Live blog: Taped chats between middleman and Fenech associate played to jury
Johann Cremona faces questions in trial over murder of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia
Gaming entrepreneur Johann Cremona will continue testifying when the trial of Yorgen Fenech resumes on Wednesday.
Cremona was a business partner of Fenech's and also a confidante of self-confessed murder middleman Melvin Theuma, who says Fenech paid him €150,000 to commission the assassination of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia.
In testimony on Tuesday, Cremona said Theuma had told him that Fenech was behind the murder plot.
He admitted Theuma had "ruined my life" and said he warned Fenech about Theuma secretly recording him.
Cremona recalled Fenech's friend Keith Schembri summoning him to Castille in September 2019 and asking him to keep tabs on Fenech.
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Live blog
'You're the key'
4.42pm Further on in the conversation, Theuma tells him “I think he’s caught.”
“He’s not caught, they’re onto him. You’re caught. You alone… the key is in your hands, you are the key,” Cremona tells Theuma.
The prosecution asks Cremona about this exchange. He says Theuma had told him that police commissioner Lawrence Cutajar knew about his recordings – they were that ‘key’.
Yorgen and Gatwick
4.38pm In that same conversation, Cremona warns Theuma not to lose his phone and implies authorities are onto him.
He says police are preparing to seize Yorgen Fenech’s phone “at Gatwick [airport, in the UK].”
He also tells Theuma that if his (Cremona’s) company ends up with an asset freeze “I’ve got a 9mm and I’ll shoot myself in the head.”
Cremona tells the court the Gatwick line was made up. He says he was also in a bad way because of some personal debts.
'Yorgen's not well, they're scared of him'
4.31pm Onto another recorded conversation.
“Yorgen’s not well Melv, he’s going to screw everything up. He’s not well and they’re scared of him,” Cremona told Theuma.
He is asked who ‘they’ was and says he thinks he was referring to “Castille”.
The prosecution asks for specifics, and Cremona says “Keith [Schembri].”
'I'l expose them'
4.23pm There’s a reference to Edgar Brincat il-Gojja and the police commissioner.
Cremona says those two were meant to meet a few days before.
And, further on, Theuma vows to “expose them”. Cremona says he thinks Theuma was referring to Yorgen Fenech and Keith Schembri.
'I'll call Kenneth'
4.12pm In that conversation, Cremona told Theuma that he would be telling Kenneth Camilleri : “Don’t call me about Melvin. He’s determined. If they raid, he’s going to reveal everything.”
Cremona says that was a bluff – he was pretending he would call Camilleri.
Cremona helped Theuma delete messages
4.08pm In another recording, Cremona can be heard explaining to Theuma how to change app settings on his phone to get messages to autodestruct after 30 minutes.
'I'll bring you down with me'
4.02pm The prosecution reads from another conversation.
Theuma tells Cremona: “If the police come to my house, I’ll tell him ‘Yorgen I’m going like this’…. I’ll tell him 'If I go down, I’ll bring you down first.'"
'What's €1,000 a week to Yorgen?'
3.58pm In another part of the conversation, Theuma says “you have to keep giving them €1,000 a week…. what’s €1,000 a week to Yorgen?”
Cremona says that was money being paid to the Degiorgio brothers.
In the recording, Cremona is heard telling Theuma, “I don’t want you to be his headache. Because he’ll get fed up, and I don’t want him to get fed up.”
That was about Yorgen Fenech, Cremona confirms.
'If Kohhu names you, they'll have to haul you in'
3.55pm Jurors are played snippets of another recorded conversation between Cremona and Theuma.
“If Kohhu names you, they’ll have to haul you in,” he tells Theuma. “What worries me is if Yorgen – I know they’ve prepared the boat – if he leaves in a few days and they smash it [jfaqqawha] next week”.
A court marshall enters the courtroom and tells the court that the previous power cut was caused by a substation problem.
Court hearing resumes
3.45pm The judge and jury return. The hearing resumes.
Lights back on
3.20pm Power has been restored to the law courts.
We're told a damaged generator switch was to blame. That has now been fixed and we expect the court hearing to resume any minute now.
No power, no hearing
2.35pm The case was due to resume at 2.30pm, but there's a problem: there's no electricity in the law courts.
The hearing will not resume until the situation is resolved.
Court breaks for lunch
12.35pm The judge has called a two-hour lunch break. The hearing will resume at 2.30pm.
'Yorgen didn't need this trouble'
12.33pm In the recording, Theuma says “Yorgen had no need for any of this.” Cremona agrees.
“He’s got me waking up at night, worried. I end up worrying about it, he knew what problems he was going to cause.”
Theuma continues: “That guy landed him in it.”
Cremona replies: “He will need to get Yorgen out of trouble.”
In court, Cremona confirms they were discussing the Caruana Galizia case. He says he doesn’t know who the ‘guy’ was. “I know about things from July 2018 onwards. What happened before, I don’t know.” He also insists the ‘he’ who would get Yorgen out of trouble was him bluffing.
