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4 NEWS maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 12 OCTOBER 2022 4 NEWS MATTHEW AGIUS MAGISTRATE Monica Vel- la has rejected a request to ex- punge testimony given last week by Melvin Theuma in the crimi- nal case concerning his phantom government job. Charges were filed against several government officials, including former OPM chief of staff Keith Schembri, and Daphne Caruana Galizia mur- der mastermind suspect, Yor- gen Fenech. During today's sitting, the police also denied allegations made in court by Keith Schem- bri's lawyers, who claimed that Melvin Theuma had recently been arrested in connection with the fake job investigation. Theuma, the self-confessed middleman in the plot to mur- der Daphne Caruana Galizia, had been granted a pardon for a number of crimes in return for his testimony against the alleged perpetrators. The criminal proceedings against Keith Schembri, the former chief of staff at the Of- fice of the Prime Minister, Yor- gen Fenech, former OPM cus- tomer care chief Sandro Craus, former private secretary in the family ministry Anthony Ellul and former Housing Mainte- nance and Embellishment Co Ltd CEO Anthony Muscat, continued before Magistrate Monica Vella on Tuesday af- ternoon. As the sitting began the mag- istrate issued a decree confirm- ing that Melvin Theuma's testi- mony before her last week, was not to be expunged from the evidence in these proceedings. The magistrate noted that the proceedings before her were intended to gather and pre- serve evidence, and not to take decisions about the evidence, explaining that to do so would be usurping the functions of the Criminal Court. The point of the proceedings was to collect the evidence in- dicated by the Attorney Gener- al, she said. The Criminal Court will then use this evidence to decide on guilt or innocence. The previous sitting had been an unmitigated disaster for the prosecution, who had called Melvin Theuma to the stand, only for him to back out of tes- tifying after the defence raised the possibility that his Presi- dential pardon might not ex- tend to granting him immunity from prosecution in this case. In the light of the court's re- jection of the request, one of Keith Schembri's lawyers, Ed- ward Gatt, informed the court that he would be filing an ap- plication to request a constitu- tional reference, acknowledg- ing the tight time frame faced by the court at this stage, but saying that the decision raised an issue of equality of arms and his client's fair trial rights would be prejudiced. "What equality of arms do I have at prima facie level if I wasn't able to cross-examine a witness?" The formal request for a con- stitutional reference will be filed within two days, he said. Police inspector Nicholas Vella denied the defence's assertion that the prosecu- tion had impeded Theuma's cross-examination. Asked by Gatt whether he knew whether Theuma had been arrested ear- lier today, he said he was not aware of this. Anthony Muscat's lawyer, Stefano Filletti, also addressed the court, accusing the prose- cution of summoning a witness who really should be the co-ac- cused. "The circumstances are unique: We have a witness who admitted to the crime with which my client is charged and who is asked to testify. There- fore the rule preventing the tes- timony of a co-accused should be triggered. But instead of charging him, they summoned him as a witness." "Whoever is playing this game knows that the court's hands are tied. Instead of searching for the truth, the prosecution is using this legal loophole to bring a person who should be a co-accused to refuse to testify so he could prevent cross-ex- amination," Filletti claimed, al- leging a breach of the principle of equality of arms. Lawyer Edward Gatt asked the inspector to make the nec- essary inquiries and then con- firm on oath whether Theuma had been re-arrested or not. "The court must respect the law, if he is confirmed as a co-accused, the Criminal Code applies." Gatt and Mark Vassallo for Schembri also asked the in- spector to verify whether Theuma had been arrested in connection with these pro- ceedings.The lawyers repeat- edly insisted that the prosecu- tion immediately act on this request and verify whether it was true or not. Inspectors Nicholas Vella and Brian Camilleri both informed the court that they were not aware as to whether Theuma was under arrest and were then ordered to check. Vella asked the court to allow him to in- form the court in camera, if it turns out that he was. The re- quest was denied. Craus' lawyer Michael Scir- iha submitted that he had ex- amined the conclusions of the inquiry into the phantom job, telling the court that the in- quiring magistrate had told his client that he was being treated as a witness before he testified. "Therefore Mr Craus should be a witness, not an accused. I cannot let this stand. I cannot fail to contest prima facie, be- cause there is no prima facie. His involvement was described as marginal… Not even the ele- ments of the alleged crimes are present." Anthony Ellul's lawyer Vince Micallef, backed Gatt's submis- sions and reserved his right to file constitutional proceedings in this regard. Yorgen Fenech's lawyer, Charles Merceica, pointed out that Theuma's sit- uation could also change in the light of what emerged. After leaving the courtroom to make inquiries with his supe- riors, Inspector Vella returned and informed the magistrate that both Police Commission- er Angelo Gafa and Deputy Commissioner Alexandra Ma- mo had confirmed to him over the phone that Melvin Theuma was not presently under arrest. The court pointed out that this was not the question he had been ordered to ask, which was whether Theuma had been arrested in connection with this case after his refusal to tes- tify, or not. The inspector confirmed that Theuma had not been arrested in the days since his refusal to testify. Gatt asked that the con- firmation be sworn on oath, implying that he did not trust the sources of Inspector Vella's information, but the court re- fused this request. Gatt accused the prosecu- tion of playing with words and warned that he was not going to let the matter slide. "Let me be clear, if I find out that this is not true, I will do what I have to do," he said. The case was adjourned to 18 October for submissions. Melvin Theuma's testimony to stand in proceedings over fake government job, court says Melvin Theuma's testimony will not be expunged from criminal proceedings against Keith Schembri and others on the phantom job the former was given with the government Iċ-Chief Execu ve Officer, Awtorita' tad-Djar, jgħarraf illi:- Offer magħluqin għall-Avviżi li ġejjin għandhom jintefgħu fil-kaxxa tal-offer tal-Awtorita' tad-Djar, 22, Triq Pietro Floriani, Floriana, sal-10.00 a.m. ta' nhar il-Ġimgħa, 28 ta' O ubru 2022. Irid isir ħlas ta' €20 għad-dokumen tal-offerta u jistgħu jinkisbu mill-Awtorità tad-Djar. L-Awtorità żżomm id-dri li rri uta kull offerta, anke l-aktar waħda vantaġġuża. Avviż Nru. 38/2022. Bejgħ tale quale ta' Garaxx Nru. 21, taħt Binja Skorba, Livell 3, Triq il-Karamelli, Mġarr. Offer taħt € 20,500 ma jiġux ikkunsidra . Bejgħ tale quale ta' Garaxx Nru. 22, taħt Binja Skorba, Livell 3, Triq il-Karamelli, Mġarr. 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