The middleman in the Daphne Caruana Galizia assassination said that Yorgen Fenech had passed on to him sensitive information he was getting from his ‘close’ friend, former chief of staff Keith Schembri, who would “step into the flames” on his account. 

Melvin Theuma made the claims during cross examination on Thursday in the compilation of evidence against Alfred and George Degiorgio as well as Vincent Muscat, the men accused of killing the journalist in a car bomb on October 16, 2017. 

The Birkirkara taxi driver named several instances when Mr Fenech, who is accused of being complicit in the murder, revealed details about the investigation.

One month after the assassination, Mr Fenech told Mr Theuma that the investigators had traced the coded text message which had allegedly set off the bomb.

Lawyer Jason Azzopardi, who is representing the Caruana Galizia family, pointed out that at that early stage only the service provider, the Malta Security Services, and those who planted the bomb, had knowledge of that message. 

"And Yorgen," Mr Theuma said.

"Hold on. How was Fenech getting the information?” Dr Azzopardi asked.

"I believe he was getting the information from Keith Schembri. But I can't vouch for it. I never asked him outright," Mr Theuma said. 

Mr Fenech had also told the middleman to warn the murderers of “a very big raid on December 5.” 

Following the arrests, Mr Fenech had always insisted that Vince Muscat was speaking to police and was asking for a pardon to reveal what he knew about the murder.

"He once even told me that the issue of (Muscat's) pardon was being put to cabinet,” said Mr Theuma. 

“How did Yorgen know that il-Koħħu (Muscat) was talking to police?" Dr Azzopardi asked.

"Because obviously Keith (Schembri) told him," Mr Theuma replied. “Yorgen told me himself he was getting help from Schembri. Keith would do anything in Yorgen's defence."

It was also Mr Fenech, the man who had allegedly commissioned the murder, who later warned the middleman to use WhatsApp and Signal since such calls would not be intercepted. 

The witness insisted that he had never mentioned Yorgen Fenech's name with anyone.

"I would only reveal his name had he not paid. But I was afraid that they would either put me behind bars or kill me, just as he killed Daphne,” explaining further how he had begun to record conversations with Mr Fenech.

When Dr Azzopardi pointed out that Mr Schembri’s name appears to have featured many times in those recordings, Mr Theuma replied, “Yes. I was afraid that the two would collude to get me out of the way."

Mr Theuma also spoke about a visit to his home by Gaming and Betting businessman Johann Cremona and Kenneth (Camilleri) from the Office of the Prime Minister, that resulted in the promise of “bail on the 22nd and a million each.” He recalled another episode where Mr Camilleri had allegedly confronted him with a paper on which were written some mobile numbers, one of which was the middleman’s own old number.

“You are the mastermind behind the Caruana Galizia murder,” Mr Camilleri had allegedly told Mr Theuma, who had promptly rebutted, “No, I’m not.”

The middleman also confirmed that he was the one who had written a letter where he implicated both Mr Fenech and Mr Schembri in the murder, and claimed they were trying to eliminate him.

"I included Keith Schembri in that letter to show Yorgen Fenech what I knew.  But under oath I cannot say that I ever got orders or money from Schembri,” he told the court.

“But that’s only what I know. I don’t know what went on between Yorgen and anyone else. Had Schembri spoken to me about the murder, I would have recorded him too. But Yorgen did tell me that Keith passed on information to him."

He also said that Fenech had sent him messages, hard copies of which were put in s plastic box along with some devices, a copy of the letter and the photo at Castille, which box was opened in the presence of the magistrate after the middleman's arrest.

During Thursday’s hearing, recordings of a number of phone calls by the Degiorgio brothers from jail to their brother Mario, alongside Mr Theuma, were aired in court.

In one particular call, George Degiorgio was heard swearing profusely, evidently angry, telling his brother to speak to the lawyer about bail. 

In another call, reference is made to “ix-xih (the senior or old man)”

“I once told Yorgen that if I were him, I would go to the Prime Minister," in relation to the bail request, Theuma said, by way of explanation. 

Mr Theuma explained how he once was introduced to Keith Schembri at Mr Fenech's farmhouse at Żebbuġ, before recounting how he met him a second time at Castille after being told by Sandro Craus to go there shortly after the murder had been commissioned.

That visit had landed him a job with the government without needing to show up for it and still getting paid. The job was terminated in August 2017.

After the murder was carried out, Theuma had gone to Portomaso where Fenech was in a meeting.

"A certain Turab was there. I knew him because I sometimes drove him in my taxi,” said Theuma, identifying the man in a photo shown by Dr Azzopardi.

This was Turab Musajev, a director of Electrogas from Azerbaijan, the lawyer explained.
 
Within 48 hours of the December 5 arrests, Mr Theuma had prepared and registered his final will. 

"I was afraid," he told the court, presided over by magistrate Claire Stafrace Zammit.

Inspectors Keith Arnaud and Kurt Zahra prosecuted, assisted by Dr Philip Galea Farrugia from the AG’s Office.

Lawyers Marc Sant and Josette Sultana were defence counsel.

Murder middleman ‘once gave Daphne a lift’

The man who says he arranged the murder of Daphne Caruana Galizia, told a court he also once gave the journalist a lift in his taxi.

Melvin Theuma recalled the incident when asked about the first time Yorgen Fenech had told him he wanted Ms Caruana Galizia dead, in April 2017.

Mr Theuma, a taxi driver by trade, said he did not know the journalist, who exposed corruption in her popular blog ‘Running Commentary’.  

However, he said he recalled a singular episode when he was once at his taxi and had come across her. 
 
“Her car tyres had been slashed and I drove her to her destination and did not even charge her," he said.