New Facts: Melvin Theuma confirms Fenech ordered hitmen

Melvin Theuma returned to the stand and said Yorgen Fenech personally ordered him to arrange the killing and financed it, handing over €150,000 in cash two weeks after the 2017 election. He said he took a €30,000 deposit to Alfred Degiorgio at Busy Bee, that Fenech pushed him every few days to hurry the hit, pointed out a café in Naxxar and a restaurant in Rabat the journalist frequented, and moved their chats to Signal so they would not be overheard.

Theuma described a message from Fenech sent from his boat saying he was preparing champagne if the murder happened that day. He said Fenech also told him to warn the bomb‑makers not to repeat an earlier case that only blew off a target’s legs, and sent him back with instructions to get it over with when he feared an imminent publication about his uncle.

He said he never identified Fenech to the hitmen and began secretly recording Fenech to protect himself, insisting in court that, for him, the only mastermind was Fenech. He also detailed post‑arrest payments he arranged for the Degiorgio brothers, including weekly cash, at least €55,000 for lawyers, and a further €60,000 to be sent abroad as bail cover, money largely provided by Fenech and sometimes topped up from his own pocket.

AI-synthesized from multiple reported sources