Jurors heard Melvin Theuma’s secret recordings for the first time on Saturday, as prosecutors played tapes in which Yorgen Fenech is heard discussing Daphne Caruana Galizia’s murder, the money that reached the men who carried it out, and the involvement of Keith Schembri.

“When I told him [about the murder], he froze. I told him, there isn’t another way now. He told me….he told me that he wanted her burnt not just once but a hundred times,” Yorgen is heard saying in the tapes.

“There are few people here who know him as well as I do. Keith is going to tell me the same thing he told me every time I spoke to him. I couldn’t have done more than I did.”

“I told him: “What would you have done?” He told me: I would have helped you.  I said to him, “You had no other way out.” I said to him, “Did I do something wrong?” He said to me: What do you mean, wrong! You should have told me beforehand.”

Recordings Played In Court: 

Theuma’s recordings were played in court for the first time in his testimony. Before they began, Theuma apologised to the court and jurors for the prolific swearing in the tapes.

Recording 1: 

The first one played was a conversation between Theuma and Fenech taken on 24th April 2018. It was the first recording Theuma had taken. The recorder was hidden in his sock. Yorgen was not aware he was being recorded. In the conversation, the two men discuss Vince Muscat, his request for a pardon, and his discussions with the police.

“Stay calm, eh. Listen and don’t rush, because I don’t even know if it’s a good idea to pass them on to them,” Yorgen says. Theuma confirmed they were discussing passing on money to the Degiorgios.

“Are you sure that [Vince] definitely knows nothing? And how does their brother [Mario Degiorgio] talk to you? Well, [Vince] spoke. I think he did that on purpose to send a message.”

“Il-Kohhu is saying that he doesn’t know who ordered it – but he knows who the middleman is,” Yorgen Fenech adds. “I never gave them your name,” Theuma replies. “It’s better like that,” Fenech says.

“[Vince] knows we have friends like Valletta, right?” Fenech asks. 

“You’re not going to tell him that you brought me into it?” Theuma replies, confirming that he was talking about Daphne’s murder. “You don’t need to panic, listen to me,” Fenech says. 

“Don’t remove anything from the bank. Don’t shift banks. In fact, stick to normal things. You have to be careful,” Fenech tells Theuma. “[The hitmen] are being monitored all the time; be careful over the phone.”

The tape ended soon after. Fenech then told Theuma to download Signal on his phone.

Recording 2:

A second tape was played to the court. This is a recording Theuma took of a phone call with Mario Degiorgio, the brother of Alfred and George Degiorgio, after Kenneth Camilleri informed him that the hitmen would secure bail, as Theuma testified. “He sent him eh”, Melvin tells his partner before the calls start, a reference to Keith Schembri.

“I wanted to meet Kenneth to record him, but he never gave me the opportunity,” Theuma said.

Recording 3:

A third recording, another conversation between Theuma and Fenech, was played. In the clip, Theuma picked up Fenech and his children to take them to the airport. “Did you speak to him? Keith said on the 22nd – a million each he mentioned,” Theuma asks. In court, he said in another recording, Fenech confirms that Schembri sent Camilleri.

“What am I going to do?” Theuma asks. “I didn’t promise you anything,” Fenech replies, dismissing the idea that Keith Schembri can help secure the pardon. “I’m not going to take the blame for this. I’ll take Alfred’s brother and go straight to Mellieha to Keith’s house,” Theuma says. 

“I had got it into my head that Keith was involved since he sent Kenneth.”

Recording 4:

A fourth recording showed the most extensive conversation between Yorgen and Theuma – touching upon the pardon plan, Schembri, leaks and Muscats’ discussions with police.

“I’m going to Vegas on Monday,” Fenech says at the start. “I’m disappointed you recorded me”. The pair discussed Johann Cremona and how he became aware of the murder.

“I have what to worry about,” Fenech told Theuma. “You have nothing to worry about; I never mentioned your name,” Theuma replied.

“Because he ordered it,” Theuma explained to the court.

In the recorded conversation, Yorgen makes several references to the “€30,000” deposit for the murder. Theuma told the court that Fenech paid the entire €150,000 at once.

“They made [Vince Muscat] talk a little, so that we panic and the government will panic. If there is a problem, it will reach, and I’ll panic you,” Fenech says in the tapes.

