Melvin Theuma Says OPM Staff Member Visited His House And Called Someone Up: ‘I Suspect He Was Speaking To Keith Schembri’
Melvin Theuma named a staff member at the Office of the Prime Minister as being involved in the conspiracy to assassinate journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia, during a sensational testimony in court today.
The staff member, named only as Kenneth, visited Theuma and said that the bail for the three murder suspects – brothers George and Alfred Degiorgio and Vince Muscat – had been arranged and that they would each be paid €1 million.
Theuma said that ‘Kenneth’ visited him soon after he stopped speaking to Yorgen Fenech, who he said had instructed him to meet up with Alfred Degiorgio and set a plan in motion to assassinate Daphne Caruana Galizia.
He said that ‘Kenneth’ called up somebody, who Theuma believes was Keith Schembri, before instructing him to inform the Degiorgios and Muscat that they would be getting bailed out and paid €1 million each.
Theuma said he confronted Fenech about ‘Kenneth’ and asked him whether Schembri had sent him to his house, but Fenech didn’t answer.
During today’s testimony, Theuma also testified that he was given a false government job a few days after he arranged the price for the assassination. A few days after arranging the price (€150,000), Fenech told him to await a call from Castille’s customer service head Sandro Craus. Craus then called up Theuma and arranged a meeting between him and Keith Schembri.
No details of this meeting emerged in court today, but Theuma said that Craus informed him afterwards that he had been given a government job. However, this was a false government job and indeed Theuma said he never even went to to work and still has no idea what the ‘job’ entailed.
However, he still received three or four monthly cheques from Castille, payments which stopped two months after the 2017 election.
Meanwhile, Theuma also revealed that Fenech forked out over €60,000 to pay for the legal fees for the Degiorgio brothers and Vince Muscat and that he sent €300 a week to the men while he was in prison.
He also said that the bomb that killed Caruana Galizia was made at ‘Maksar’, a reference to Adrian and Robert Agius, brothers who had been arrested in connection to the assassination but have never been charged.
Theuma also confirmed many rumours that have emerged in the press, namely that Schembri is named in the recordings and that he wrote the note to Yorgen naming Schembri.
Theuma said that while he suspects Schembri had a role in the assassination, because Fenech had mentioned him hundreds of times, he was only certain of Fenech’s role in the assassination.
“Yorgen Fenech paid me and he told me to do it,” Theuma said.
Asked why he took the recordings of himself and Fenech, Theuma said he began fearing for his life once he found out that Vince Muscat was talking to investigators.
The recordings were taken during phone calls and meetings at Portomaso.
Follow Lovin Malta’s live blog below from the testimony below:
12:15pm: Theuma’s testimony is suspended until copies of the recordings can be made and given to the court. The next sitting has been scheduled for 12th December 2019 at 9:30am.
12:07pm: The recordings are phonecalls Fenech had with Theuma. Other recordings were done in Portomaso, the car and Level 22.
The recordings, he said, would have gone to Stamperija, the PN Headquarters should anything have happened.
12:05pm: Theuma said he sent the note because he was scared he would end up dead or in prison.
“Fenech mentioned Keith Schembri hundreds of times,” Theuma said. “I felt he was involved.”
“I just worked out simple maths and it was clear he could be involved,” he continued.
Theuma reiterates that he only met Schembri twice; once at Castille and once at a dinner party.
A certain ‘Kenneth’ from Castille may have been involved in the crime according to Theuma’s testimony. This is why Theuma also believed Schembri was involved.
12:02pm: Theuma speaks about the handwritten letter he sent to Yorgen Fenech naming Schembri.
He said that the letter contained the recordings, the photo and the work contract with Schembri.
11:59am: Theuma said that he received a call from someone saying he would come over to Theuma’s house.
The person is a certain Kenneth, who Theuma said worked at the Office of the Prime Minister.
He said that when he was with Kenneth, the man took a phone call, with who Theuma believes was Keith Schembri.
After the call Theuma was told that the three men accused would get bail, and one million each.
11:56am: Keith Schembri becomes the focus of the interrogation.
In the recording, Schembri is mentioned, Theuma has confirmed.
The recordings, he said, are of Yorgen Fenech after the murder, not before. He said he started recording Fenech once Vince Muscat started speaking to investigators.
“Fenech was working on a way to get rid of me, with the way he used to talk about his close relationship with Schembri, I knew he could do it,” Theuma said.
11:55am: Theuma revealed that the bomb was manufactured at Maksar, the family of Adrian and Robert Agius.
The two men were arrested in December 2017 in connection with the murder but released.
11:50am: Theuma said he wasn’t paid a cent for the murder.
“Actually, I lost money,” he said.
11:43am: A second €30,000 was requested through Mario Degiorgio, a cousin to the brothers. Theuma says that Mario would ask him for the money and Yorgen would give them to the witness for disbursement.
11:38am: Theuma said there was a second €30,000 request. This time Fenech paid €25,000, while Theuma forked out the remaining €5000.
He also revealed that he started sending only €200 a week to the three men, because Muscat’s wife was getting suspicious of the money.
11:35am: In February 2018, he said that a certain ‘Il-Gambli’ said Alfred Degiorgio wanted to speak to him on the phone. Through Alfred’s brother Mario, Theuma spoke with Alfred.
The Degiorgio brothers and Vince Muscat requested that they need €30,000 for a lawyer.
Fenech paid the €30,000.
“I was waiting for this to happen,” Fenech reportedly said.
11:33am: Theuma says that he showed Fenech receipts of the expenses he incurred to carry out the crime, including the money sent to the three men.
