Melvin Theuma testifies in Caruana Galizia murder compilation: 'Yorgen Fenech told me he got information from Keith Schembri'

Murder middleman Melvin Theuma testified in the compilation of evidence against three men charged with executing the assassination of Daphne Caruana Galizia in 2017.

This was Theuma's first appearance on the witness stand since being cleared by three psychiatrists to continue testifying.

George Degiorgio, his brother Alfred Degiorgio, and Vince Muscat, stand charged with procuring, planting and detonating the bomb that killed Caruana Galizia.

Theuma was first cross-examined by Muscat's lawyer, Marc Sant, who referred to a number of recordings that were also played in court. He was then questioned by parte civile lawyer Jason Azzopardi.

The accused (left to right) Vince Muscat, Alfred Degiorgio and George Degiorgio during a site visit in Bidnija in the early stages of the compilation of evidence (File photo)

Theuma used Signal

Replying to questions from Sant, Theuma said he made use of the mobile messaging app Signal after Yorgen Fenech suggested he start using it.

He also confirmed that at times, Fenech used to contact him using a foreign number.

Theuma told the court that on 13 November 2019, Fenech instructed him to delete all correspondence between them. This was six days before Fenech was stopped by the army from leaving Malta on his yacht and arrested by police as a person of interest in the Caruana Galizia murder investigation.

Asked by Sant whether he had any issues with former police commissioner Lawrence Cutajar, Theuma said “no”.

The witness continued that third parties told him that the ex-police commissioner knew that he had recordings linked to the Caruana Galizia murder.

Theuma has started secretly recording conversations between himself, Fenech and others, when he realised that one of the accused – Vince Muscat – started speaking to the police about the murder.

In previous testimony, Theuma said he feared that the murder would be pinned on him since the three men who carried out the assassination did not know about Yorgen Fenech.

The recordings would serve as an ‘insurance policy’ of sorts.

Edwin Brincat, il-Ġojja

Edwin Brincat ‘il-Gojja’ (left) and Melvin Theuma

Theuma was asked about Edwin Brincat, known as il-Ġojja, a car dealer. Theuma confirmed that Brincat had asked him to hand over the recordings.

From previous court testimony, it emerged that Brincat was a confidante to former police commissioner Lawrence Cutajar. Brincat had gone to Cutajar’s house to ask for a favour and the ex-police chief had asked him to enquire about Theuma’s recordings linked to the Caruana Galizia murder.

Asked by Sant whether he had a sexual relationship with Brincat, Theuma said "no".

Theuma and lawyer Arthur Azzopardi

Lawyer Arthur Azzopardi

A recording is played out in court and subsequently, Theuma is asked by the lawyer how he knew lawyer Arthur Azzopardi.

Theuma testified that he sometimes referred clients to Azzopardi and on one occasion they also went out to eat together.

At one point in the proceedings, Azzopardi was Muscat’s lawyer. However, he gave up the brief.

Yorgen’s relationship with Keith Schembri’s secretary

Theuma is asked about Charlene Bianco Farrugia, who was Keith Schembri’s secretary at the Office of the Prime Minister.

He told the court that he used to be in touch with her and suspected that she and Fenech had a relationship of sorts between them. Theuma said that he once drove Fenech and Bianco Farrugia to the airport together.

Chris Cardona number

Former minister Chris Cardona

Questioning turned to a recording, which Theuma said was taken while with Yorgen Fenech was at a farmhouse in Żebbuġ.

The witness said the recording could not have happened in December 2017, as suggested by the lawyer, because he only started recording Fenech when he got to know Muscat was about to confess all. Muscat only started to speak mid-way in 2018.

In the recording, Fenech told Theuma that then economy minister Chris Cardona’s number was found on a mobile phone recovered from the seabed in Marsa, where the three accused were arrested.

“These are serious matters. It could bring the government down,” Fenech had said.

Theuma insisted that as far as he was concerned the mastermind is “Yorgen Fenech ta’ Tumas”. He told the court that Fenech was the one who ordered him to contract the killers to assassinate Caruana Galizia.

The recording in which Cardona is mentioned continued being played. Theuma was heard asking Fenech whether it was Keith Schembri who told him that Cardona’s number was found on a phone. “Yes,” was Fenech’s reply.

Theuma told the court that Fenech had told him that Alfred Degiorgio used that number to communicate with Cardona. “If he lied, then I’m lying too… I knew that Keith Schembri passed on information to Yorgen Fenech,” Theuma testified.

‘I felt betrayed’

After a five-minute pause to give Theuma chance to recover – his voice is weak as a result of the self-inflicted injuries sustained last summer – the court continued to hear more recordings.

