Maksar gang trial: Lawyer suggested claiming €1 million reward while negotiating pardon for journalist’s killer, court hears

That's it for today's proceedings. 

We'll have a full report of today's sitting shortly. 

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Degiorgio silent during police interrogation

Next, jurors are watching footage of an interrogation with George Degiorgio.

In the video, police are asking Degiorgio about his relationship with the Maksar brothers and Vince Muscat. Degiorgio stays quiet and does not answer the police's questions. When police asked whether he had business with them before he got into prison, Degiorgio remained silent. Even when police asked him if he remembers being asked to kill Carmel Chircop, Degiorgio remained silent.

Agius refused to answer police during 2021 interrogation

The earlier footage was taken in 2018. Now, jurors are being shown footage of another interrogation with Robert Agius in 2021. Agius keeps replying to police's questions with “I won’t answer”.

Robert Agius was in Bidnija the day of Caruana Galizia murder

Jurors are now watching footage of the police's interrogation with Robert Agius.

Police told Agius that his phone was connected to the Bidnija cell tower on the day of the Daphne Caruana Galizia's murder. Agius says that he was with Jamie Vella that day, but at around 2:30pm he went home and passed through Bidnija. He told police that his phone was connected to the Bidnija cell tower because he was at Jamie’s farmhouse in the same locality.

Vella wanted gun licence to keep weapons at home

In this footage, police are asking Vella why he applied for a gun licence. He says he wanted it so that if he ever bought his own home he would be able to store them on site. A police official asks him if he ever went to a gun range to shoot some weapons. He says he did, but only once.

Person who stored weapons had heart problems, Vella told police

In the video, Vella is being asked about weapons. Police are telling him that he can accompany them to find where his weapons are stored, but they then mention that they need to know who owns the storage place. Vella tells police that they will find out who owns the place when they arrive, but the police insist that they need to research the person's background. According to Vella, this person has heart problems. The only thing the police need to do, he tells them, is to take the weapons and leave. Again, the police insist that they need to know the name of the person storing the weapons.

Jurors are now being shown another piece of footage, still showing an interrogation against Jamie Vella.

Vella refused to answer police questions

It turns out that Vella refused to answer to any of the police's questions. To each question being put to him by the police, he replies with “I won’t answer”.

Court resumes with footage of Jamie Vella interrogation

The court is back in session. Jurors are now being shown footage of the interrogation police carried out against Jamie Vella.

Court on break till 2:30pm

The video of Agius's interrogation comes to an end, and the court asks Arnaud if he wants to add anything to his testimony. He decides not too.

The court is now going on break till 2:30pm. We will continue this live blog when the sitting resumes.

Adrian Agius told police he found out about Chircop murder after arriving in Malta

When asked how he found out about Carmel Chircop's murder, Adrian Agius appears to have told police that he found out when he arrived in Malta from his trip, when his wife told him. The police asked him whether he checked the news while abroad, but Agius said he did not see anything online. He repeats that he did not know anything until he arrived back in Malta.

Video statements being played out in court

Jurors are now watching footage of the police statements taken in connection to this case. The first statement being shown is of Adrian Agius.

In the video, Agius is being asked about the Qormi warehouse at the centre of his deal with Carmel Chircop. He tells police this belonged to the Bonnici brothers and that Chircop had signed a promise of sale with Bonnici to buy this warehouse.

Court resumes

We are back in session. Arnaud is telling jurors that nothing suspicious was found at Kevin Ellul's residence. He says police kept him arrested and questioned him on the allegations. During his statement, Ellul insisted to police that he never spoke to the Degiorgios. He told them he would not be able to recognise him in a line up, and suggested they test it out, but Arnaud says that they did not do this since Degiorgio’s case was still not closed.

Break till 11

The court is taking a half-hour break. We will continue our reporting when the hearing resumes.

Police were told that Kevin Ellul wanted revenge on Maksar brothers

Arnaud is now explaining the hearsay evidence concerning Kevin Ellul and Nicole Brignone. He says that Brignone claimed Ellul had constantly spoke about targeting the Maksar brothers with a bomb as revenge. He believed that the brothers planted a bomb in his own home.

He tells jurors that Brignione had told them that the Degiorgio brothers would call Ellul from prison using a mobile phone to reassure him that his name wouldn’t come up in connection with the Daphne Caruana Galizia murder.

Arnaud mentions that she also said that Ellul had a garage full of explosives, but when asked how do you know that they were explosives, she used to tell them that she does not know. “Kevin told me they were explosives,” she told police. When they used to ask her what she knew about the calls, she would answer, “I don’t know, I used to be on drugs, I don’t know.”

Investigator: Vince Muscat pardon was ‘strategic necessity’

After this, the jurors enter the courtroom to continue hearing evidence from Assistant Commissioner Keith Arnaud, who was the lead investigator on the case.

Arnaud explains to the jurors that the decision to grant Vince Muscat, known as “il-Koħħu”, a presidential pardon was a strategic necessity. At the time, the prosecution lacked sufficient evidence to build a strong case against other important suspects. Vince Muscat was very clear in his words and seemed to know what happened, and so he was an important part in continuing the investigation.

Arnuad says that Muscat had held the bomb, and the others said, “This one is stronger than Bone’s”. They were referring to the car bomb that targeted Romeo Bone. Arnaud refers to a map in the evidence pile and says that Vince Muscat had traced the escape route to police. He took screenshots and marked places for his own knowledge.

Jason Azzopardi singles out PBS for ‘misleading reporting’ on case

Lawyer Jason Azzopardi is asking the judge to minute a statement in the records of the case before jurors enter the courtroom. He says PBS are not being faithful in their reporting on the case and have only showed up a couple of times in the courtroom to report on the proceedings.

He directs the people in the courtroom to look up at the visitors’ gallery and names the media outlets present this morning: MaltaToday, Net News and Times of Malta. “PBS are not even coming to report on the case. They’ve been here twice and they’re still reporting on the case, and reporting badly,” he says. He is not explaining what was inaccurate in their reporting.

Good morning and welcome to today's live blog. MaltaToday court reporter Jaelle Borg is in the courtroom this morning following the proceedings against four men accused of murdering Daphne Caruana Galizia and Carmel Chircop.

The four accused are Robert and Adrian Agius, Jamie Vella and George Degiorgio.