Magistrate denies Yorgen Fenech's request for Security Service phone taps to be heard in court

Phone recordings between Melvin Theuma and other key players in the compilation of evidence against Yorgen Fenech will not be heard in court, despite requests the accused's defence team.

The court decreed that the recordings, as requested on 9 December, cannot be brought exhibited as evidence if they are being sought only by the defence “as a means to control the testimony of Melvin Theuma.”

Magistrate Rachel Montebello stipulated that evidence can only be requested after testimony is heard by the court. But she also decried what appeared to be a fishing expedition by the defence to determine whether in fact the indicated phone conversations were actually spied upon by the MSS.

The recordings requested by the defence concern alleged phone calls between Melvin Theuma, lawyer Arthur Azzopardi and Edwin Brincat, known as il-Ġojja. Regarding conversations between Theuma and Azzopardi, the court decreed that there must first be proof of a telephone conversation between the two, proof of which must first be established through testimony heard by the court.

Similar proof is needed for phone calls between Theuma and Brincat. The court specified that the proof must result from a testimony on oath, and not from recordings of interrogations.

Inspector Keith Arnaud, who is leading the prosecution, had previously exhibited in court copies of the police interrogation of Melvin Theuma in November 2019.

Fenech’s defence team made an added request for recordings between Edwin Brincat and ex-police commissioner Lawrence Cutajar. In this regard, the court noted that all evidence that reveals whether a warrant was authorised under the Security Services Act is not admissible by law.

It was then pointed out that the court already authorised the production of call profiles for phone calls that have taken place between the two during specific time-frame.

The compilation of evidence against Yorgen Fenech, the alleged mastermind behind the Daphne assassination, continues today.