Cardona says Kohhu testimony is ‘pure evil fiction’

Former Economy Cardona has described as “utter lies” testimony given yesterday in court by Vince Muscat, il-Kohhu, who claimed Cardona held multiple meetings at Castille with Alfred Degiorgio, one of the men accused of assassinating Daphne Caruana Galizia.

Muscat, testifying in the compilation of evidence against Alfred and George Degiorgio, said that he used to drive Degiorgio to Castille for meetings with Cardona. He used to drop Cardona off and drive off, he said.

“Afterwards, Degiorgio would call me and tell me about her (Caruana Galizia’s) whereabouts,” Muscat said.” Once, Alfred told me Cardona had sent him a message and mentioned the €150,000.”

He said that Degiorgio told him Cardona was also sending him information on the police raids.

Muscat himself has already pled guilty to his role in the murder and sentenced to 15 years imprisonment. He was also granted a presidential pardon for his involvement in the murder of Birkirkara lawyer Carmelo Chircop in 2015.

In comments to The Malta Independent, Cardona described the claims as “craziness and blatant lies”.

"I was never aware of any project to kill anyone,” he said. “This is pure evil fiction.”

He said that the reference to Castille was “interesting” since his ministry was situated in Merchant Street.

"Everyone knows that you have to leave your details with the receptionists when you enter Castille. One can easily check the records and confirm that these claims are untrue,” Cardona said. “I never received people at Castille. It was not my ministry. My ministry was somewhere else."

Referring to claims that he had suffered an overdose, Cardona said this too could easily be verified through hospital records.

He said he could not explain why Muscat was “making up utter lies that can easily be confirmed to be false”.

Cardona was asked what he made of the fact that Muscat was supposedly telling the truth, the main condition for his pardon. He said Muscat needs to be careful because what he says could have legal effects on his status.

"If what he's saying is hearsay that's one thing. But if he's saying what he knows as evidence, and it turns out to be untrue, he could be jeopardising his position,” he said.

"In all fairness, what is happening is that he is telling the court what other people told him. The probatory value of what he is saying in my regard is zero."

Cardona confirmed that the police had asked him about these very claims when he was summoned for questioning earlier this month.

"Yes, they asked me about these claims, but the Castille and overdose claims are new to me and the police never spoke to me about this. This can be confirmed with Superintendent Keith Arnaud and Inspector Kurt Zahra."