The conversation turned to the Degiorgio brothers, and the bail request, or lack thereof. “That bothers me. I told him,” Fenech says. “To Keith, you need to tell Keith,” Theuma replies. “I told him, do you think I didn’t tell him?” Fenech tells Theuma. “I’m with you, not for [money],” Theuma says. 

“If the 22nd comes and these people don’t get bail – I’m going to be right in the middle of it,” Theuma tells Fenech. “You’re not going to be in trouble, and find that I won’t help you,” Fenech replies.

The men continued talking about the pardon. Later on in the conversation, Fenech tells Theuma: “I don’t want to get you involved in certain things. I [spoke to Keith Schembri] for you. You should have told them you would do whatever you can. But I can’t do anything; what can I do? In my view, Keith won’t be able to..”

Fenech then asks about the recordings. “I’m really disappointed that you recorded me; now get them for me,” Fenech tells Theuma. Theuma told the court that he would have never turned the recordings over. “That would have saved him,” he said.

The conversation later switches back to Keith Schembri and the bail request. 

“[Keith] told me that he sent [Kenneth Camilleri] to the garage. He told me, “What are we going to do, Yorgen?” He told me that he did it for me. He told me: Yorgen, I sent [Kenneth Camilleri]”, Fenech says in the tape.

“I am going to call Silvio Valletta to see what’s happening, because you’re worrying me,” Fenech said. This was also a reference to the day when Theuma got drunk and turned off his phone. “I thought they made a scene or did something to you; I called Johann Cremona. I was worried about you. I even checked the hospital,” Fenech adds.

“I told you to watch out for that phone. Keep an eye out,” Fenech says. Theuma said this was because Fenech believed Theuma’s phone was being wiretapped.

Fenech then mentions a meeting between Valletta, Joseph Muscat, Owen Bonnici, Chris Cardona, Keith Schembri and Keith Arnaud. He says this was a Cabinet meeting on Vince Muscat’s pardon request. He said Keith Schembri and Silvio Valletta passed on the information. ‘Ix-Xih’ is mentioned, which Theuma says is a nickname from Muscat.

“I told [Keith Schembri], are you crazy sending Ix-Xih’s driver?” Fenech says. “[Keith] told me that he had three court cases and couldn’t settle those, let alone someone else’s.”

“[Vince Muscat] says you saw him at Busy Bee,” Fenech adds. “Yes,” Theuma replies.

“Yorgen told me that when it comes to the murder, he’s caught between four walls, but on Electrogas, he told me that he did everything perfectly,” Theuma told the court, when asked to explain the interaction a bit more.

The prosecution then moved on to a segment later in the tape. “What I can do, I will do, but I won’t even say I’m going to try. I can’t do anymore.”

“But, let’s say it how it is…he stepped up for me and went into the fire for me, and then he sent [Kenneth Camilleri] to talk to you for me,” Fenech says. “After you sent those messages, they sent him to put pressure on those from Ħaż-Żebbuġ (the Maksar Brothers)”.

“[Vince is speaking about] All of them, all of them. There are about 7. The only thing he is not talking about is the HSBC heist because there are some powerful figures involved,” Fenech then adds. 

“Otherwise, he is speaking about everything and where they got it from, in a house in Zebbug….[Keith Schembri and Silvio Valletta] told me.” 

In court, Theuma divulged further on this conversation. He said that Yorgen Fenech told him Schembri began crying when investigators began identifying who provided the bomb. 

“[Valletta] isn’t as good a friend as [Schembri]. I trust him, and he’s done a lot for me. When I told him [about the murder], he froze. I told him, there isn’t another way now. He told me….he told me that he wanted her burnt not just once but a hundred times.”

“She broke them. They were angry. Joseph and all. She had published that [Keith] was going to die in three months. Whatever he did, he did it for me. But now he’s panicking, and now something funny is going to happen.”

“What am I going to tell [the Degiorgio brothers]?” Theuma then asks. “For now, don’t tell them anything. You can tell them you were passing on a message; that’s the truth,” Fenech says.

“But you should be at ease. You have three levels: the bottom (the hitmen), the middle (himself), and then the top. The bottom gets 10 years, the top gets 7 years, and the middle gets 5,” Fenech says in the tape. “The top was him,” Theuma told the court. 

“If there’s one thing I am not, I am not spiteful. Not like [Daphne]. Like her, I would have thrown her out of here, and I wouldn’t be sad,” Fenech adds. 

