Keith Schembri instructed Joseph Muscat’s former bodyguard, Kenneth Camilleri, to meet Melvin Theuma, who then repeatedly asked Camilleri for updates on the bail of Daphne Caruana Galizia's hitmen, the court heard on Friday.
When Camilleri informed the then prime minister about this, Muscat replied, “I’d rather not know about this”.
On Friday, Camilleri testified in a criminal case filed against former chief of staff Keith Schembri over alleged leaks in the Caruana Galizia murder investigation. Earlier this month, Schembri was charged with perjury and breaching the Official Secrets Act.
The probe was triggered after Yorgen Fenech, charged with complicity in the journalist’s murder, claimed information about the investigation was leaked to him by Schembri.
Theuma who has confessed to being the middleman in the plot to murder the journalist, was given a phantom job in a government-owned company months before the murder.
Testifying on Friday, Camilleri said Schembri called him one summer evening in 2018, and asked him to visit Theuma to "calm him" down. He said he was not aware who Theuma was at the time.
He said it was normal to be asked to go to speak to people due to electoral issues.
Schembri told Camilleri to phone Johann Cremona – who Theuma had described as Yorgen Fenech’s “postman" – so they go meet Theuma together.
Cremona picked Camilleri up from Tarxien and drove to Żurrieq to meet Theuma in Wied iż-Żurrieq.
Camilleri described Theuma - a close confidante of Fenech - as being agitated.
Theuma asked Camilleri when hitmen Alfred and George Degiorgio were going to be granted bail. The Degiorgio brothers had been charged with planting the bomb inside the car of Caruana Galizia, which killed her in October 2017. In 2022, the brother admitted to the charges, just hours into the trial in a sensational twist to the five-year case.
Camilleri said Theuma mentioned a suitcase that needed to be "disposed of".
He explained how he had two more interactions with Theuma, once in Cremona's garage, where Theuma asked Camilleri about bail as he was walking out and Theuma was walking in.
The last time he met Theuma was in Valletta when Cremona invited Camilleri to meet for a coffee in Valletta, but Theuma showed up with Cremona.
At the beginning of 2019, Camilleri met up with Joseph Muscat to ask him about these interactions. The former prime minister said that he “rather not know”.
Camilleri denied ever telling Theuma that the brothers would be granted bail on the "22nd of that month" and would also each receive "a million in a basket."
The court declared there is sufficient prima facie evidence for Schembri to be placed under a bill of indictment. The next sitting is on March 4.
The charges follow a five-year probe triggered when Yorgen Fenech, charged with complicity in the 2017 murder of Daphne Caruana Galizia, claimed information about the investigation was leaked to him by Schembri.
Schembri served as Joseph Muscat’s chief of staff at the time.
In a previous sitting, the court heard how Schembri was in possession of a confidential internal police email. Although the email had nothing to do with Caruana Galizia’s murder, the prosecution wanted to show how Schembri had access to information that he should have never had access to.
Magistrate Claire Stafrace Zammit presided over the case.
Lawyers Edward Gatt, Mark Vassallo, Sean Zammit appeared for Schembri. Superintendent Hubert Cini and police inspector Shaun Friggieri are prosecuting.
Jason Azzopardi and Therese Comodini Cachia were parte civile.