Lawyer Marc Sant noted that in part of the recording, Theuma is heard telling Yorgen Fenech that the important thing was that they do not end up in trouble.

“Aħna l-aqwa li ma niġux fix-shit aħna (What’s important is that we don’t end up in shit),” Theuma is heard telling Fenech in the recording.

The lawyer asked whether at that point, Theuma had any information. The witness said the conversation was about the murder and he was afraid of getting caught. He denied having any information at that stage.

In another part of the recording, Fenech is heard dismissing Theuma’s question as to whether it was possible for a pardon to be given to the three accused.

“As if,” Fenech is heard saying.

The lawyer asked Theuma whether he was aware of the presidential pardon mechanism at the time, to which he replied in the negative.

Theuma said Fenech had told him that Muscat had asked for a pardon and he explained how it worked.

The witness said that Fenech informed him that Muscat’s lawyer, Arthur Azzopardi, had urged him to tell all and get a pardon. “I felt betrayed,” Theuma added.

Kenneth Camilleri, Keith Schembri and bail

Kenneth Camilleri, a close friend of Keith Schembri, had visited Melvin Theuma with a promise of bail for the three accused

Another recording is played. Theuma and Fenech are in a moving car and children can be heard in the background.

In this recording, Theuma told Fenech that Kenneth Camilleri had visited him and told him about plans to get the Degiorgio brothers out on bail. The bail never materialised.

Camilleri had formed part of then Prime Minister Joseph Muscat’s security detail and was a close friend of Keith Schembri.

Theuma told Fenech that he would take the brother of the Degiorgios to “Mellieħa”, which is where Schembri lives. At the time, Theuma used to receive visits from Mario Degiorgio, who used to collect money on behalf of his arrested brothers.

Theuma told the court that in another recording, Fenech admits that it was Keith Schembri who sent Camilleri to Theuma’s house.

In another recording played out in court Theuma’s stepdaughter is heard speaking. Theuma said she had printed out the photo he had taken with Keith Schembri at Castille.

Schembri was mentioned again in relation to bail and the lawyer asked why the former OPM chief of staff was mentioned.

Theuma replied: “I had a great relationship with him… Not a personal one, but he was the one who leaked information to Yorgen Fenech, who promised bail. That’s what Yorgen told me. If he lied, then I’m lying too.”

Theuma testified that Fenech told Schembri he had no other way other than killing Caruana Galizia.

Ex-deputy police chief Silvio Valletta

Former police commissioner Lawrence Cutajar (left) and former deputy police chief Silvio Valletta

In another recording at Level 21, Fenech’s office at Portomaso, the Tumas Group shareholder is heard reassuring Theuma that deputy police chief Silvio Valletta will not be pulled of the murder case.

Theuma said the recording was done just before Valletta was going to visit “for whisky”.

At the time, the Caruana Galizia family was challenging Valletta’s involvement in the murder case. A court subsequently ruled that Valletta had a conflict of interest and ordered that he stop being involved in the murder investigation.

Theuma also asked about Muscat’s pardon request. In court Theuma testified that Fenech could get information from Keith Schembri and Silvio Valletta.

 “That’s where Yorgen Fenech said he got his information,” Theuma said. He added that he believed Keith Schembri was such an important man, who was also Fenech’s friend, that they would never get caught.

Theuma desperate

Theuma said that when Judge Antonio Mizzi denied bail to the accused, he felt desperate and feared they would want to eliminate him.

Asked by lawyer Marc Sant whether he had ever seen wrongdoing, Theuma replied in the negative. “But that is what I thought,” he said.

Asked about payments made to the Degiorgios, Theuma said he arranged for an initial payment of €30,000 through Mario Degiorgio (a brother to George and Alfred). 

Theuma said he spoke to Alfred Degiorgio over the phone a couple of months after the Degiorgios and Muscat were arrested.

He testified that following the first payment, Mario Degiorgio told me that his brothers needed another €30,000 and that George was willing to barter his gold.

Theuma said he did not take the gold and got them another €30,000 just the same.

Lawyer Marc Sant asked Theuma why in the recordings he is referred to as "ir-raġel tal-bagalja (the suitcase man)". Theuma said it was because of the money payments he made to the Degiorgios.

Theuma said the last payment he gave Alfred Degiorgio, before the arrests, amounted to €125,000. Theuma said he took Degiorgio to a garage and handed him an envelope with the money, not a suitcase.

Parte civile asks questions

Parte civile lawyer Jason Azzopardi picked up questioning and asked Theuma why Fenech had asked him to use Signal instead of WhatsApp.

Theuma said that it was Fenech who downloaded the app on his mobile phone. According to Fenech, Signal was safer than WhatsApp, Theuma told the court.

