Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1188980
SAVIOUR BALZAN MELVIN Theuma, the mid- dleman who allegedly con- veyed Yorgen Fenech's in- structions to the killers of Daphne Caruana Galizia, was photographed together with the Prime Minister's former chief-of-staff, Keith Schembri, at the office of the Prime Minister. In a grainy copy of the photo obtained exclusive- ly by MaltaToday, Keith Schembri can be seen smil- ing with Theuma, in what is his office at the Auberge de Castille. MaltaToday has been told the photo, which its sources insist is authentic, could have been taken at around March 2017, in a meeting that was arranged by Fene- ch himself – now accused of the assassination of Daphne Caruana Galizia. Behind the smiling pair, a photo of Schembri with Muscat, taken from the his- toric 2013 electoral victory. The photo only serves to now confirm what Schem- bri had been hiding all along: knowledge of and in- timacy with the prime sus- pects in the assassination of the journalist Daphne Caruana Galizi, killed by a car bomb on 16 October, 2017. MaltaToday has also been told that at one point, Theuma was given a gov- ernment job inside the ministry of home affairs, in what was a short-lived stint but which this newspaper has been unable to ascer- tain concretely. Theuma, a taxi driver and loan shark, was then already running a lucrative illegal lottery business, and was taking a cut from all the taxi work at the Hilton at Por- tomaso, the luxury hous- ing marina which the Tu- mas Group built and where Fenech lived. A source said that Theuma simply took a cut from any taxi driver sta- tioned outside the Hilton. It was Theuma who met the three men accused of her murder – George De- giorgio, Alfred Degiorgio, and Vincent Muscat – to contract them for the hit. And it was Theuma – a go-for and fixer for the en- tire Fenech family – who recorded incriminating conversations with Tumas magnate Yorgen Fenech on his mobile phone, during occasions where the taxi driver picked up Fenech to and from the airport. It was in these conver- sations that Theuma ex- pressed his concern with Fenech about the legal problems of the three sus- pects in getting bail from the courts, and where the sum of €450,000 was men- tioned as having been paid for the assassination. But all throughout 2018, as MaltaToday has already reported, Schembri was present in multiple meet- ings between the Malta Security Service and Prime Minister Joseph Muscat, where he was privy to in- formation that Fenech and Theuma were considered prime suspects in the Caru- ana Galizia murder. Schembri has since been released by police on suspi- cion of having played a part in the murder of Caruana Galizia, although Fenech has implicated him and even the Prime Minister in his bid to obtain a presiden- tial pardon. Theuma has been granted the pardon on recommen- dation of the Attorney Gen- eral and the Commissioner of Police. 3 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 1 DECEMBER 2019 NEWS Managed Fund Portfolio Let us do all the work, whilst you enjoy life Simply choose which investment strategy fits your requirements and benefit from the peace of mind that our dedicated investment management team is actively managing your investments and reporting on your managed fund portfolio performance quarterly. CALAMATTA CUSCHIERI INVESTMENT SERVICES (CCIS), IS LICENSED TO CONDUCT INVESTMENT SERVICES BUSINESS BY THE MFSA. INVESTMENTS SHALL BE SUBJECT TO THE TERMS AND CONDITIONS MADE AVAILABLE BY CCIS. THIS IS NOT A CAPITAL GUARANTEED PRODUCT AND THE VALUE OF INVESTMENTS, CAN GO DOWN AS WELL AS UP AND THE CAPITAL INVESTED AND INCOME DERIVED CAN FLUCTUATE. INVESTORS MAY NOT GET THE FULL AMOUNT INVESTED. SIMULATED PAST PERFORMANCE IS NO GUARANTEE OR INDICATOR FOR FUTURE PERFORMANCE. QUOTED FIGURES DOES NOT TAKE TAXES AND CHARGES INTO ACCOUNT. SOME OF THE FUNDS IN THE PORTFOLIO INVEST PRIMARILY IN EQUITIES AND NON INVESTMENT GRADE BONDS THAT CARRY A GREATER ELEMENT OF RISK THAN INVESTMENT GRADE BONDS. THE VALUE OF INVESTMENTS DEPENDS ON THE PERFORMANCE OF THE UNDERLYING UCITS FUNDS, AS SELECTED IN THE INVESTMENT PLAN. B'KARA | VALLETTA | SLIEMA | QORMI | FGURA | MOSTA March 2017: The photo of the two henchmen at Castille Keith Schembri (left) with Melvin Theuma (right)