“We walked inside [a ranch in Ħaż-Żebbuġ where Fenech keeps his horses] to talk and he [Melvin Theuma] told me that he wants to record me to give himself some kind of guarantee. I told him that I don’t know about these things and that this wasn’t my world. I told him that we can do whatever’s necessary, just so long as he leaves me alone. We started meeting up at the ranch.

He used to arrive in a black Vitz and always leave another person in the car behind him. He would switch on his recorder and give me a paper, he would keep a paper for himself and make me repeat what he wanted me to say. He would bring out a grey recorder and place it on the table. I obviously knew that he was recording me.

This started taking place twice to three times a week. Once, for the recording to seem more credible, he wanted my children to be there with us. That touched a nerve and I started crying. I told him not to involve my family. And then I just up and took a holiday with my family.

He kept calling me while I was on holiday; he told me that he’ll pick me up from the airport himself and that he’ll take a recording inside the car.

After I returned from my holiday, more recordings were taken. He started telling me that he has an entire novel about me. And he started approaching me for [money], sometimes 20 times a month and sometimes twice a month. I estimate that I gave him over 450,000.

The recordings took place so they could do their utmost to fleece as much money from me as possible. He started blackmailing me to allow him to operate another taxi at the Hilton and I had to allow him to do so.

They blackmailed me so that I don’t appeal the direct order that was given to the Westin Casino, which cost my business millions of euros.

Around a month ago, he stated blackmailing me to write him a cheque to lend him two million euros to make up for his own illegal money. I refused to do so.

I had to go on several holidays because he kept coming to me for money. He made me spiral into a drug addiction and I had to go to rehab twice.

When he couldn’t reach me, he would call my wife and ask for me, or he would call my uncle Ray and my cousin Karl to find out where I was.

A few days before the police caught Melvin, he had come to my tower and asked me for another 30,000 – and I had to comply. Before he left, I told him that this won’t continue and that I will have to inform the police. Then what happened happened.

I was never scared of justice. I was scared for my family, my business and my life from the dangerous blackmail that was imposed by Melvin and the people behind him.

I now understand that Melvin was cooking something up with Cardona and that they tried to pin it on me so that they could get rid of me and fleece me of more money.”

What do you think of the second part of the full transcript?