Chris Cardona dismisses convicted killers’ ‘contradictory’ statements

Chris Cardona has dismissed allegations linking him to a plot to murder journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia and sees no reason to step down as Birkirkara FC president.

The ex-minister has vehemently denied the claims in the past and said when contacted yesterday that his position has not changed.

“These are second-hand and uncorroborated claims made by convicted killers, some of whom are now contradicting each other and their own earlier sworn testimony.

“I have never been charged with anything in relation to this case and I categorically deny any involvement,” Cardona said.

Cardona, who was recently elected to the role, said nothing in the “unproven courtroom testimony” affects his role or commitment to the club.

Convicted murderers George and Alfred Degiorgio, together with Vince Muscat, have all recently claimed in the trial against businessman Yorgen Fenech that Cardona was behind an aborted 2015 plot to murder Caruana Galizia.

Fenech stands accused of ordering and financing a €150,000 plot in 2017 for the Degiorgios to blow up the journalist outside her Bidnija home.

Cardona’s name first surfaced in connection with the murder when Fenech, who was arrested in November 2019, tried to pin the blame on the then minister.

Fenech would later backtrack, alleging that a script to pin the blame on Cardona had been passed on to him by Keith Schembri, the chief of staff to then prime minister Joseph Muscat.

The Tumas business magnate would go on to allege that Schembri was the real murder mastermind.

Cardona was questioned by the police about the murder claims in November 2019 and released without charge.

In 2021, Muscat, known as il-Koħħu, implicated Cardona in the 2015 plot as part of a plea deal that saw him sentenced to 15 years' imprisonment for admitting his role in Caruana Galizia’s assassination.

Investigators treated the claims with caution as they were deemed to be uncorroborated and based on indirect information given to Muscat by George Degiorgio.

Degiorgio repeated the claims this week while testifying in the trial against Fenech.

Apart from Cardona, Degiorgio also implicated Schembri and ex-policeman David Gatt in the murder plots.

Both men have denied the claims.

Degiorgio notably steered clear of mentioning Fenech in his testimony this week.

Prosecutors allege Fenech passed on some €400,000 to fund the Degiorgio brothers’ legal defence prior to them admitting to the assassination.

Degiorgio told prosecutors on Wednesday that the money for his legal defence “fell from the sky. Don’t you know where it came from?”

The convicted killer refused to go into details about the 2017 plot, leading prosecutors to note he was a “compliant witness” while answering questions by Fenech’s defence lawyer Gianella de Marco but refused to answer prosecution questions.

“To be honest, I intended to say I won’t be answering any questions from the prosecution,” Degiorgio replied.