Live blog: Secret recordings heard as Yorgen Fenech trial enters day 20
Johann Cremona communicated with Keith Schembri after arrests, jury hears
The trial of Yorgen Fenech, who is charged with complicity in the murder of Daphne Caruana Galizia enters its 20th day on Thursday.
The prominent businessman is pleading not guilty to the assassination of the journalist in a car bomb in October 2017.
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LIVE BLOG
Break called
12.30pm Before we listen to another recording, Judge Edwina Grima calls a break. We will be back around 2.30pm.
Leaked recordings
12.25pm Prosecutors continue questioning Johann Cremona about his communications with Keith Schembri.
Prosecution: Did you have any business with Keith Schembri or any other link to him?
Cremona: No, nothing.
Prosecution: How did you communicate with him?
Cremona: I think it was always through Signal.
Cremona says there was further communication between them because he kept asking Schembri what might happen next.
“It was a huge trauma for me,” he says, adding that he spent two years taking tranquillisers.
Cremona then addresses the judge directly, saying recordings involving him have ended up in the hands of blogger Simon Mercieca.
“This isn’t going to stop here,” he says. “Technology has advanced and I want to know who sent them to Simon Mercieca.”
The judge nods.
Prosecutors ask Cremona whether he was aware of the friendship between Keith Schembri and Yorgen Fenech.
Cremona says yes, he was aware of it.
‘I had nobody else to talk to’
12.20pm Prosecutors continue questioning Cremona about messages exchanged with Keith Schembri concerning lead investigator Keith Arnaud.
Prosecution: Do you remember speaking about Arnaud or about giving evidence?
Cremona: Yes. We spoke about Arnaud because he was putting a lot of pressure on us. He kept telling me to tell the truth. I was panicking at the time.
Judge: Why did you feel the need to speak to Keith Schembri about Arnaud?
Cremona: I was panicking. Everyone was locked up at the time.
Prosecution: Didn’t you know Schembri was also being questioned about the same matter?
Cremona: It was traumatic for me. I had nobody to talk to.
Cremona says he and Schembri spoke regularly and that he asked him what he thought was going to happen.
Asked about the message “let’s not go up to testify”, Cremona says Arnaud had told him he would eventually have to testify.
Prosecution: Why did you say “we” – in the plural?
Cremona: I don’t know. I don’t remember.
Communicating with Schembri
12.15pm Cremona is shown a screenshot of a chat.
The messages include: “Let’s not go up to testify”, followed by a reference to lead investigator Keith Arnaud and a remark that “we won’t let him”.
Asked whether he exchanged the messages with Keith Schembri, Cremona says that if they came from his phone, he confirms them.
He says he believes the exchange dates back to when police were questioning him.
Asked whether he remembers discussing Arnaud or their testimony with Schembri, Cremona replies: “Yes, I remember we spoke about Arnaud because he was putting a lot of pressure on us.”
Cremona adds that no court had ever ordered him not to communicate with Schembri.
Keith Schembri emerging from court in a previous case. Photo: Chris Sant Fournier'He likes killing, he likes money'
12pm In another recording, Theuma is heard discussing money being given to brothers George and Alfred Degiorgio (later convicted of carrying out the murder).
“I’ll give €100 a week, €100 from him and €100 from the other one,” Theuma is heard saying. Cremona confirms the conversation concerned payments to the brothers.
Theuma also refers to George Degiorgio, known as iċ-Ċiniż, saying: “He likes killing, he likes money.”
At another point, Theuma says “now he can face the problems”, which Cremona says was a reference to Yorgen Fenech.
Theuma expresses fears that the Degiorgios would expose only him. Cremona is heard trying to reassure him, telling him he had “bad thoughts” in his head and asking what the brothers would gain by exposing him while they were in prison.
‘Keith started being afraid’
11.45am Jurors hear another recorded conversation in which Cremona tells Theuma that Keith Schembri had become afraid of him.
Cremona says Schembri, unlike Kenneth Camilleri, “knows what’s going on” and was worried about Theuma. He appears to suggest that Schembri knew about an impending police operation.
The conversation becomes difficult to follow, but we can hear Cremona referring to a phone call and warning Theuma not to mention certain things over the phone.
He also refers to someone taking a phone away from another person who was about to call “her son (Matthew Caruana Galizia) and (lawyer and former PN leader) Simon Busuttil”.
Admits inventing call to Camilleri
11.40am Jurors hear another recording in which Cremona reassures Theuma: “There’s nothing on you... not even that phone call.”
Cremona says he was trying to convince Theuma that police had nothing on him.
In the recording, Cremona also tells Theuma that he had spoken to Kenneth Camilleri the previous day and that Camilleri had told him there was “nothing” against him.
