[WATCH] Degiorgios on trial: ‘Get on with it’

The Degiorgio brothers and their accomplice Vince Muscat were charged with the murder of Daphne Caruana Galizia but everyone understood that they had been commissioned.

The compilation of evidence against them dragged on and throughout they maintained absolute silence.

And then, in November 2019, police arrested a Birkirkara taxi driver with a passion for horse racing and who made a lucrative living from illegal betting. This man was Melvin Theuma.

Theuma was also the trusted driver of business magnate Yorgen Fenech, then CEO of the Tumas Group.

In the second episode of a three-part docuseries produced by MaltaToday, we look at the back story of how the Degiorgio brothers and their associate were recruited to kill Caruana Galizia.

It was Theuma, who led investigators to alleged mastermind Yorgen Fenech. He gave investigators several recordings of conversations he had with Fenech in which payments for Daphne’s murder were discussed. Theuma had acted as the middleman between Fenech and the Degiorgio brothers.

Theuma was offered a conditional presidential pardon to reveal all and testify against the three men already accused with the murder.

A day after the pardon was granted to Theuma, Yorgen Fenech was stopped by two Armed Forces of Malta patrol boats as he was leaving the country on board his yacht, the Gio. He was arrested and taken into police custody for questioning.

Fenech was then formally charged with masterminding the murder of Daphne Caruana Galizia.

Court testimony revealed that Fenech asked Theuma whether he knew George Degiorgio because he wanted ‘to kill Daphne Caruana Galizia’.

The plan to kill Daphne was hatched early in 2017, only to be aborted when the general election was called.

However, on the Sunday the election result came out, Fenech called Theuma and told him to “get on with it”. The murder plan was back on track and it would cost €150,000.