[LISTEN] Leaked Melvin Theuma recording shows middleman forewarned of FIAU investigation

Caruana Galizia assassination middleman knew the police were after him over an FIAU money laundering investigation, but former Commissioner of Police Lawrence Cutajar appears to have warned him

Middleman: Melvin Theuma
Middleman: Melvin Theuma

Excerpts from the mobile phone recordings in which Melvin Theuma, the middleman in the Caruana Galizia assassination, discussed aspects of the murder with associates, have been leaked on Soundcloud.

A first reported in MaltaToday the content is similar to that reported by sources who have heard the recordings, namely in which Melvin Theuma and Johann Cremona, a business partner of alleged mastermind Yorgen Fenech, discuss a possible bribe for former police commissioner Lawrence Cutajar.

The recordings were leaked in the form of five, 20-second excerpts, and first alerted to on a Reddit thread by the alleged author of the leak.

In the first recording, Theuma is heard expressing concern about the money laundering charge, and the threat of a police search on his property.

In the second recording, the associate tells Theuma that Cutajar had spoken to ‘Edwin’ - ostensibly Edwin Brincat ‘il-Gojja’ - about an FIAU investigation which was placing pressure on the police to take action on Theuma. Theuma is told in no unclear terms, that until he is picked up by police, the FIAU investigation will always be on his back, whichever administration is in power.

In the third recording, Melvin Theuma is told that no money exchanged hands with Cutajar on a possible bribe.

In the fourth recording, Theuma says Cutajar had told him, that Interpol were knocking on the door of the Maltese police force and asking questions about why he had not yet been arrested. The associate says: “I think what Cutajar wants is a sum of money.”

In the fifth recording, Theuma accuses “two others” of having “stitched [him] up” on the entire affair.

Previous reports

The former Maltese police commissioner, Lawrence Cutajar, has already been alleged to have tipped off Melvin Theuma - the middleman in the Daphne Caruana Galizia assassination - of his impending arrest. The allegation is contained in one of the secret recordings made by Theuma in the months following the arrest of the assassins in December 2017. Theuma can be heard saying in the audio recording that Cutajar met his good friend Edwin Brincat ‘il-Ġojja’, and that two dates are mentioned: the 16th and 26th. It is possible these are the days when Theuma’s arrest was planned.

Melvin Theuma intended to pass on €15,000 to former Commissioner of Police Lawrence Cutajar in his bid to obtain a presidential pardon, ahead of his arrest on a money laundering charge.

The claim was made by Theuma himself in one of the conversations he recorded secretly, and which he later gave to police after his arrest in November 2019, when he turned State’s evidence to reveal the truth into the assassination of Daphne Caruana Galizia murder.

The conversations, recorded in the weeks before Theuma was made aware that he would be arrested on a charge of money laundering, were held with Johann Cremona, business associate to Yorgen Fenech – the alleged mastermind.