Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1191618
12.12.19 2 KURT SANSONE FROM PAGE 1 MELVIN euma, the middleman in the Daphne Caruana Galizia murder, had feared being blamed for the assas- sination in a plan hatched by Yorgen Fenech and Keith Schembri. Testifying in the first session of the compilation of evidence against Fenech, the middleman spoke of a visit he had received from a "Kenneth from Cas- tille", a man he believed was sent by the prime minister's former chief of staff Keith Schembri. euma told the court that Kenneth had asked him to inform the three men who were accused of the murder that they would be granted bail and receive €1 million each. But this Kenneth also accused eu- ma of being the mastermind behind the assassination. e Kenneth being mentioned here is a certain Kenneth Camilleri, who at one point worked as a security detail with the Prime Minister and was then employed with Transport Malta. Camilleri is also close to Schem- bri. euma has been given a presidential pardon to tell all about the murder. Appearing in front of Magistrate Ra- chel Montebello, euma said that Kenneth had showed him three mobile phone numbers, one of which was his old number. "Kenneth accused me of being the masterming. I told him that Yorgen Fenech was the mastermind… I men- tioned Yorgen Fenech by name because I felt the betrayal had begun and they were trying to pin the murder on me," euma said. e middleman said that it was Fenech who mentioned Keith Schembri and no one else. "Yorgen had told me that 'Keith sent Kenneth because of me... the million-euro bail deal should never have been mentioned to you'," euma told the court. Schembri had been mentioned in a letter euma had penned as an insur- ance of sorts, should he be eliminated. In court, euma said that he put Schembri's name on the paper because he was worried that he would arrange for him to be jailed. "I cannot say under oath that Keith ever paid me for the murder... for the rest of it he has nothing to do with an- ything," euma said, implying that Schembri's involvement may have come after the murder as a favour to his close friend Yorgen Fenech. In one of the recorded conversation between Fenech and euma, the for- mer is understood to have said that Keith Schembri went cold when he in- formed him of what happened. When asked why he had gone to Yor- gen Fenech with recordings of conver- sations and photos, euma said that he was scared that Fenech and Schembri were planning to kill him. "Like he murdered Daphne Caruana Galizia he could murder me," euma said, adding the recordings were in- tended to give Fenech a signal that even if he was eliminated the information would still come out. euma testified how the three men accused of the murder did not know that Fenech was the mastermind and feared they would take it out on him. Fenech stands accused of being the mastermind behind Caruana Galizia's murder. He had asked euma to get in touch with the Degiorgio brothers sometime in the first months of 2017 because he wanted to kill Caruana Gal- izia. euma told the court that initially Yorgen said the journalist was going to publish information about his uncle, Ray Fenech and that is why he wanted to eliminate her. But euma later un- derstood that Yorgen was worried be- cause the information would concern him and not his uncle. e assassination plan was briefly in- terrupted when the election was called but on the Sunday when the election re- sult was out, Fenech asked euma to continue with the plans. Two weeks later, Fenech handed eu- ma a brown envelope with €150,000 in- side, which was the price asked by the executors. euma testified that Fenech was be- ing kept abreast of progress in the mur- der investigation. e businessman had been tipped off about the massive police raid on the potato shed in Marsa in De- cember 2017 and also knew that Vince Muscat, one of the accused, was talking to the police. Earlier in the sitting, Inspector Keith Arnaud testified at how the police pains- takingly arrived at the mastermind. Arnaud said the police had continued monitoring the behaviour of the three accused in prison and managed to trace a link with Melvin euma, who pro- vided them with money for their legal expenses and bail attempts. Arnaud said euma was arrested last month after a raid to clamp down on clandestine lotteries and money laun- dering. e police found a sealed plastic box in euma's possession, which con- tained pen drives with voice recordings, a colour photo of him standing next to Keith Schembri and a letter. It was after this arrest that euma decided to spill the beans on condition he was given a presidential pardon. Caruana Galizia was murdered on 16 October 2017 in a powerful car bomb explosion just after she left her house in Bidnija. What is a compilation of evidence? e compilation of evidence is a pre-trial evidence gathering exercise which often spans months, if not years. Every witness and piece of evidence presented before the court during this stage of proceedings can be disclosed to jurors in an eventual trial. But before that, the compiling magistrate must de- cree that there is sufficient prima facie evidence for a bill of indictment to be issued. Fenech stands accused of promoting, organising or financing a group with the intention of carrying out a criminal offence, actively participating in this criminal organisation by giving infor- mation, material means or the recruit- ment of new members whilst aware of the purpose of this organisation, com- plicity in the wilful homicide of Daphne Caruana Galizia, conspiracy to commit a crime in Malta punishable by impris- onment and complicity in causing an explosion which caused Caruana Gali- zia's death. If convicted by a jury on the complici- ty in homicide charge, he faces a possi- ble life sentence. Who are the courtroom players? Yorgen Fenech is being represented by lawyers Gianluca Caruana Curran and Marion Camilleri. e prosecution is being led by police inspectors Keith Arnaud and Kurt Zah- ra. ey are being assisted by deputy attorney general Philip Galea Farrugia. Lawyers erese Comodini Cachia and Andrew Borg Cardona have ap- peared for the Caruana Galizia family as an interested party in the case. e case is presided by Magistrate Rachel Montebello. kansone@mediatoday.com.mt Caruana Galizia assassination: Middleman feared that Yorgen Fenech and Keith Schembri would pin murder on him NEWS In recorded conversations between Yorgen Fenech and Melvin euma, the former spoke of soliciting Keith Schembri's help to secure bail for three men accused with Daphne Caruana Galizia's murder