From MaltaToday, 23 May 2021 - and other articles
The middleman in the assassination of Daphne Caruana Galizia was granted a pardon for what could have been an indirect role in the heist of the HSBC bank in 2010.
Melvin Theuma is believed to have put up one of his properties as a safehouse for the men involved in the shoot-out with police, in what was a daring heist on the HSBC security vault in Qormi.
Theuma’s role in the heist is included as one of several major crimes for which he was pardoned, MaltaToday has learnt, in return for any information he had on the heist.
The pardon for Theuma was sealed during the political crisis of December 2019, when the Muscat Cabinet was read out details of the crimes Theuma was requesting a pardon on.
The role of Theuma, who turned State’s evidence and accused Tumas magnate Yorgen Fenech of masterminding the Caruana Galizia assassination, once again emerges as pivotal in a world of crime in which the protagonists have been the same; amongst whom, the Degiorgio brothers Alfred and George, who stand accused of the Caruana Galizia murder. The brothers are now mounting a constitutional case to clinch a presidential pardon, accusing the Cabinet that refused it of discriminating against them.
The third accused, Vincent Muscat ‘il-Koħħu’, has already pleaded guilty to the Caruana Galizia assassination, in return for a pardon on the Carmel Chircop murder. That pardon led to the arrest of the ‘Maksar’ gang, namely brothers Adrian and Robert Agius, and Jamie Vella, accused of the Chircop murder and of providing the bomb that killed Caruana Galizia (found guilty in 2025).
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The partner of Melvin Theuma, the middleman in the Caruana Galizia assassination turned State’s evidence, is expected to be charged with money laundering offences that relate directly to Theuma’s criminal activity.
MaltaToday understands the charges concern Theuma’s own criminal career, which include the organisation of an illegal lottery that earned him hundreds of thousands, if not millions over the course of his criminal career.
In a magisterial inquest compiled by Gabriella Vella, Theuma’s partner Charmaine Zammit, 42 of Zurrieq, her daughter Shianne Zammit, 26, and her partner Ryan Farrugia, 26, of Qormi, were referred for charges on money laundering. They are to appear before Magistrate Natasha Galea Sciberras, according to police sources.
Investigators had said they found over €2 million in cash stashed away at his house when Theuma was arrested back in November 2019.
Despite running a lucrative taxi stand at the Portomaso complex, Theuma acted as the personal go-for to alleged mastermind Yorgen Fenech. Theuma also ran Malta’s “parallel lotto” – complete with tickets, in which pundits stood a chance of winning major cash – which is pegged to the national one, with players placing bets on a string of numbers and waiting for the national lotto winning numbers to be announced at the end of every week.
Now the money laundering investigations have reached his partner and her daughter, and the latter’s partner, Ryan Farrugia, a partner in Farbros Construction.
Theuma himself was also granted a pardon for what could have been his indirect role in the heist of the HSBC bank in 2010, believed to have put up one of his properties as a safehouse for the men involved in the shoot-out with police.
Theuma was granted a presidential pardon by the Muscat administration in December 2019, after he had been arrested in a money-laundering raid that was months in the making. Theuma was aware of his pending arrest, claiming in conversations he recorded on his phone that it was part of a ruse to assuage Europol investigators after his name was mentioned to police by one of the triggermen, Vincent Muscat ‘il-Koħħu’.
Muscat had already identified Theuma early on in April 2018 in conversations with police in a bid to obtain a pardon for his role in the assassination.
According to the Theuma recordings, the police – then led by Lawrence Cutajar as police commissioner, who was in touch with Theuma’s longtime associate Edgar Brincat ‘il-Ġojja’ – were planning a raid on his property. But Theuma knew weeks beforehand that the arrest would never lead to a prosecution, and that investigations would fizzle out.
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From MaltaToday, 20 July 2021 by Matthew Agius
Melvin Theuma told a court that he had rented a flat to one of the men accused of carrying out the failed HSBC headquarters heist in 2010 as the compilation of evidence reopened this morning.
Theuma testified in front of Magistrate Monica Vella in the compilation of evidence against Vince Muscat, il-Koħħu, and Daren Debono, it-Topo.
Theuma said that around the time of the Isle of MTV concert that was held on the Granaries in Floriana, Debono had asked him whether he had an apartment to rent. “I rented a flat to him in Mosta for a month. It was in summer and the price was €300. Darren Debono paid for it,” Theuma said, adding he could not recall whether Debono was accompanied by Alfred Degiorgio, known as il-Fulu.
The HSBC heist was carried out on the same evening in June 2010 when the Isle of MTV concert was happening in Floriana.
Theuma testified that on the day of the concert, he had been eating with his family and received a phone call from Debono. “I went to my Mosta flat. As you go in on the left there is a bedroom. I found Daren Debono on the bed in his underpants, he had blood on his thigh. They told me that the police had shot him,” Theuma told the court.
The witness said that Alfred Degiorgio had asked him to help treat Debono. “I said alright and left the flat and drove away. There were police in the vicinity,” Theuma said.
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Muscat, Debono and Fabio Psaila had been charged with the 2010 heist that ended in a firefight with police. The failed hold-up had been part of a series of high profile heists carried out during that period, which included a €1 million haul of cash from the HSBC Balzan branch and an undisclosed amount from the Casino di Venezia.
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