Cremona now tells jurors that phone call to Camilleri never happened. He says he invented it to calm Theuma down.
‘Yorgen has a lot to say’
11.35am Jurors are hearing another secretly recorded conversation between Melvin Theuma and Johann Cremona. Please bear with us: these recorded exchanges can be convoluted, with the speakers frequently jumping between people and subjects.
Theuma: Edwin (Brincat, il-Ġojja) told me to put my mind at rest. He said they have nothing on you. If they had found anything, they would have arrested you.
Cremona: Did you tell Edwin that Kenneth (Camilleri) came here?
Theuma: Yes. I told him how it happened. He said that if they had found anything, they would have arrested me.
Cremona: I’m telling you, Yorgen is more important than Keith right now. If Yorgen talks, Keith could end up in trouble. You always talk to me about Keith, but Yorgen has a lot to say. Yorgen has a lot to say about (Silvio) Valletta (former police assistant commissioner). Forget Keith.
Theuma: Send Keith a message and tell him to put my mind at rest.
Theuma then appears to refer to money and the Degiorgios.
Theuma: He told me, “Get me out of this.” Go and tell Fredu (Degiorgio, hitman).
Cremona: Go and tell them not to bother you.
Theuma: If I don’t sort this out, I’ll go to the other one tomorrow.
Cremona: To Keith?
Theuma: To Raymond. I’ll tell him to give me fifty.
Cremona: Don’t go to Keith because he’s involved in the story.
Theuma: Yes, but I’ll tell him. Keith Schembri definitely knows the story.
Cremona: I would send Keith a message and tell him: “Listen, call Ray Fenech and tell him Melvin is here.”
Background: Edwin Brincat, known as il-Ġojja, was a close friend and confidant of Theuma, who knew about the secret recordings Theuma had made. Kenneth Camilleri was a member of then-prime minister Joseph Muscat’s security detail who, according to evidence heard during the trial, met Theuma after being taken to him by Johann Cremona.
Cremona denies plan to pin murder on Cardona
11am In another recording, Cremona suggests to Theuma that he, Theuma and Yorgen Fenech could arrange monthly payments of €2,000 each to George Degiorgio, Alfred Degiorgio and Vince Muscat, il-Koħħu.
Cremona tells jurors that no such arrangement ever materialised.
He also denies Theuma’s claim that a meeting had taken place at which they agreed to shift the blame for the murder onto (former minister) Chris Cardona.
Cremona says that at the time, Fenech was staying at a ranch in Żebbuġ. On one occasion, Cremona drove Theuma there to drop off a bag of clothes. Fenech met them near the road, but Cremona insists there was never any discussion about pinning the murder on Cardona.
‘They want to raid you because they’re under pressure’
10.50am Cremona is heard telling Theuma that everything hinged on something Theuma himself had said in a recording.
He also tells him: “Prepare the recording and I’ll go to the commissioner and Yorgen Fenech.”
Cremona says Theuma had told him the police commissioner knew about the recordings, but he cannot recall which phrase he was referring to.
Cremona is then heard saying police wanted to raid Theuma because they were under pressure.
'The power is in your hands'
10.45am Cremona says Fenech knew there was a “problem” after discovering that Theuma had been secretly recording him.
Cremona says he had been patient with Theuma for a long time and would try to manage his changing moods and calm him down before leaving him.
In the recording, Cremona tells Theuma: “You have the recordings in your hands... the power is in your hands.”
Cremona insists he never heard the recordings, but says he was hardly going to tell Theuma that what he had “was worth nothing”.
'The know Yorgen engaged you'
10.37am In another recording, Cremona is heard telling Theuma: “They know everything - that Yorgen engaged you.”
Cremona confirms he was referring to investigators allegedly knowing that Yorgen Fenech had engaged Theuma. But he insists he had no such information himself and was simply bluffing and going along with Theuma.
Another excerpt appears to contain a reference to someone taking cocaine, but no further explanation is given about the context.
Melvin Theuma outside court in a file photo.Fears of Theuma's name emerging
10.35am In another recording, Cremona is heard telling Theuma: “(lead investigator) Keith Arnaud is saying he cannot go and pick someone up without evidence.”
Cremona says he cannot remember the context of that conversation but that it was most probably more bluff.
He is also heard saying: “If the media had mentioned your name nine months ago...”
Cremona tells the court he was referring to the period when convicted hitman Vince Muscat, il-Koħħu, began speaking to police, saying that had the media known at the time, Theuma’s name would have emerged.
'More bluff'
10.30am Prosecutors continue playing excerpts from secretly recorded conversations between Johann Cremona and Melvin Theuma and asking Cremona to explain his words.