The pair spoke further in the depth about Muscat, with Fenech lamenting that he could not understand by he was talking to the police. 

Theuma then revealed to the court that Johann Cremona was also informed that Muscat was talking – and that he had sent two people to threaten Arthur Azzopardi. Muscat has confirmed that Azzopardi withdrew his case due to the threats he was receiving. Cremona had told the court that he was informed Muscat would not be accepting the 12-year pardon, though a note slipped under his door.

Next in the tapes, Fenech mentions that Muscat is talking about other murders, namely ‘Tat-Tyson’. Jonathan ‘Tat-Tyson’ Pace was murdered a few months after he was charged with the attempted murder of Muscat. 

“[The Degiorgios] asked for €10,000 and they gave him a discount at €8,000,” Fenech says in the tape.

“I know what he’s going to I know what he’s going to say, because I know Keith, I know him well. There are few people here who know him as well as I do. Keith is going to tell me the same thing he told me every time I spoke to him. I couldn’t have done more than I did. I told him, “What would you have done?” He told me: I would have helped you.  I said to him, “You had no other way out.” I said to him, “Did I do something wrong?” He said to me: What do you mean, wrong! You should have told me beforehand.”

Still, Theuma was panicked, telling Fenech that he was worried about the protests forming around her murder. 

“You know how many people in Malta are behind [Daphne]? 4,000 bitter people – not even [Adrian] Delia is behind her.”

Yorgen Told Me Arrest Was Coming: Melvin Theuma Details Road To Pardon

Questions turned to 14th November 2019, the day Theuma was arrested. Theuma confirmed that he knew the police were investigating him after the bank closed his accounts and rescinded a sanction letter on a property he purchased in San Gwann.

He confirmed that he had passed the documents to Johann Cremona, who later told him he was under investigation for usury, illegal lotto, and tax evasion. This was a few months before his arrest.

“I ended up recording Johann, and I ended up telling him that I was getting information from the Police Commissioner to show him that I had power”.

“[Johann] would tell me that, if I got arrested, Ray Aquilina (former Police Inspector charged in bribery case with Yorgen Fenech) would come with me to the Police Headquarters. I told Yorgen, and he said that if they arrested me, he would come for pastizzi near the HQ…but Yorgen tried to escape on his yacht when they did.”

Theuma confirmed that it was Fenech who informed him he would be arrested on Saturday 16th November. 

“Two days before, Yorgen and Johann called me. They told me that they were going to arrest me and I needed to clean up everything. That day, it was a Thursday, I went to clean my apartment of evidence of the lotto”

Theuma went to drop off winnings from the previous day’s lotto and made his way to the apartment. He was arrested by Inspector Nicholas Vella in Zurrieq. Theuma’s family members were also arrested. 

“I told [Vella] that I had a box on my seat that I wanted to open in front of a Magistrate and the Attorney General. I didn’t believe anyone apart from them. I thought to myself, Yorgen is a powerful person – and something is going to happen to the recordings.”

Theuma then walked the jurors through the contents of the ice cream box, which was filled with recordings from mobile phones and USB drives, as well as images, including messages and the photo he had taken with Keith Schembri.

Police seized devices, money, and other evidence of the lotto from the apartment. Theuma confirmed that the police returned two cars and money totalling 75,000 euros for him to pay the fines imposed on his partner and her daughter.

Theuma also confirmed that the Caruana Galizia family have opened civil cases against Theuma, Fenech, the Degiorgios, Vince Muscat, and the Maksar brothers. 

At the police headquarters, Theuma requested Jason Azzopardi, Karol Aquilina, and David Casa as his representatives. He said it was because they were public PN figures who spoke out on the murder and 17 Black.

“Yorgen even told me that Theuma offered the PN money to ensure that David Casa would not be elected to the MEPs. He was speaking a lot about 17 Black.”

Theuma then requested Matthew Brincat, his lawyer to this day. He had known him for a long time from Marsa. Kathleen Calleja Grima joined the next day. The two negotiated his pardon. 

“I told the police exactly what I knew. Not what I thought or assumed. Everything I knew, that I heard, that I saw. I only said the truth and not what came into my head. I told them that Yorgen ordered the murder and that I organised it through Alfred Degiorgio.”

Questions turned to Theuma’s mental state after the arrest and how he failed to find an appropriate psychiatrist. This included Mark Xuereb, but he ended up leaving him after learning he was close to Franco Fenech. 

