Recordings reveal possibility of other players in Daphne Caruana Galizia murder
Secret recordings taken by Melvin Theuma – the middleman in the murder of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia – heard in court on Thursday revealed the possibility that there were other players involved in the journalist’s assassination.
The recordings continued to be played in court in the compilation of evidence against Yorgen Fenech, who is accused of complicity in the murder, and while they were of poor quality, their transcripts – which featured Theuma and Fenech in conversation – shed new light on the case.
Perhaps the biggest bombshell which emerged from the recording on Thursday was the suggestion that there may have been further players involved in Caruana Galizia’s murder.
A remark passed by Fenech when the subject of Vince Muscat (il-Koħħu) opening up to the police came up during the conversation and was picked up from the transcript by prosecutor Keith Arnaud and parte civile lawyer Jason Azzopardi.
The transcript read that Fenech had, at this juncture, told Theuma “I don’t think Koħħu knows about the others,” to which Theuma replied that, “I think there are four more”.
Asked about who these “others” were, Theuma said that he hadn’t asked Fenech for clarification on his words, and told the court that he had thought that there were more people involved with the Degiorgios.
Theuma was later pressed further about this assertion, but he did not give any basis to the remark. “It just came into my head - but nobody ever came up to me and told me that they are involved,” seemingly indicating that the number four was merely an arbitrary one.
“I was seeing things on the television - other names; Cardona, and the diesel scandal,” Theuma replied, adding that he can't say anything under oath because he
does not know. Immediately after that remark, Theuma said that he did not think that Cardona was involved; simply noting that he had seen him mentioned on television at the time.
Magistrate Montebello was less than impressed with the witness’ answers.
The bulk of the recorded conversation, which Theuma said took place at Fenech’s farmhouse in Żebbug around April 2018, focused on the bail request for Alfred Degiorgio, George Degiorgio, and Vince Muscat – the trio accused of being the hitmen behind the murder.
Theuma spoke of the pressure he was under from Mario Degiorgio – Alfred’s and George’s brother – to secure bail for the trio. In previous testimonies, Theuma had said that he had been visited by Kenneth Camilleri, a security official from the Office of the Prime Minister, who had said that they would get bail in a sitting meant to take place on the 22nd of either April or May 2018.
Theuma explained that he had told Mario Degiorgio that he could help them with money – he later testified that he had continued passing money onto them from Fenech right up until he was arrested, over a year and a half after this recording took place – but could not help with the bail request.
That in itself seemed to disappoint Mario Degiorgio, with Theuma explaining that Mario had lamented the lack of support that he was receiving in this regard. Theuma explained that Mario had spoken of how his brothers had “helped everyone, but had found no help from anyone”. The remark drew some questions, but Theuma could shed no further light on who Mario Degiorgio was referring to when he said “everyone”.
Theuma did however reveal that Mario Degiorgio had tried to contact then government minister Chris Cardona for help in getting a positive outcome to the bail hearing. Cardona had ignored Degiorgio’s pleas, Theuma said.
The transcript of the recordings read that Theuma had said that “if Cardona cannot help them, then nobody can”. He clarified that the remark was because of Cardona’s legal background – the transcript showed that Theuma had said that Cardona knows more about the court’s workings than ‘ix-xiħ’ – who he again confirmed to be former Prime Minister Joseph Muscat.
Theuma, however, could not explain why Mario Degiorgio had specifically contacted Cardona, and not any other MP or member of Cabinet who has a legal background. He said that he had never asked for Mario Degiorgio’s reasoning, but noted that he personally had never met Cardona nor anyone connected with him.
That was not the first point when Joseph Muscat was mentioned in the recordings – Theuma at one point in the conversation suggested that Fenech, given his friendship with Muscat, should go to the Prime Minister to “fix things so that me and Yorgen don’t end up in shit” – that being his explanation in court.
Asked what Fenech's reply to that idea was, Theuma said “he told me ‘as if, that would be the worst thing I can do’.” That was greeted by shakes of the head and smiles from Fenech, who sat between his two lawyers and who was by far the more animated of those present.
Theuma was asked about his relationship with Mario Degiorgio. He clarified that he had never told Degiorgio of his involvement in the murder, and that he had even denied it with him when he asked.