This happened after the murder when they were speaking about Vince Muscat, il-Koħħu.

Azzopardi asked about a part in the recordings where Fenech was heard telling him: “Jekk nibqgħu moħħna hemm, ibusulna l...”

“Who was ‘us’?” Azzopardi asked the witness.

“Me and Yorgen,” Theuma replied. The witness said that Fenech was insisting that they should not fight over the murder.

Azzopardi asked Theuma about the 28 phone calls he placed with Yorgen Fenech on 18 November, 2018.

Theuma said there must have been a report in the media about them. Azzopardi referred to a Times of Malta article published that day: ‘Daphne murder mastermind suspects identified – investigators’.

Theuma, whose English is not good, said he had followed the news analysis of that day on TVM.

Azzopardi said that Italian TV channel Rai 3 ran a feature about the murder that day in which a Maltese minister was quoted in the programme saying that investigators were closing in on making more arrests in the Caruana Galizia murder case.

Michael Farrugia was police minister in November 2018

The minister was Michael Farrugia, who was then responsible for home affairs. Farrugia, later clarified that arrests would be made when concrete evidence was in hand.

Fenech and Theuma were only arrested a year later.

On the witness stand, Theuma asked whether it was the tall minister who wears glasses. “At the time, I panicked. I kept calling Yorgen Fenech, but I doubt he answered my calls,” Theuma told the court.

Tossing out the meat

Theuma recounted an anecdote to the court, something he never testified about in previous sittings.

“Once Yorgen Fenech gave me a cut of meat at his farmhouse, to take home and cook. On my way back, I called my partner and told her I would throw it away. ‘He wants to poison us all. I’ll throw it away in the first skip I find’, I told her,” Theuma recounted. 

However, he added, a few days later Fenech told him about the meat and how he disposed of it. 

“I never told anyone except my partner about this meat… Yorgen told me he knew, two days later. Who told him? Was it my partner? I don’t think so,” Theuma said, implying that Fenech may have had access to the phone conversation.

Under cross-examination by lawyer Jason Azzopardi, Theuma said that his fear was triggered by a comment Fenech once made about the Degiorgios.

The Tumas magnate once allegedly told him to abandon the Degiorgios (‘armihom ’l hemm’).

Theuma said the comment made him think: “That’s how he would treat me too.”

Yorgen told Theuma 'Keith went cold'

Keith Schembri (pictured) went cold when Fenech informed him of his involvement in the murder, according to Melvin Theuma

Azzopardi asked about Fenech telling Schembri that he had no other way with reference to earlier testimony Theuma gave.

Theuma replied: “Yorgen told me that Keith went cold. That’s when he told Keith Schembri ‘I had no other way’.”

Theuma said he tried to console Fenech by telling him that when dealing with the hitmen, he [Theuma] had never revealed Fenech’s identity.

The witness said that a couple of weeks after the 2017 general election, Fenech had handed him an envelope with €150,000 in cash – which was the full amount due for the murder.

The cash transaction happened while Theuma was taking Fenech to the airport. Theuma had informed Fenech that a deposit of €30,000 had to be made but Fenech gave him the full amount upfront.

Replying to questions, Theuma said he used to believe that Keith Schembri was also in on the crime but could not confirm that under oath.

Theuma confirmed that discussions between him and Fenech were always about the murder.

The case was adjourned to Friday at 2pm.

Previously

Magistrate Claire Stafrace Zammit is expected to rule later on whether all recordings made by Theuma should be heard in court.

A key witness to the prosecution, Theuma attempted suicide last summer. He was given a presidential pardon to tell all about the murder. Theuma had acted as a middleman between alleged mastermind Yorgen Fenech and the three alleged executors.

At the last sitting, Theuma’s testimony was postponed after legal wrangling over the recordings. Lawyer William Cuschieri, appearing for the Degiorgio brothers, insisted all recordings should be heard as happened in the Yorgen Fenech case.

Fenech is undergoing separate proceedings over charges that he masterminded the murder.

Courtroom players

Accused: George Degiorgio, known as Iċ-Ċiniż, Alfred Degiorgio, known as il-Fulu, 

Vince Muscat, known as il-Koħħu.

Key witness: Melvin Theuma, who served as a middleman between alleged mastermind Yorgen Fenech and the three alleged executors.

Prosecution: Superintendent Keith Arnaud and Inspector Kurt Zahra, aided by Deputy Attorney General Philip Galea Farrugia

Defence lawyers: William Cuschieri for the Degiorgios and Marc Sant for Muscat

Parte civile lawyers: Jason Azzopardi and Therese Comodini Cachia for the Caruana Galizia family

Presiding magistrate: Claire Stafrace Zammit