A middleman in the murder of Maltese journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia was taken to a hospital yesterday after an alleged attempted suicide. The police reported that Melvin Theuma was found injured by a policeman who was guarding his home.
Theuma’s lawyer had previously tried unsuccessfully to reach his client and raised the alarm. According to the police, the situation looked like after an attempted suicide. Theuma’s condition is critical, the Times of Malta reported, citing undefined sources.
The middleman burdens entrepreneurs
The taxi driver Theuma had received impunity in return for information about the murder. He testified in court last December that entrepreneur Yorgen Fenech had given him money to pay for contract killers. Government-critical blogger Caruana Galizia was blown up in a car bomb in October 2017.
Theuma should testify again in court today. Fenech’s lawyers, meanwhile, have questioned the taxi driver’s testimony and have threatened to record audio to show that Theuma did not tell the whole truth.
Journalist did research on corruption
Fenech was arrested at the end of November 2019 when he tried to leave the country on a yacht, and was subsequently charged with complicity, among other things. Caruana Galizia had researched corruption in the construction of a gas power plant in which Fenech was involved.
Fenech rejects the charges against him. He accuses the former chief of staff of Malta’s ex-Prime Minister Joseph Muscat, Keith Schembri, of being behind the murder. The crisis in Malta had shaken the government and led Muscat to resign in January. Schembri denies being involved in the case and is not charged.
