Superintendent Nicholas Vella, the officer who physically arrested Melvin Theuma and led the money-laundering investigation that produced the ice-cream box and preceded Theuma’s presidential pardon, walked the jury through the evidence, the phantom job, and the wider findings of his investigation.

Vella, the latest to testify in the trial against Yorgen Fenech, detailed how he was one of the first on the scene on 16 October 2017, when serving as an inspector at the Mosta station. He traced the leased number plate of the bombed vehicle – Caruana Galizia’s rented Peugeot 108 – and later assisted court expert Martin Bajada in gathering CCTV from the rental company.

However, much of his testimony focused on the 2019 money-laundering investigation into Theuma. On 9 September 2019, he was tasked by Assistant Commissioner Ian Abdilla with investigating Theuma. The case, he said, was framed around Theuma’s illegal lotto, money laundering and tax evasion; but he was informed it could also be connected to the murder.

Over the next two months, Vella built the case, and on 12 November asked a magistrate to open an inquiry into the findings.

An operation to arrest Theuma was planned for Saturday 16 November, the day of Theuma’s “Super 5” illegal lotto, Vella explained. However, on the Thursday prior, Vella noticed Theuma breaking his routine and, via the security services, learned he was moving items out of his Marsaskala base by van.

Fearing evidence destruction, Vella brought the arrest forward, localised Theuma’s phone as it moved south, and arrested him in Żurrieq at around 10:30am, alone, telling him it was for suspected money laundering and illegal lotto.

The ice-cream box

“Theuma told me: wherever that ice-cream box goes, I go. It was always me, him and the box,” Vella told jurors.

Vella sealed the box and kept constant watch over it. Opened later on video — before Theuma, his lawyers, investigators and the magistrate: it contained a voice recorder, USBs, mobiles, papers, a Faraday bag holding his phone, and photographs, including a photo of Theuma with Keith Schembri and images of chats with Yorgen Fenech.

On arrest, Theuma asked for a lawyer: naming, per Vella’s recollection, Simon Busuttil, Jason Azzopardi or Karol Aquilina, all opposition figures, though Vella added that Theuma mentioned names “from the government side too”. He also asked for Keith Arnaud by name, and for the Police Commissioner, at the time, Lawrence Cutajar. 

Under cross-examination, Vella confirmed Cutajar was not present when the box was opened at around ten that night.

The task force analysing the extracted data, of which Vella was part, triggered further investigations, including into the “phantom job”. The data also surfaced chats between Edgar Brincat and a police commissioner, and chats urging Theuma to come forward.

Melvin Theuma’s Arrest: Cars, Properties And Over €750,000 Discovered 

Simultaneous raids at Marsaskala, Mellieħa and Ħal Qormi netted five vehicles – a Jaguar, a Mercedes GLC, a Nissan Leaf, a Kia Sportage and a Toyota Passo – and large sums in cash: €112,304 from the Ħal Qormi residence where Theuma’s partner’s daughter lived; €550,207 plus foreign currency from a property in Żurrieq; and €132,445 in a shopping bag belonging to Carmela Catania, mother of Theuma’s partner Charmaine.

Theuma’s partner Charmaine and her daughter Chayenne admitted to charges against them, receiving suspended sentences and fines. Proceedings against Ryan Farrugia, Chayenne’s partner, are ongoing, and Theuma, whose pardon requires his testimony, has not yet testified in that case.

Vella confirmed the €132,445 was returned to Carmela Catania by a magistrate after she explained it as an inheritance.

Theuma’s wealth

Theuma’s wealth was the subject of intense cross-examination by Fenech’s defence team. Under questioning from Gianella de Marco, Vella confirmed Theuma declared roughly €250,000 in income over 12 years (2006-2018) — around €20,000 a year.

Against that, investigators identified at least 11 properties definitively in his possession, out of some 19 to 21 property documents in his name, with others rented out or passed on; around €1 million that circulated through his BOV account; and two taxi licences with a combined value Vella put at around €600,000 – the value, he explained, lying in the permits rather than the vehicles. 

Vella described the illegal lotto as effectively “one of the only” operations of its kind in Malta, run with his family’s help.

Under a freezing order, Theuma cannot sell his properties and assets but continues to benefit from buildings and cars that are rented out.

De Marco also pressed on a court application filed by Vella and Abdilla pursuant to the pardon’s financial terms, which she characterised as seeking the return of some €141,000 to Theuma. Vella said the application was made, has never been upheld, and that the financial analysis underpinning it is incomplete.

The phantom job and the cheques

Vella told the court that the photo of Theuma with Schembri was taken at Castille: Sandro Craus phoned Theuma to come in, and in the office were Theuma, Craus and Schembri. The photo, Vella said, was taken by Craus.

The job itself had the form of a genuine hire. Theuma, Vella said, “went through a full interview and came first” prompting de Marco’s retort: “But he didn’t go to work.”

The most pointed evidence concerned the cheques. Anthony Muscat – a government official involved in the payments, who has since died – told investigators he received a phone call from Keith Schembri once he stopped Theuma’s cheques. 

Theuma, by his own account, then called Yorgen Fenech to ask why the payments had stopped. Shortly afterwards, Muscat received another call from Schembri and resumed issuing the cheques.

The case relating to the phantom job remains open before the courts.