“Then, I couldn’t take it anymore. I couldn’t see any way out,” Theuma said, tears welling up in his eyes. 

Theuma Explains Why Pardon Extends To Heists At HSBC And Casino Di Valletta

Theuma’s pardon covered the murder, his money laundering and the illegal lotto. But it also extended to three other crimes. Theuma explained them to jurors.

“There were three things: the HSBC heist in Balzan, where 1 million was stolen as  George ‘Iċ-Ċiniż’ needed to exchange money. Then I needed to exchange money from the Casino di Venezia robbery for Darren Debono; and the failed heist at the HSBC headquarters in Santa Venera – I rented a flat in Mosta for Alfred Degiorgio and Darren Debono, and one day, they called asking to meet. When I arrived, I found Darren Debono bleeding, and he told me to get a horse doctor.”

Darren Debono received a 10-year prison term for his role in the botched hold-up in 2010, to provide testimony against Vince Muscat, one of the hitmen, for his role in the attempted robbery. Debono has refused to give up the other names.

Interactions with Silvio Valletta, Johann Cremona and Yorgen Fenech

“Yorgen told me that Keith Schembri and Silvio Valletta passed on information,” Theuma told the court.

Theuma claimed that he met Valletta once. Theuma was at Fenech’s ranch when he was sent to pick up some bread. When he returned, he saw Valletta laughing in the driving.

“He was looking at me. I didn’t like it. Then a few days later, I was giving Yorgen a lift to the airport, and he told me: Valletta saw you; he said you weren’t a new face to the police. And I got angry. I asked where Valletta knew me from. Yorgen said that I was taking everything too seriously.”

“One time, Valletta came to Fenech’s office after a court hearing. Yorgen told me: Valletta L-Ohxon (the Fat One) is coming”

“When pressure was rising on Valletta to be removed from the Daphne murder investigation, I spoke to Yorgen about it, and he told me: God forbid he gets removed.”

Theuma said there were three occasions when Yorgen, Theuma, and Johann Cremona met.

The first time, the three men were at Level 21 in Portomaso. “We talked about Daphne’s murder, about the money, about how there was nothing on us. He could not remember when this conversation took place.

On another occasion, during winter, Theuma went to Fenech’s ranch and the pair began talking. 

“I told him that I was scared we would get caught. He told me: If we see something bad coming, I’ll give you 1 million and escape. I told him I wouldn’t leave.”

Theuma had real fears that Fenech would kill him. The court has previously heard how Fenech was attempting to purchase weapons and cyanide from the dark web. Theuma threw it away. Theuma said that his fear was more a belief rather than based on anything he had heard.

One time, Theuma said Fenech called him up to give him a piece of meat. Theuma suspected it might have been poisoned. At the time, he was fearful Fenech was trying to murder him. 

Another time, Fenech had planned a holiday between them in France. This was during the summer of 2019. Theuma cancelled last minute. “I was scared he would murder me in France.”

There was one month when Mario Degiorgio asked for 80,000 to bring Franco Debono on as their lawyers. Theuma could not get through to Fenech. 

“I went near Castille to see whether Kenneth Camilleri or Keith Schembri were there. [Yorgen and Keith] had a private line between them. I left after an hour and a half. I told Edwin Bincat about it, and he said I was crazy.”

“I didn’t end up giving them the 80,000. Whatever money they needed, Yorgen always paid for it.”

“Yorgen would tell me that no one would touch me. He once told me that it wasn’t me who messed up, and that he wouldn’t want the Daphne case to fall all on me.”

Questions turned to Edwin Brincat, a father figure and confidante to Theuma. Brincat has already testified in the case, particularly regarding his meetings and communications with then-Police Commissioner Lawrence Cutajar. Both Brincat and Cutajar have confirmed that in two meetings, Cutajar asked about Theuma’s tapes. 

Theuma confirmed that Brincat shared the episode with him. He corroborated Cutajar and Brincat’s previous testimonies. 

“I told Johann and Yorgen. I went crazy the second I heard. From then on, I always mentioned the Commissioner with Johann. I never spoke to the Commissioner in my life- I spoke to him the first time after I was arrested and discussing my pardon.”

“I did speak about the payments, but it’s not true; they never happened. I never met him.”

Theuma will continue testifying on Monday.