Go-between: Only 1 mastermind in Maltese reporter’s murder

A Maltese taxi driver, testifying under immunity, says a local casino owner, was the sole mastermind of the car-bomb murder of a journalist

A Maltese taxi driver testifying under immunity from prosecution says that a local casino and hotel owner, was the sole mastermind of the 2017 car-bomb murder of an anti-corruption journalist.

Melvin Theuma told a Maltese court Wednesday that a plot to kill Daphne Caruana Galizia was reactivated by the hotelier, Yorgen Fenech, after the governing Labor party won re-election in 2017.

Last week, in separate proceedings, a court arraigned Fenech on charges he organized and financed the murder. Fenech has pleaded innocent. He was arrested while sailing away from Malta on his yacht.

Theuma testified at a court hearing evidence against three men jailed as the alleged actual bombers.

European Parliament lawmakers ended a fact-finding mission to Malta concluding there’s progress in the murder investigation but no improvement about corruption and money-laundering.