Chris Cardona’s number was only one in mobile phone found at potato shed, court hears

Yorgen Fenech had told the middleman in Daphne Caruana Galizia's murder that Chris Cardona’s number was the only one found in one of the mobile phones found by police during potato shed raid

Chris Cardona: Middleman in Caruana Galizia murder recounts how Yorgen Fenech told him that in one of the mobile phones found by police at the potato shed, Cardona's number was the only one saved
Chris Cardona: Middleman in Caruana Galizia murder recounts how Yorgen Fenech told him that in one of the mobile phones found by police at the potato shed, Cardona's number was the only one saved

Chris Cardona’s number was the only one saved on a mobile phone found by police in a raid, during which three men were arrested over Daphne Caruana Galizia’s murder.

The raid on the potato shed in Marsa happened in December 2017 when brothers George and Alfred, and Vince Muscat, were arrested. They were subsequently charged with planting and detonating the bomb that killed Caruana Galizia.

According to the testimony of middleman Melvin Theuma in court today, murder suspect Yorgen Fenech had told him that one of the phones elevated by the police had former economy minister Chris Cardona’s number saved on it.

Theuma was testifying during the compilation of evidence against Fenech, who is accused of masterminding the murder.

Under cross-examination by lawyer Jason Azzopardi, Theuma recalled that the police had found some mobile phones after the arrests near the potato shed. 

“Yorgen told me that in one of the mobiles they had only found [Chris] Cardona's number,” Theuma said.

It remains unclear whether this information volunteered by Fenech is corroborated by police evidence.

During the sitting, Theuma reconfirmed what he said on previous occasions that Fenech was getting information about police progress in the murder investigation from the prime minister’s chief of staff Keith Schembri.

Schembri was keeping Fenech abreast of developments, including the fact that Vince Muscat had started speaking to the police and was requesting a presidential pardon sometime in 2018.

Theuma recounted in court how Fenech had told him that Keith Schembri would be willing to “go through fire” for him.

Cardona’s name had also cropped up in a letter that Schembri allegedly tried to pass on to Fenech while he was under arrest last November. The letter, which was described as a frame up against Cardona, instructed Fenech what to tell the police and to place the blame for the murder on the former economy minister. 

The court is hearing recordings of conversations between Melvin Theuma and Yorgen Fenech. It was Theuma who had secretly recorded the conversations as an insurance policy when he feared that he would be two-timed by Fenech.

The three men accused with carrying out the murder only knew Theuma and did not know that it was Fenech who contracted the murder.