Criminal court dismisses Yorgen Fenech's appeal to probe middleman's perjury in Caruana Galizia trial

The Criminal Court has dismissed an appeal filed by Yorgen Fenech, in which he sought a court order that would compel the Commissioner of Police to investigate Melvin Theuma for perjury in relation to his testimony during proceedings relating to the murder of Daphne Caruana Galizia, which Fenech is accused of commissioning.

Theuma, the self-confessed middleman between Fenech and Caruana Galizia’s assassins, had received a presidential pardon in exchange for his testimony about the journalist’s 2017 murder. One of the prosecution’s key witnesses against Fenech, Theuma’s credibility has come under attack from Fenech’s legal team, who claim that Theuma’s testimony contains “half-truths” and “blatant lies.”

Last year, the Court of Magistrates rejected Fenech’s request ordering the police to investigate Theuma over allegedly delivering false testimony in the proceedings against Fenech, who is accused of complicity in the murder.

Fenech had subsequently filed an appeal to that decision, arguing that the court had only focused on the perjury allegations and overlooked Theuma’s other false statements.

In her judgement on Friday, Madam Justice Audrey Demicoli observed that although the inconsistencies between Theuma’s testimonies before the magisterial inquiry and during the compilation of evidence were “somewhat suspicious,” and that it was possible that Theuma did perjure himself, it would be unwise for it to order the police to investigate Theuma until the conclusion of the proceedings against Fenech.

The court ruled that there was insufficient evidence to warrant an investigation at this stage. Theuma’s lawyers swiftly responded by urging authorities to prosecute Fenech for making damaging accusations against their client.

Lawyers Gianluca Caruana Curran, Charles Mercieca and Marion Camilleri are representing Fenech.