However, Fenech ignored him.
Theuma said he started getting scared and Fenech offered to pay for a holiday for Theuma and his family.
11:28am: After the arrest, Theuma said he was giving €300 every week to the three men while they were in prison.
11:25am: Theuma revealed that Fenech was aware that the three men would be arrested on 5th December.
“Fenech found out the information the Thursday before the arrest,” Theuma said.
11:18am: Theuma said there was no one else who gave him the order to assassinate Caruana Galizia.
“For me, the mastermind is Yorgen Fenech because he told me what to do and he paid me.”
Theuma then added that he was not aware of anyone else involved in the plot, pouring water on a letter he penned naming Keith Schembri.
11:16am: Theuma said he met Fenech at Club 22 at Portomaso after the assassination. Theuma said that a foreign man named Turab was at the meeting.
Theuma said that he told Fenech he was scared with the FBI investigating it. Fenech told him not to worry about it.
“Isn’t it the Maltese police who will investigate at the end of the day?”
11:15am: Theuma said he had no idea when the assassination was going to be carried out, but he does remember that there was a day when Alfred Degiorgio was not answering his phone.
“Fenech used to call me up all the time telling me that we have to do it or the information will come out,” he said.
11:11am: Alfred Degiorgio said that he had identified the spot from where they would keep an eye on Caruana Galizia.
He took Theuma to Bidnija to show him. This was to prove that the men were doing their job.
11:09am: Theuma went to Fenech for advice on how to carry out the murder, with Fenech identifying cafes Caruana Galizia used to visit.
11:04am: The plan to bomb the car was questioned, Theuma said, given that Romeo Bone had survived a similar attack.
Theuma said that plan was delayed to months later, explaining that the three men were worried about the attack.
“We killed so many bullies we’re not going to kill her?” George Degiorgio reportedly said.
11:03am: Theuma said that after the plan was decided Fenech regularly called him to carry out the murder, fearing that the information would come out.
He said at this point he realised the assassination was for Yorgen Fenech, not his uncle Ray.
11:02am: Later the same week, Fenech handed him the money for Alfred Degiorgio, explaining that the assassination plan was back on.
10:59am: The group communicated either through WhatsApp or Signal, by call or message. Normal messages were exchanged by text, However, this only happened after the murder.
Theuma said that he was approached by Fenech about the assassination once again after the election.
“He sounded drunk,” Theuma said.
10:57am: Once the election was called Fenech said to stop proceeding. Theuma said he gambled €150,000 for Fenech on the election outcome. He was given a 5% commission.
10:53am: Theuma says he never went into work .
“I have no idea what my job even was,” he said.
He received three or four monthly cheques from Castille but this stopped two months after the election.
10:48am: Theuma said he then met with Fenech at the businessman’s house in Ħaż-Żebbuġ to discuss the price.
He said that Fenech said a certain Sandro Craus will call him. Craus told Theuma that he will have a meeting with Keith Schembri.
Theuma said he had never been to Castille before. He entered through the middle of the building. He met Schembri on the steps.
Theuma said he took a photo with Schembri before speaking to Craus.
Craus then said he was giving a government job to Theuma.
This happened two days after the meeting with the Degiorgio’s.
10:46am: Theuma is giving significant details of a meeting at Busy Bee with Alfred Degiorgio. Theuma says Alferd Degiorgio said he would speak to his “friends” and decide on a price of the assassination. This happened a few days later.
Theuma said that Alfred told him the price was €150,000, with €30,000 upfront.
10:44am: Theuma says Fenech said the assassination was called because Caruana Galizia was going to reveal information about Fenech’s uncle, Ray.
He said he called Alfred Degiorgio the same day at the potato shed in Marsa.
10:43am: Theuma says that Fenech once called him urgently to meet during 2017. He does not know the specific month, but it was around the time when the general election was called in 2017.
“Between two or three weeks before,” he said.
10:40am: Theuma described Fenech as a long-time friend, saying that he was introduced to him by Fenech’s uncle Ray.
Theuma said he went abroad a number of times with the Fenechs to France. The last time was two years ago before the assassination of Caruana Galizia.
He has also confirmed that Fenech gave him a job at the Hilton.
10:38am: Theuma has said he first met Alfred Degiorgio before being introduced to George Degiorgio and Vince Muscat. They first met after the Degiorgio brothers were looking to rent a flat. He said he is unsure when he met them but said it was around about the first Isle of MTV festival.
10:35am: Melvin Theuma has walked into the courtroom and has started testifying. The Magistrate is reading out the technicalities of the pardon, namely that if his testimony runs against the conditions of the pardon, it would no longer apply.
10:30am: Lovin Malta is here live in court ahead of the testimony of Melvin Theuma, the suspected middleman in the assassination of Caruana Galizia who was granted a presidential pardon in exchange for crucial evidence in the case.
Theuma is appearing before Magistrate Claire Stafrace Zammit, who is overseeing the inquiry involving the three men charged with carrying out the murder, Alfred Degiorgio, George Degiorgio, and Vince Muscat.
The courtroom is packed with journalists, lawyers, and the Caruana Galizia family. William Cuschieri is appearing on behalf of the Degiorgio brothers, while Marc Sant is representing Muscat.
Jason Azzopardi is appearing as parte civile for the Caruana Galizia family.
Theuma, who was initially arrested on money laundering charges, is spilling the beans on the crime. However, his relationship with Prime Minister’s Chief of Staff Schembri remains unclear.
A photo of the pair at Castille has emerged, while a handwritten note by Theuma naming both Schembri and Fenech has been published.
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