Melvin Theuma tells public inquiry: 'My life ended with Daphne Caruana Galizia's murder'
Middleman Melvin Theuma tells public inquiry that Yorgen Fenech once told him that he offered the PN money to prevent the re-election of David Casa as MEP
Self-confessed middleman in the Daphne Caruana Galizia murder, Melvin Theuma has testified before a public inquiry into the crime.
Theuma, a taxi driver and illegal lotto operator received a presidential pardon in return for his testimony on the murder.
The board of inquiry is tasked with investigating whether the State did enough to prevent the assassination and whether it caused an immediate risk to Caruana Galizia's life.
Amongst other things, Theuma today insisted that he only had contact with Fenech with regards to payment for the murder. He said that Fenech and his business associate Johann Cremona implicated former minister Chris Cardona in the murder but the only person who ever commissioned him to organise the crime was Fenech.
Theuma said that Mario Degiorgio, a brother to the two men charged with the journalist's murder, had once told him that lawyer David Gatt, on the behest of Cardona, had warned him that his brothers would be killed if they uncovered Cardona's role in the murder.
Theuma was overcome with emotion towards the end of his testimony, sobbing that his life ended with the murder.
He also reiterated that Yorgen Fenech once told him that he had offered money to the Nationalist Party so that David Casa is not re-elected MEP. Casa had continued to flag Fenech's connection with Dubai company 17 Black and how this may have been used as a vehicle for corruption in the power station tender.
During the previous sitting on Monday acting police chief Carmelo Magri testified that nothing but Silvio Valletta's call logs were collected when the former deputy police commissioner's name cropped up during the Daphne Caruana Galizia murder compilation.
He was also asked about police leaks and the fact that murder suspect Yorgen Fenech used to receive information about the ongoing criminal investigation from Valletta.
Magri said that no laptop or mobile phones were collected from Valletta in the course of the investigation, insisting that the former police officer had denied all allegations made by middleman Melvin Theuma.
The inquiry is led by retired judge Michael Mallia, former chief justice Joseph Said Pullicino and Judge Abigail Lofaro..