“So for Mario Degiorgio you are simply a person who was helping his brothers?” Magistrate Montebello asked at one point. “Exactly,” Theuma replied. However, he later testified that “if he [Mario] did the pluses and minuses he would have reached that conclusion [that Theuma was involved in the murder]”. Theuma however said he was certain that Degiorgio did not know of Fenech’s involvement.
Theuma remarked that he was afraid that the Degiorgios would expose him. He was asked by Azzopardi about a remark where Theuma asked Fenech not to be “calm”. Theuma said that he had expected Fenech to do much more. “Wasn't Fenech giving you all the money?” Azzopardi asked. “Money is nothing when you're inside [prison],” Theuma replied.
Theuma was asked about a remark in the recording where he said he had lost interest in his own self (“żdingat”). “My life was finished - I was sick of my life,” Theuma said when asked for an explanation. He said that the fact that he had gotten involved in the case had affected him in this manner. “I had too much weight on me - I had to go to Mario; then to Yorgen for money; then I didn't know whether Yorgen thought I was taking the money for myself; I was very scared - I was fed up. Fed up,” a visibly emotional Theuma told the court.
“I was ready to tell Mario that there was not going to be a bail request and that I will give him money, but that if he wanted to go rat on me, he could go ahead. I didn't care anymore. I never got the courage to do it,” Theuma said.
Caruana Galizia’s laptops were also mentioned at the very start of the recorded conversation. Their mention were key to figuring out the rough time of when the recorded exchange took place, with Theuma unable to remember the specific date off-hand.
“What are these laptops?,” Arnaud asked about the reference in the recording. “These are the laptops belonging to Caruana Galizia,” Theuma replied before adding that he had seen in the media that they were going to be brought to Malta and was afraid that once these laptops were opened, it would expose whom she had been writing about.
Theuma said that he had asked Fenech whether it was a good thing for the laptops to be opened in Malta, to which, he said that Fenech had replied “it's better that they come here, because there are a lot of people whom she had written about”.
Questions were also raised about the mention of a person named ‘Alex’. “I will speak to Alex to see what happened,” Fenech said in the recordings at one point. Theuma said that he does not know who the person is and that he did not ask Fenech who he was. Azzopardi asked whether the person was Keith Schembri’s then deputy – Alex Muscat (who is now a parliamentary secretary in Robert Abela’s new Cabinet) – but Theuma again replied that he has no idea, and that Fenech had never mentioned an Alex Muscat.
Fenech, through his defence lawyers Gianluca Caruana Curran and Marion Camilleri, made a renewed request for bail – his second since he was charged.
Caruana Curran questioned Theuma’s credibility, and noted that people mentioned in the tapes - such as Joseph Muscat and Keith Schembri - are free to go outside as they please while Fenech is stuck behind bars, something which Caruana Curran said is not fair.
“The presumption of innocence is the rule. That someone is kept arrested is the exception. There is no reason why this case should be treated any differently,” Camilleri stated meanwhile. She also argued that Fenech was granted police bail numerous times in spite of their concerns over the potential for Fenech to tamper with evidence. “Where were these concerns then?”
Magistrate Montebello, however, rejected the request, and explained in her decree that the court is aware of several dangers, not least due to the fact that the investigations are still very active. From what has emerged in recent sittings, it is clear that there are possibly greater risks of tampering of evidence, the court said as it refused the request.
During the sitting Magistrate Montebello had also raised concern regarding comments in the media about the transcripts and the audio, but the defence, prosecution, and parte civile all said they had no issues with the transcribers appointed by the court.
Montebello also commented at how some of the transcripts had been published by the media, noting that it was clear that there was a ban covering the publication of the recordings and transcripts. Any publishing of such information would be considered as contempt of court, Montebello said.
Attempts to hear another recording during the sitting were cut short after it became clear that there were several errors and omissions from the transcript.
The next sitting will take place on 27 March, where the recordings will continue to be heard and where the prosecution will submit statements made by Fenech. These statements were meant to be submitted during this sitting, but inspector Arnaud asked for more time as they were still actively investigating some people and things that Fenech had mentioned.
Magistrate Montebello also ordered Johann Cremona, Keith Schembri, and Kenneth Camilleri – who have all featured prominently in the tapes so far – to testify in future sittings as part of the compilation.