In one recording, Cremona is heard saying: “They’re going to get them... they’ve been under surveillance for some time.”
Cremona tells the court this was more bluff, as he says he often did when speaking to Theuma.
In another excerpt, Cremona tells Theuma: “You’ve been mentioned in the media, but they can’t mention your name.”
Cremona takes the stand
10.25am Toma's testimony is over.
Up next is Johann Cremona, a business associate of Yorgen Fenech. During the past two days we have been hearing his testimony as well as secret recordings heard between him and the self-confessed middleman in Daphne's murder - Melvin Theuma.
Questions on phone extraction
10.05am The Europol witness is facing cross-examination from defence lawyer Giannella De Marco:
Dr Marco: Would I be correct in saying you were not appointed as an expert by the magistrate to examine the phones?
Toma: I was tasked by my line manager to examine the phones.
De Marco: Did you ever discuss the iPhone with the magistrate?
Toma: No. My communication was strictly with my line manager.
De Marco: Who was giving you instructions?
Toma: My line manager.
De Marco: Do you know why your line manager told you to stop the extraction? Did he tell you there were any leaks coming from that phone?
Toma: No. I was instructed to stop. He never mentioned anything or gave me a reason.
De Marco: Did he tell you there were too many leaks from that phone?
Toma: No.
De Marco: Who had access to the phone?
Toma: I was the only person accessing the phone.
De Marco: Did you at any point give the Maltese police access to the phone or to any partial extraction?
Toma: I don’t remember.
De Marco: Don’t you have notes?
Toma: I’m not allowed to keep notes.
Passcode
10am Toma says Europol managed to identify the six-digit passcode for one of the iPhones, but her manager subsequently instructed her to stop the partial extraction process. The second iPhone remained locked.
She then extracted data from the SIM cards, while the phones were passed to another Europol colleague for further work.
One phone could not be unlocked
9.40am Europol carried out forensic extractions from Samsung and iPhone devices and SIM cards handed over by the Maltese police. The work was carried out at Europol’s headquarters.
Two other iPhones were protected by six-digit passcodes. Toma explains that while some devices can be accessed without the code, others require a brute-force system to try possible combinations.
One of the phones could not be accessed, as the system was unable to determine its six-digit passcode.
Data analysis
9.25am Toma says her report covered the extraction and analysis of data from electronic devices belonging to Melvin Theuma, Charmaine Farrugia, Shainne Farrugia and Ryan Farrugia.
A separate report covered forensic work carried out from November 15, 2019 onwards, following instructions issued through the magisterial inquiry.
The exhibits had been seized during searches linked to Theuma in 2019 and included storage devices used by Theuma, from which forensic images were created for analysis.
Expert details forensic extraction work
9.18am Toma is testifying about a forensic report covering work carried out between November 15 and December 2019.
She says her task was primarily to provide forensic extraction support, with the extracted material then categorised for analysis.
Once again, the sound quality inside the courtroom is poor.
Court in session
9.10am The judge and jury are out. Yulia Toma, a forensic expert who worked with Europol between 2019 and 2023, is next to testify by video link.
Inside Hall 22
8.50am Clara Farrugia will be inside the courtroom. The judge and jurors will be out shortly.
Secret conversations
8.40am On Wednesday, jurors heard a series of secretly recorded conversations between murder middleman Melvin Theuma and businessman Johann Cremona.
Who are the main players?
8.35am Let's take a look at the key figures in this complex case.
Yorgen Fenech: a business tycoon and heir to a family fortune, and the man in the dock: Fenech is accused of complicity in Caruana Galizia's murder;
Melvin Theuma: a taxi driver who worked for Fenech and who has testified that he served as a middleman between Fenech and the alleged hitmen;
Vince Muscat, Alfred Degiorgio, George Degiorgio: the convicted hitmen;
Keith Schembri: a friend of Fenech's and the chief of staff to Joseph Muscat when he was prime minister;
Johann Cremona: a business associate of Yorgen Fenech;
Lawrence Cutajar: the former police commissioner
Edwina Grima: the presiding judge;
Keith Arnaud, Kurt Zahra: the lead police investigators and prosecutors;
Godwin Cini, Anthony Vella, and Danika Vella: the lawyers leading the Attorney General's office prosecution;
Giannella de Marco, Gianluca Caruana Curran, Charles Mercieca: Yorgen Fenech's legal team;
Jason Azzopardi, Therese Comodini Cachia: lawyers appearing for the Caruana Galizia family.
Good morning
8.30am Good morning and welcome to our live blog detailing the 20th day of Yorgen Fenech's trial. We will be bringing you updates as they happen.