Lawrence Cutajar dismissed Vince Muscat's pardon over ‘hearsay’ evidence - lawyer
Vince Muscat’s former defence lawyer has told the inquiry into Daphne Caruana Galizia’s murder that a request for a presidential pardon by his former client (Muscat), had been dismissed by Lawrence Cutajar on the grounds that the testimony was “hearsay” evidence.
Arthur Azzopardi, the former defence lawyer to Muscat - one of the three hitmen accused with executing the Caruana Galizia murder - was giving testimony before the Caruana Galizia murder public inquiry on Friday. The inquiry is tasked, among other things, with determining whether the State did all it could to prevent the murder from happening.
Asked by inquiry board member Madam Justice Abigail Lofaro why Muscat’s presidential pardon had not been granted, Azzopardi said former police chief Cutajar had told him that the word from “the top” was that Muscat’s testimony was hearsay.
In October 2019, Cutajar had, during a meeting, asked all others to leave and remained solo with Azzopardi.
It was at this point that Cutajar had told Azzopardi that it was “coming from the top that [Vince Muscat’s] testimony is hearsay.”
Azzopardi also told the inquiry that brothers George and Alfred Degiorgio - the other two men accused of executing the murder with Muscat - had gotten to know of Muscat’s willingness to spill the beans.
Azzopardi said that he had been informed of rumours in the criminal underworld that there had been plans to harm Muscat’s daughters, by throwing acid at them. This he said, had caused both Muscat and himself to panic.
Former police chief Silvio Valletta had said he would investigate how the information was leaked to the Degiorgios. At around this time, Muscat had stopped eating food shared with other inmates.
The lawyer said he had met with inspector Keith Arnaud and Lawrence Cutajar, and had insisted for police protection for both himself (Azzopardi) and Vince Muscat.
But Cutajar had argued that offering such protection would make it evident that Muscat was cooperating with police. He had subsequently decided not to grant the requested protection.
Due to the “phenomenal stress” he and his law firm had been experiencing at the time, Azzopardi said he had decided in October 2019 to drop Muscat as his client. Lawyer Marc Sant has since taken up the brief.
Azzopardi told the inquiry of a conversation he had had with Owen Bonnici, when the then justice minister had approached him to speak during a funeral - something the lawyer had found odd.
Bonnici, Azzopardi said, had told him that a presidential pardon could only be given to one individual, and that there would be an issue if a pardon was granted to Vince Muscat, if subsequently the middleman in the murder, Melvin Theuma, also decided to give the police information.
Azzopardi was also asked about the infamous Girgenti party held by former prime minister Joseph Muscat, however the media were asked to leave the courtroom at this point.
The rest of the lawyer’s testimony continued behind closed doors.
The next sitting of the public inquiry will be held on Wednesday.