Cremona and 'Fredu'
12.25pm A new recording.
“Did you hear about the inquiry?” Theuma can be heard asking Cremona.
Cremona replies: “You just need to break one thing, forget about the inquiry. Fredu is calling him constantly.”
The prosecution asks about this. Cremona says he thinks the ‘inquiry’ was the Daphne Inquiry. He says the bit about ‘Fredu’ (Alfred Degiorgio) was made up.
He also says other things he says in the call – “Antonio is worried that Yorgen is also involved” – are also not true.
Putting Melvin's mind at ease
12.13pm The court is played various excerpts of recordings. Cremona is asked to explain the references.
He says he “thinks” he was referring to Yorgen and explains his words by saying he wanted to put Theuma’s mind at rest.
'Cardona will get it'
11.54am In the recording, Cremona tells Theuma “another storm” is on the horizon. He says he was referring to an upcoming raid.
Theuma tells him Chris Cardona knows a lot.
Cremona replies, “Better, one will expose the other... trust me, Cardona will get it.” [Cardona jlaqqata].
Cremona tells the court he was bluffing when he said Cardona would get it.
'He can tell the Roman'
11.45am Further on in the recording conversation, Theuma tells Cremona he intends to tell Yorgen he’s done.
“I’ll tell him he can get someone else to do it, I won’t go with his money anymore. I’m done with these hassles... he can tell the Roman [lil Ruman], he can get the Roman back in and send him. I’m not his worker.”
Cremona says he believes Theuma was referring to taking money to the Degiorgios. He says the 'Ruman' mentioned is different to the 'Ramon' cited previously.
'Arthur was paid'
11.42am The prosecution refers to a recording in which Theuma tells Cremona: “Now Yorgen will come, I’ll tell him to find someone... I’m sick... I’ll speak to him on Tuesday and tell him I’m mentally tired.”
Cremona says he can’t recall what this is about.
In the recording, Theuma says [lawyer] Arthur Azzopardi “was paid” [xtrawħ].
Cremona agrees and tells Theuma “If I do something with Arthur it’s for you, not them.”
The prosecution asks who ‘them’ was. Cremona says he thinks he was referring to Keith Schembri.
Court resumes
11.30am It was more like an hour rather than 30 minutes, but the case can now resume.
Power cut in court
10.30am No favours for criminal justice it seems - there's been a power cut in the courtroom.
Power is restored within seconds, but it's enough to disrupt proceedings.
The judge calls a 30-minute break.
Business fears
10.28am Prosecutor Cini asks: If he was so frustrated with Melvin Theuma, why did he stop him when Theuma sent him a photo of himself near police headquarters, saying he was going to turn himself in?
Cremona says he worried that if Theuma outed Fenech, his (Cremona's) business would suffer.
Cremona's 49%
10.20am The prosecution moves onto another recording.
In it, Cremona complains to Theuma about his business partnership with Yorgen Fenech. He says Fenech was “trying to cheat me”. His shareholding was meant to be 49.9% but Fenech had listed it as 49%, he said.
The prosecution asks about it. Cremona says he was upset. “I was fed up,” he says.
'Ramon' and 'Antonio'
10am Cremona tells the court that Theuma was manipulating conversation to try and get him (Cremona) to mention Fenech.
In the recording, Cremona can also be heard making reference to a ‘Ramon’ and an ‘Antonio’ [Cremona says that is Antonio Ricci. Ricci was subsequently involved in a years-long extradition battle as Italy wanted him extradited].
Prosecutor Godwin Cini notes that in the call, Cremona says 'Antonio' called George Degiorgio.
'Commissioner met the other guy'
9.50am Another extract from the recording.
Cremona tells Theuma that “Yesterday Kenneth told me that the commissioner met the other guy [l-ieħor]”. “He asked for a favour,” he adds.
‘The other guy’ is Keith Schembri, Cremona confirms in court. He says he made up the ‘asked for a favour’ part.
Cremona can't recall
9.40am More excerpts from the recording.
Theuma asks Cremona: When did Yorgen start getting messed up? (Minn meta tħawwad Yorgen?)
Cremona replies: “Since the recordings.” (Minn tar-recordings).
In another part of the recording, Cremona tells Theuma “I will direct you” (Ħa mmexxik jien).
The two men discuss “Mario” and Cremona tells Theuma “Kenneth told me, ‘tell him not to go there... there is a camera’”.
The prosecution asks Cremona about every extract they read out. Every time, Cremona says he doesn’t remember what they were talking about.
'Yorgen was petrified'
9.25am In one of the recordings, Cremona tells Theuma “he went to reveal everything in court seven months ago” (tela biex jikxef seba’ xhur ilu). It appears he's referring to Vince Muscat il-Koħħu
Cremona tells Theuma “Yorgen was petrified” (Kien twerwer Yorgen).
Court in session
9.12am The judge and jury are in the courtroom. Today's court hearing can begin.
Welcome
8.40am Good morning and welcome to this live blog. We're at the Valletta law courts, where the trial by jury is due to resume today at 9am.