmaker, and asked him to meet him near the Hilton, where he had been granted a lucrative stand to pick up guests from the hotel.

Fenech told Theuma to find someone to kill Caruana Galizia, the indictment claims. He even gave him the name of a potential hitman, a gangland figure called George Degiorgio, who operated from a warehouse in the docks of Marsa, across the grand harbour from Valletta. Fenech said he wanted the journalist killed because she was about to publish a story about his uncle, the jury heard.

After Theuma made contact with Degiorgio and his brother Alfred, a price of €150,000 was agreed, with €30,000 to be paid upfront. However, a general election was called for 3 June and Fenech put the murder on hold, the jury heard. Two weeks after the ruling Labour administration was returned to power, the prosecutor alleges Fenech told Theuma to proceed with the plan. The indictment alleges Fenech personally handed Theuma an envelope containing the cash.

As weeks and then months passed, Fenech pressed for the plan to be put into action, according to the indictment, saying this time that Caruana Galizia was about to publish a story about him.

After considering using a rifle, the hitmen decided on a bomb. It was fitted with a mobile phone receptor, and detonated remotely by George Degiorgio via a text message sent while he was at the wheel of his boat in the grand harbour.

A few days after the killing, Alfred Degiorgio went to Theuma’s garage to collect the money, the indictment claims. Theuma paid him a further €5,000 for expenses, including a pair of powerful binoculars. The indictment claims Fenech spent “tens of thousands” more on the Degiorgios’ legal expenses after their arrests.

The Degiorgio brothers, and their accomplice Vincent Muscat, were arrested not long afterwards, taken into custody on 4 December after a televised raid on their warehouse.

The jury heard how Theuma himself was arrested on 14 November 2019, clutching an ice-cream box containing USB drives with copies of what he claims are covertly recorded conversations with Fenech that the prosecution is relying on. Fenech’s team have challenged the prosecution’s interpretation of the recordings and claim Theuma’s testimony contains “half truths” and “blantant lies”.

The indictment repeatedly names Fenech as the instigator of the plot to kill Caruana Galizia, saying he conceived the plan and paid for others to carry out the killing.

The attorney general has called for a life sentence for the murder charge and between 20 and 30 years for the criminal association charge.

The case caused a political and constitutional crisis in Malta, which threatened to bring down the government. The then prime minister, Joseph Muscat – who is not related to Vincent Muscat – resigned soon after Fenech’s arrest, stepping down in December 2019.

Vincent Muscat was given a reduced sentence of 15 years and a presidential pardon after pleading guilty to all charges, including wilful homicide, and testifying against the Degiorgio brothers. They at first denied the charges against them, which also included wilful homicide, before changing their pleas to guilty on the first day of their trial in October 2022. A plea bargain reduced their sentences from life to 40 years.

Two men accused of supplying the bomb, Robert Agius and Jamie Vella, were sentenced to life in June 2025. They are not eligible for parole or any other form of early release.

Theuma has been living under a witness protection scheme since 2019.