Police deny offering immunity to Dutch inmate who recorded Melvin Theuma
The Malta Police Force has categorically denied having offered legal immunity to a Dutch national who recorded conversations he had with Melvin Theuma, the pardoned middleman in the murder of Daphne Caruana Galizia.
Sources had earlier told this newsroom that Hofstra had been offered some sort of deal in return for handing over the recordings, as well as for speaking to the police about his alleged links to Konrad Mizzi and Silvio Zammit.
The serial fraudster is currently serving time at an Amsterdam prison.
The Malta Independent had reported that Hofstra had befriended Melvin Theuma when he was living in Malta a few years back. Theuma had eventually opened up to him about his concerns that Keith Schembri – the former OPM chief of staff – would kill him.
In the recordings, Theuma also allegedly contradicted some of the testimony he gave in court in the murder case. Legal sources had said that this could possibly
weaken his credibility as the main witness in the case against Yorgen Fenech, who stands charged of being a mastermind.
Yorgen Fenech’s lawyers, Charles Mercieca and Gianluca Caruana Curran recently acquired a copy of the recordings during a visit to the Amsterdam prison. This newsroom understands that Hofstra has so far refused to hand over copies of the recordings to the police, who are equally eager to get their hands on the audio clips.
The police recently issued two European Investigation Orders (EIO) to have Hofstra transferred to Malta to testify in the murder case and as a potential suspect in another case related to money laundering. It is believed that the latter EIO is also related to his refusal to hand over the recordings.
It was recently reported that the police are also keen to speak to Hofstra about his alleged involvement with Silvio Zammit – who was an aide to former European Commissioner John Dalli – and to disgraced former minister Konrad Mizzi.
According to reports, Zammit had asked Hofstra, whose speciality was computer crime, to change timestamps on some emails. Zammit has acknowledged that he knew Hofstra but denies the allegation.
Hofstra’s links to Konrad Mizzi are so far unknown, although the former minister was questioned yet again by financial crime police last week. A photo of him together with Hofstra and others posing at the Malta International Airport was published by Lovin Malta last week.
At the time the photo was taken, Hofstra was allegedly on the run from Dutch police and was the subject of a European Arrest Warrant. Mizzi had told Lovin Malta that he did not know Hofstra and was not aware of his alleged crimes.
Mizzi denial
In a statement sent to this newspaper, Mizzi’s lawyers Jean Paul Sammut and Carol Peralta said: “The article contains a false allegation of a link between Dr Mizzi and Mr Julian Hofstra. Our client declares that he does not know Mr Hofstra. While it would appear that the individual managed to have a photo of himself taken at a public event in the presence of Air Malta officials and our client, there is absolutely no connection between our client and the said individual. Any suggestion of a link or impropriety is being strongly rejected.”