Former Police Commissioner Lawrence Cutajar faced intense questioning and scrutiny over his meetings and phone calls with Edwin ‘Il-Gojja’ Brincat during his testimony on the 16th day of the trial against Fenech.

Cutajar faced questions about his meetings and messages with Brincat before Theuma’s arrest; an intercepted phone call between Brincat and himself, taken the day before the former testified; and a reference in Theuma’s secret recordings to his securing a pardon against a fee.

Meetings With Edwin Brincat

The bulk of his testimony was focused on his episodes with Edwin ‘Il-Gojja’ Brincat, who finished testifying earlier in the day.

Cutajar admitted that he personally met Brincat – at his home – around May 2019, using a traffic fine as a pretext. In those meetings, he asked about Theuma’s tape. Cutajar tried to frame it as an ordinary investigative initiative.

He was evasive on details like whether he knew Brincat was coming, and on when – or whether – he told the magistrate, secret services and investigators.

“I don’t remember,” he said.

Cutajar confirmed chats between himself and Brincat. The first message, sent on Monday 21st October 2019, includes Brincat sending over the now-infamous fine.

“Ok, I’ll take a look and get back to you,” he replies.

On Wednesday 23 October, a deferment of the case, requested by Brincat, was confirmed by Cutajar.

The next message, on Saturday 9th November, a few days before Theuma and Brincat’s arrest, Cutajar asks: “Hi, you’re alone.”

The following Tuesday and Wednesday, Brincat sent messages to Cutajar: “5 pm – ok?” Theuma and Brincat were arrested on the Thursday.

“I continue chasing after him. He was trying to avoid me. I was trying my hardest to discover where these tapes were,” Cutajar told the court.

Inspector Nicholas Vella testified that he told Cutajar on 5th November that the raids were set for 16 November; on 12th November, Cutajar and Brincat arranged to meet; on 13th November, Theuma stayed off work and began clearing out his belongings.

The defence’s clear implication was that there was a tip-off. Cutajar’s response was: ” He cleared out nothing, because everything was found”.

Cutajar maintained that he had informed the investigators and a magistrate about his contacts with Brincat of his own accord. The defence put a different sequence to him: that the Malta Security Service had caught him, informed Magistrate Vella, and summoned him to the depot at night, where he was confronted with the chat in his own office.

On the recording, the defence noted, Cutajar himself refers to handing over the information only after he was caught.

The exchange sharpened until defence lawyer Gianella de Marco told Cutajar directly: “This is not a question of politics. You are corrupt.” The judge intervened to stop her.

Cutajar held his ground, insisting the police had solved a case built around a bomb that left no trace of evidence and had managed to bring it this far.

The intercepted phone call with Edwin Brincat before testimony

Cutajar said he could not remember whether he had spoken to anyone about the case before he testified in July 2020. He was asked if he had spoken to Brincat in June 2020. He said he could not remember.

An intercepted phone call between Cutajar and Brincat, recorded in June 2020, the day before Brincat’s testimony in the compilation of evidence, was played in court. The tape had previously been played in court in Brincat’s testimony but blocked from reporting before Cutajar testified.

In the tape, Brincat calls Cutajar to discuss the outline of their meetings, including how many times they met, what was discussed, and how they knew each other. The conversation, 15 minutes long, has been subject to intense scrutiny, with the defence insisting that it was evidence of collusion on sworn statements.

In the call, the two discussed how many times they had met, agreeing to say “twice” rather than three, which Brincat said would be hard to explain, and touched on how they knew each other and what had been discussed.

At one point Cutajar is heard saying “ok, we’re agreed, bye bye”; at another, the summons is described as the thing that “saved” him. To each passage put to him, including one where he appears to tell Brincat what to say about the raids, Cutajar’s answer was the same: he had been bluffing, and had never passed on information about the investigation or the raids.

Cutajar said he could not remember when the conversation took place. He did confirm it did happen. At the time, he said, he was no longer Police Commissioner.

This phone call and other conversations were the focus of intense scrutiny by the defence.

“Have you lied under oath?” Gianella de Marco as she opened the cross-examination.

“I’m not denying the phone call took place. I don’t remember when it happened,” he said.

Confronted, Cutajar’s only answer is that he “forgot the phone call.”

Theuma’s recordings: Cutajar & The Pardon

Cutajar also faced intense scrutiny after his name was mentioned in secret recordings between Melvin Theuma and Johann Cremona, a business partner of Yorgen Fenech and a tenant of Theuma’s.

In those tapes, there is a reference to Theuma, through Brincat, securing a pardon from Cutajar for a fee of 15,000 euros. This, Theuma and others have said, was never the truth, but rather an attempt by Theuma to flex his connections to Fenech, even if they were non-existent, amid fears that he could be killed.

Cutajar resoundingly denied the claim. He said that he did not even have the power to secure a pardon. This is correct – and the power to issue the pardon rests with the President at the Prime Minister’s request following advice from key authorities like the police and attorney general.

Cutajar’s Role in the Murder Investigation

At the start of his testimony, Cutajar stated that his lawyer, Ezekiel Psaila, had told him that he would not be able to answer all questions, given that he’s subject to magisterial inquiry concerning leaks from the police in the investigation.

He repeatedly leaned on that, along with the loss of his personal notes and I don’t remember”s, especially on dates and on who told whom what.

Cutajar traced his involvement, as Police Commissioner, in the investigation from October 2017 onwards, including the hitmen’s arrest, Muscat’s request for a pardon, and the emergence of Theuma’s recordings and the subsequent money-laundering investigation.

He confirmed that he attended two update meetings with then-Prime Minister Joseph Muscat, Keith Schembri and the Attorney General. These meetings took place after Silvio Valletta, who had begun them, was removed from the case by court order.