Loan shark used revolver to force factory owner to pay up

Melvin Theuma, a known loan shark and alleged middleman in the Daphne Caruana Galizia murder plot, had once threatened a debtor with a revolver, forcing him to sign a constitution of debt for €200,000 in his favour and that of another creditor, court documents show.

The 41-year-old taxi driver is said to have been associated with former Tumas director Yorgen Fenech, where he hung out near the Portomaso casino. Theuma is said to be in the possession of recordings that could implicate persons of interest in the murder of Daphne Caruana Galizia, which have been handed to a magistrate.

The revolver story emerges from testimony delivered in a 2010 case filed between the co-owners of the now defunct St Philip’s Caterers Ltd, in a case brought by shareholder Antoine Camilleri against his co-shareholder Jason Aquilina.

The judgment in that case, delivered in 2014, reveals a tangled web of debts, threats and deceit.

Antoine Camilleri had told the court that he and Jason Aquilina had been business partners, but that they had fallen out and Camilleri had asked Aquilina to leave, buying out his share.

A price of €81,525 was agreed for Aquilina’s share. Camilleri had said that Aquilina had not wanted to show the company’s accountant Lawrence Aquilina, who he was indebted to, that he was going to earn so much money from the deal. So a second, false, agreement was also written, showing the value as being €53,375. Camilleri had agreed to do so and had paid the entire €81,525 in cash and cheques. Soon afterwards, Aquilina resigned as director.

After this agreement had been signed, Camilleri found out that Aquilina was trying to sell a property that was security for a company overdraft with HSBC. He immediately called up Aquilina and insisted that the share transfer take place immediately.

According to the court records, Melvin Theuma had gone to the St Philips Caterers factory to collect a €40,000 debt – together with Antoine Camilleri and Lawrence Camilleri – from Aquilina.

Antoine Camilleri had asked Aquilina whether he had brought the money but Aquilina had replied that he didn’t owe him anything.

Camilleri was said to have told Aquilina that he could not work under such conditions with so many creditors chasing the company for debts. So Aquilina told him to pay the staff some €11,000 they were owed and that he would give up the place to his debtors. At that point panic broke out with plaintiff Antoine Camilleri saying that he was responsible for the company as he was also its director.

It was agreed that as Aquilina was guarantor for a bank loan of €200,000 on the factory,  Lawrence Camilleri would take €80,000 and Melvyn Theuma would take €120,000, by way of taking the factory in their hands instead of the cash.

But Camilleri interjected at this point to tell them that he too was owed money as he had paid Lm50,000 for a cafe and €81,525 for all of the defendant’s shares in the company.

When Camilleri said this, Theuma allegedly pulled out a revolver and forced him, at gunpoint, to go with them to sign a constitution of debt with lawyer Matthew Brincat. He complied and in that private writing it was stated that Lawrence Camilleri and Melvin Theuma were owed €200,000 from the company. He handed over the keys immediately.

Camilleri had insisted to the court that when, in the past, Theuma had loaned him €40,000, he had started following him around and threatening him with weapons. On one occasion, he was taken to Notary Bartolomeo Micallef where he was forced to sign a private writing constituting himself as a debtor to Theuma for €150,000.

Antoine Camilleri explained that he had then been taken to the same notary to sign another agreement where he appeared on behalf of the company instead of his personal capacity, but the notary had refused.

He had been taken to Theuma’s flat in Mosta, where he was coerced into spending days there and then forced to travel to England. In the meantime, Theuma took him to yet another lawyer and forced him to sign an agreement stating that factory tools and equipment could be used to settle the €120,000 that he still owed Theuma. 

It was around this time that he found out that Aquilina, Theuma and Lawrence Camilleri had cleared out his factory. Desperate, he fled to England until things calmed down. When he returned to Malta, he was advised to proceed with a lawsuit, which he did.

His company had ended up with no assets as the tools and equipment had all been taken by the defendant, Theuma and Camilleri and he was still faced by the company’s debts, he said in his testimony.