‘You have no balls to tell the truth’ – Caruana Galizia’s commissioned murderer tells middleman Theuma

A dramatic confrontation between pardoned middleman Melvin Theuma and convicted murderer George Degiorgio brought Thursday’s sitting in the trial of Yorgen Fenech to an explosive end, with the two men trading accusations of lying over the assassination of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia.

Degiorgio, who is serving a 40-year prison sentence after admitting his role in the 2017 car bomb assassination, repeatedly accused Theuma of not telling the truth, at one point telling him: “You have no balls, tell the truth. You’re here thanks to a pardon, tell the truth.”

The outburst sparked loud shouting across the courtroom as Degiorgio claimed he and his brother Alfred had not been granted pardons because they were prepared to reveal information about “all the big fish”.

“They never gave us a pardon because we were going to reveal everything. Including all politicians,” Degiorgio said during an earlier exchange.

The confrontation was requested by Fenech’s defence team following two days of cross-examination of Theuma, the prosecution’s key witness against the businessman accused of commissioning Caruana Galizia’s murder.

Degiorgio claimed that when Theuma first approached the brothers with the request to murder the journalist, they wanted to know who was behind it.

According to Degiorgio, Theuma eventually replied: “Keith, obviously,” which he understood to mean then-prime minister Joseph Muscat’s chief of staff, Keith Schembri.

Degiorgio further claimed that he and his brother subsequently went to then-economy minister Chris Cardona’s office to verify who had sent Theuma, alleging Cardona also identified Schembri.

Theuma categorically denied the claims, telling Degiorgio: “You, of all people, are not going to make me look like a liar.”

He insisted he had never mentioned either Schembri or Fenech to the Degiorgios. Degiorgio countered that he had told Theuma that Schembri would know once the murder had been carried out, claiming Theuma lowered his head and smiled.

Earlier, Theuma was also confronted by former OPM security official Kenneth Camilleri, with the two giving directly conflicting versions about meetings concerning the Degiorgio brothers and their attempts to obtain bail.

Theuma insisted Camilleri had asked him what problem he had with Fenech and had mentioned Schembri. Camilleri denied this, saying Theuma raised the Degiorgios’ bail and that he moved away to call Schembri.

The day’s cross-examination also focused heavily on Edgar Brincat, known as il-Ġojja, whom Theuma acknowledged had encouraged him to mention particular names in his secret recordings.

Theuma told the court he had to mention Schembri in recordings to strengthen the evidence he could eventually use when seeking a presidential pardon. He nevertheless rejected defence suggestions that his eventual pardon had been engineered with assistance from then-police commissioner Lawrence Cutajar.