Daphne Caruana Galizia murder suspect Yorgen Fenech has reported state witness Melvin Theuma to the police for perjury, citing a number of contradictions in his testimony. 

Times of Malta reported that the criminal complaint, filed by his lawyers Charles Mercieca, Gianluca Caruana Curran and Marion Camilleri, said that Theuma should be prosecuted over “blatant lies” and “half-truths”. 

Specifically, they cited Theuma’s testimony on former OPM chief of staff Keith Schembri, who Fenech has implicated in the murder.

They noted that when an inquiring magistrate had asked Theuma whether Schembri had ever sent anyone to speak to him about the murder, the state witness had mumbled: “No, I don’t think so”. 

However, in a conversation Theuma recorded with Johann Cremona, the state witness said that Schembri had promised alleged hitmen George and Alfred Degiorgio “bail on the 22nd” and “one million each”.

Theuma also said he had “overheard” Schembri during a phone call to their mutual friend Kenneth Camilleri and had told Cremona that he had wanted to meet Schembri behind Fenech’s back.

“Ngħidlu insejt kemm bkejt li ħa jaqbduhom qabel joqtluhielek (I’ll tell him [Schembri] whether he’s forgotten how much he cried because he thought they would arrest them before they killed her [Caruana Galizia],” Theuma said in the recording.

Moreover, Theuma had originally testified that he wasn’t in possession of recordings except for those involving Fenech, but he later also admitted that he had recorded Cremona but hadn’t “saved” the information. 

These recordings were later found in a separate magisterial inquiry.

Fenech’s lawyers also flagged how Theuma had played down his relationship with Cremona, former police commissioner Lawrence Cutajar and Edwin Brincat (il-Ġojja). 

In his testimony, he had cited former police superintendent Raymond Aquilina and Kenneth Camilleri as his informants, and eventually also said that Cremona had received information from Schembri.

Theuma was given a presidential pardon following a recommendation by then Prime Minister Joseph Muscat at a time when Schembri was still his chief of staff. Unlike other pardons, Muscat didn’t consult his Cabinet before recommending it. 

His pardon has never been published but it is said to be conditional to Theuma telling the whole truth in court.