A top official at the State-owned Housing Maintenance and Embellishment company withheld a pay cheque for Melvin Theuma in October 2017 when he realised that Theuma did not work there, a court was told.
George Lauria was testifying in proceedings against former OPM chief of staff Keith Schembri and other senior government officials who stand accused of having allegedly given Theuma a job he never turned up for.
Investigations confirmed that Theuma, the taxi driver who was the middleman in the plot to murder Daphne Caruana Galizia, had been given that ‘messenger/driver’ job five months before the October 2017 assassination.
The former head of customer care at the Office of the Prime Minister, Sandro Craus, the former family ministry secretary Anthony Mario Ellul and former CEO of the Housing Maintenance and Embellishment Company Ltd (HME Co Ltd) Anthony Muscat along with Schembri are pleading not guilty to theft and misappropriation.
“To me, he [Theuma] did not work [at the company]," Lauria said.
The witness, who succeeded Anthony Muscat as CEO on October 10, 2017, explained how he was manually preparing pay cheques for employees when he came across Theuma’s name on the payroll.
It was normal procedure whereby employee names were filled in on cheques from a list, then signed and posted to the recipient.
Previous month's cheque also not sent to Theuma
He said a previous cheque, issued towards the end of September 2017 and addressed to Theuma, had not been mailed although it had been signed by his predecessors, Lauria said.
“That was ready in Melvin Theuma’s name,” he said.
“What happened to those cheques?” came the next question.
“I kept them. I realised that Melvin Theuma was not working. Then police turned up and asked for all information.”
“So Anthony Muscat, your predecessor, took the same decision as you?” asked Muscat’s lawyer, Stefano Filletti.
“He has to answer that [question],” replied the witness.
Pressed further to clarify whether Theuma was actually employed at the company or not, the witness replied “to me, he wasn’t”.
“Was he [Theuma] on the company books?” intervened presiding Magistrate Monica Vella.
“Yes,” came the unequivocal reply.
“And did you terminate his job?”
“No.”
The witness’s previous assertion that the September cheque had been signed by his predecessors, Muscat and Ellul, was questioned by Ellul’s lawyer, Vince Micallef.
“As far as I know, the signatories on the cheques were the CEO and the board chairman,” explained Lauria.
However, the lawyer pointed out that his client had already left HME Co. Ltd at the time.
Magistrate Vella observed that since those cheques were exhibited in the records of the magisterial inquiry, that fact could be readily verified.
A copy of all cheques issued by the company which actually ended up in Theuma’s bank account, was produced by a bank representative who was summoned for the purpose.
Five cheques issued to Theuma
Details of the transaction history relative to the BOV account in Theuma’s name, dating back to 2017, revealed five cheques, issued by HME Co Ltd and deposited in the account.
The cheque numbers and amounts were also produced in evidence.
Following the bank representative’s testimony, Filletti minuted that if the prosecution believed it had a criminal case against the accused, the bank information just put forward proved that the alleged victim “took the monies which he ought not to have received.”
“The monies were deposited in his personal bank account.”
So if the prosecution truly believed that the co-accused were guilty as charged, Theuma was not only likewise guilty but “today it was also proved that he committed money laundering” said Filletti, reserving the right to further action.
The case continues.
Lawyers Edward Gatt and Mark Vassallo are counsel to Schembri.
Lawyers Charles Mercieca, Gianluca Caruana Curran and Marion Camilleri are counsel to Fenech.
Lawyer Stefano Filletti is counsel to Muscat.
Lawyers Michael Sciriha and Roberto Spiteri are counsel to Craus.
Lawyer Vince Micallef is counsel to Ellul.