Joseph Muscat’s name crops up in recordings between Yorgen Fenech and Melvin Theuma
In secret recordings of conversations between Yorgen Fenech and Melvin Theuma, the former says Keith Schembri was 'broken' by Daphne Caruana Galizia's story that alleged he would die in three months
Updated at 3:05pm with Silvio Valletta statement
Joseph Muscat’s name cropped in recorded conversations between Yorgen Fenech and Melvin Theuma but the context is unclear.
In a recording played in court today, Fenech is heard saying: “They told me that they have got to it. They told me a hundred times they would capture her. All of them were pissed off including Joseph and everyone else.”
Theuma confirmed in court that ‘Joseph’ was a reference to former prime minister Joseph Muscat but the context of the conversation is unclear.
Reporters do not have access to the full transcripts of the voice recordings, which makes it hard to contextualise certain questions and answers.
In today’s sitting, it emerged that Fenech had told his fixer, Melvin Theuma, that Daphne Caruana Galizia’s story that Keith Schembri was going to die had broken the man.
The conversation took place at Level 21 in the Portomaso business tower.
“She broke him... it emerged in public that in three months’ time he'd die... I'd throw her from here to the ground and I don't care about the children,” Fenech’s voice is heard saying.
The reference was to several stories that Caruana Galizia carried on her blog in November and December 2016 in which she alleged that Keith Schembri had a tumour in his eye and would die over a matter of months. She had also claimed that Schembri sought treatment in the US.
Schembri had missed out on official duties during the period because of illness. MaltaToday revealed last December that Yorgen Fenech had paid for Schembri’s medical treatment at the Mayo Cinic in the US.
The recording forms part of the continuation of the compilation of evidence against Yorgen Fenech, who stands charged of masterminding the murder of Caruana Galizia.
Theuma, who acted as the middleman in the murder, was given a presidential pardon to tell all.
In today’s sitting, Theuma said that panic ensued when one of the three men who were arrested in connection with Caruana Galizia murder started speaking sometime around March 2018.
Vince Muscat, known as il-Koħħu, was seeking, through his lawyer, Arthur Azzopardi, a presidential pardon to tell all he knew about the murder.
Theuma feared betrayal
Theuma said he feared betrayal because the murder suspects only knew him and were not aware of Yorgen Fenech’s involvement.
Theuma told the court that Keith Schembri knew everything from Fenech and the former chief of staff panicked when Theuma became jittery. “Keith panicked and he sent Kenneth to calm me down,” Theuma said.
Kenneth, was a Kenneth Camilleri, who worked at Castille and who visited Theuma, telling him to inform the Degiorgio brothers that they would be granted bail and a €1 million each.
Theuma reached the conclusion that given Camilleri’s closeness to Keith Schembri, the former was sent to him by Schembri.
In another recording, Fenech claimed that Schembri, at the prime minister’s behest, had approached former judge Antonio Mizzi to arrange for bail to be given to the three accused.
Bomb built by tal-Maksar
Theuma also told the court that Yorgen Fenech told him that the bomb that killed Caruana Galizia was constructed by “tal-Maksar”.
The reference is to the Żebbuġ brothers Adrian and Robert Agius, known by the family nickname Tal-Maksar.
In the recordings, former deputy police commissioner Silvio Valletta is referred to as “Valletta l-oħxon” and Theuma claims that Valletta used to inform Fenech of progress on the Caruana Galizia murder case.The compilation of evidence against the man suspected of being behind Daphne Caruana Galizia’s murder is continuing in court this morning.
Yorgen Fenech stands charged of masterminding the car bomb assassination of Caruana Galizia in October 2016.
Fenech, who was arrested by police in November 2019, is the owner of the secret Dubai company 17 Black and a shareholder of the Electrogas power station.
Statement by Silvio Valletta
The former deputy police chief has denied claims that he passed on information on the Caruana Galizia murder case to third parties during his time in the police force.
“I categorically deny that I ever passed on information on the Daphne Caruana Galizia case to third parties. The only information that I passed on was in line with my duty and I could have only done this before 13 June 2018, because after this date I was no longer involved in the investigation,” Valletta said in a statement.