Middleman-turned-state-witness Melvin Theuma allegedly bought and negotiated his pardon to submit evidence in the Daphne Caruana Galizia case for €17,000, lawyers of main suspect Yorgen Fenech have claimed in yet another sensational sitting.

Since the start, the case has been defined by a series of bombshell allegations. Today, Fenech’s lawyer Charles Mercieca revealed the pardon bribe insisting Theuma used Edwin ‘Il-Ġojja’ Brincat.

Brincat is a mutual acquaintance of former Police Commissioner Lawrence Cutajar and Theuma, and Cutajar is under investigation for leaking information to Theuma, via Brincat, about the police investigation into the murder. Data has since revealed that Cutajar even spoke to Brincat between their respective testimonies in this case.

Fenech’s defence has made similar claims before. However, they said that Brincat had bribed Cutajar for €30,000.

They claim that tapes show that Brincat told Theuma to refer to Fenech as “the mastermind” and by his first name to the police. He also claimed that there were phone taps between Theuma and Mario Tonna, believed to be the former assistant commissioner. They said that Brincat was shown the phone taps.

“The thing that hurts the most is that Fenech is still in prison. This is a case orchestrated by a liar to frame Yorgen Fenech,” Mercieca said.

Chief Homicide Inspector Keith Arnaud insisted that investigations were still underway but called out the defence for using the court to lodge sensational claims.

“I know nothing about any tapes with Mario Tonna… if Mercieca has some he should share it with the prosecution,” he said.

Araud revealed that Brincat was shown the phone taps after he refused to answer questions under interrogation to twist his arm into revealing details. He also rejected the defence’s continued assertion that these tapes were “hidden”.

Every device was immediately handed over to Europol for extraction. It then handed the prosecution, defence, parte civile lawyers, and the court a copy. However, it seems that files became corrupted while being forensically transferred to each interested party in the case. Court experts have confirmed this.

Brincat and Cutajar remain under criminal investigation. Theuma has been absent from the public eye and the courtroom ever since his suspected suicide attempt earlier this year.

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