Two men serving 40-year jail terms for murdering Daphne Caruana Galizia on Thursday under oath confirmed previous claims that former Labour ministers Carmelo Abela and Chris Cardona were among those behind the failed HSBC Bank armed robbery in Qormi in 2010.

George and Alfred Degiorgio confirmed a public statement that was circulated to all media organisations in January in which they alleged that the former ministers were among those involved in the case.

They were testifying in libel proceedings Abela filed against former Nationalist MP Jason Azzopardi over a Facebook post in which Azzopardi claimed that Abela had helped the mastermind behind the botched robbery in 2010.

In that post, uploaded in April 2021, Azzopardi also claimed that Abela had received a €300,000 payment for his role in the plot.

Those allegations were categorically denied as “lies” by the former PL minister who promptly sued Azzopardi for libel.

The Degiorgio brothers both refused to provide more details to back their claims when asked in court. “We will do that when it’s the right time. We will say everything, don’t worry, including information about the other HSBC case in Balzan,” George Degiorgio told Abela’s lawyer, Paul Lia, on his way out of the courtroom. Some €1m were stolen in the robbery from the HSBC bank in Balzan. 

The Degiorgio brothers were summoned to testify about the two-page sworn affidavit which they had not initially signed. They confirmed that those were their declarations and had been typed out by their lawyer, Noel Bianco. They did not know why they never signed it but confirmed that they had signed a copy on Thursday morning.

The same allegations were made in a letter the two brothers later sent to the European Commission.

When asked, they confirmed that their declarations were made in connection with one of several requests for a presidential pardon they had made, but were ignored.

“No one took any notice of what we were saying. When the time is right we will say more, much more,” Alfred Degiorgio told Magistrate Rachel Montebello as Abela stood behind him.

“But we will not do or say anything without getting anything in return,” both brothers said when asked why they were refusing to back up their statement.

“If you wanted to know the entire story, why didn't you come to us four years ago,” Alfred Degiorgio told the court.

He said there were five involved in the failed HSBC heist: Abela, Cardona, a certain Toni l-Bigley, former police inspector David Gatt and a certain Duminku, a police officer who was stationed at the police Special Assignment Group in the past.

Asked why they were making the claims, George Degiorgio replied that it was because they too wanted justice to be done with them.

“We asked for a presidential pardon and the police didn't even listen to us. We had spoken to inspector Joe Mercieca but nothing was ever done. Give us some time and you’ll hear much more,” Degiorgio told Lia during cross-examination.

The case continues in April.

Lawyer Pawlu Lia is assisting Abela.

Lawyer Joseph Zammit Maempel is assisting Azzopardi.