Johann Cremona spent hours distancing himself from secretly recorded conversations played before jurors on Thursday, acknowledging contact with former OPM chief of staff Keith Schembri while insisting that many of the statements he made about the murder investigation had been fabricated to reassure Melvin Theuma.

Hours of secretly recorded conversations between Cremona and Theuma took centre stage in the trial by jury of Yorgen Fenech on Thursday, with Cremona repeatedly insisting that the claims heard by jurors were largely fabricated.

As prosecutors played one recording after another, Cremona maintained that he had been "bluffing", saying he had invented information and made false claims to reassure Theuma amid the turmoil surrounding the investigation.

Cremona had testified very much in the same way on Wednesday, saying that his references to politicians, police officers and lawyers were nothing more than a way to keep Theuma calm.

Fenech, a businessman, has pleaded not guilty to two principal charges: complicity in the wilful homicide of Daphne Caruana Galizia and criminal association to commit the murder. 

Caruana Galizia, a columnist with The Malta Independent, was killed in a car bomb on 16 October, 2017.

Proceedings opened Thursday with the continuation of testimony by Europol forensic expert Julia Toma, who appeared via video link. Toma explained that she had been responsible for forensic extraction work carried out on electronic devices belonging to Melvin Theuma and several other individuals following searches conducted in 2019. She said her role centred on extracting and categorising digital data for investigators.

Toma described how Europol examined Samsung and iPhone devices together with SIM cards supplied by the Maltese police. She explained that while some mobile phones can be accessed without a passcode, others require specialised systems capable of testing millions of combinations. One device remained inaccessible after investigators failed to determine its six-digit passcode.

She also testified that Europol successfully identified the six-digit passcode for another iPhone but that her manager subsequently instructed her to halt the extraction process. The second iPhone remained locked, while she proceeded with extracting data from SIM cards before handing the phones to another Europol specialist for further technical work. Under cross-examination by defence lawyer Gianella de Marco, Toma clarified that she had not been formally appointed as an expert by the inquiring magistrate but had acted under instructions from her line manager. She denied that the decision to stop the extraction was linked to any alleged data leak and said she alone had accessed the device, although she could not recall whether she had provided any partial extraction to the Maltese police.

Cremona, a business associated to Fenech, on Thursday consistently maintained that many of his remarks had been invented. In one conversation he was heard telling Theuma that investigators had been carrying out surveillance and that arrests were imminent. He insisted these statements were simply an attempt to bluff Theuma. Similarly, when another recording referred to lead investigator Keith Arnaud and media reports concerning Theuma, Cremona again told the jury he could not remember the context and believed he had merely been bluffing.

Another recording featured Cremona telling Theuma that investigators already knew about Yorgen Fenech's involvement with him. Although he confirmed that this was what he had been referring to, he denied possessing such information and maintained he had simply been saying what he believed Theuma wanted to hear.

Cremona also testified that Fenech became aware of a problem after discovering that Theuma had secretly recorded him. Jurors heard him telling Theuma that the recordings placed power in his hands. However, Cremona insisted he had never actually listened to the recordings and said he had merely sought to reassure Theuma by making him believe the material carried weight.

In another excerpt, Cremona was heard encouraging Theuma to prepare the recordings so they could be taken to the Police Commissioner and Yorgen Fenech. He told the jury he could no longer remember precisely what he had been referring to, although he recalled Theuma claiming that the Police Commissioner already knew about the recordings.

The jury also listened to conversations in which Cremona and Theuma discussed alleged monthly payments of €2,000 each to convicted hitmen George and Alfred Degiorgio and Vince Muscat. Cremona denied that any such payment arrangement had ever materialised. He also rejected Theuma's claim that a meeting had taken place to shift responsibility for Daphne Caruana Galizia's murder onto former minister Chris Cardona. While acknowledging that he once drove Theuma to meet Fenech near a ranch in Żebbuġ to deliver a bag of clothes, Cremona insisted no such discussion ever occurred.

Further recordings captured discussions about Edgar Brincat (il-Gojja), Kenneth Camilleri, Keith Schembri, Raymond Fenech and payments to the Degiorgio brothers. Cremona was heard telling Theuma that Yorgen Fenech had become more important than Keith Schembri because if Fenech spoke, Schembri could face difficulties. He also advised Theuma against approaching Schembri directly, although Theuma maintained that Schembri knew the full story.

The court also heard recordings in which Cremona sought to reassure Theuma that investigators had nothing against him. Cremona admitted telling Theuma that Kenneth Camilleri had confirmed this after a telephone conversation, but testified that the call had never taken place and that he had invented the story purely to calm Theuma. Jurors also heard another conversation in which Cremona claimed Keith Schembri had become fearful of Theuma and appeared to know about an impending police operation, while warning Theuma against discussing certain matters over the telephone.

Attention later turned to messages exchanged between Cremona and former OPM chief of staff Keith Schembri. Prosecutors presented chats referring to lead investigator Keith Arnaud and including the phrase "Let's not go up to testify". Cremona acknowledged the messages and said they were exchanged while police were questioning him. He confirmed discussing Arnaud with Schembri because he felt under considerable pressure and noted that no court order prohibited them from communicating.

Questioned further, Cremona said he had contacted Schembri because he was panicking during what he described as a traumatic period when several people had been arrested. He explained that he regularly sought Schembri's views on what might happen next because he had nobody else to turn to. He later added that he had no business relationship with Schembri, communicating mainly through the Signal messaging application, and told the court the experience had left him so traumatised that he spent two years taking tranquillizers. He also confirmed that he was aware of the friendship between Keith Schembri and Yorgen Fenech.

The afternoon sitting saw defence lawyer Giannella De Marco begin her cross-examination of Cremona, while prosecutors also continued playing recordings secretly made by Melvin Theuma as they sought to challenge the witness's account.

Several recordings played in court captured Theuma speaking about Yorgen Fenech, claiming he would "never be free of the hitmen" because they would blackmail him for the rest of his life if they were caught. Cremona testified that he believed Fenech already knew that.

Other recordings featured Theuma expressing frustration that Fenech had abandoned him after the murder, despite previously directing him to speak to him whenever issues arose. Theuma also referred to Keith Schembri and, in one excerpt, remarked that "he shouldn't have killed her," with Cremona confirming the conversation was about Fenech and Daphne Caruana Galizia.

The recordings also captured discussions about money, with Theuma referring to photographs he had taken of messages and recordings he had secretly made of Fenech. Cremona was heard mentioning figures allegedly earned by Schembri, but told the court he had merely repeated amounts reported in newspapers and had no personal knowledge of Fenech's finances.

Another excerpt showed Theuma saying he was considering reaching an agreement with investigators to reveal everything he knew. Cremona was heard urging him to remain calm and not "ruin everything", while remarking that Fenech could not escape the situation even if he wanted to.

When the defence began questioning him, Cremona insisted that Theuma had never spoken to him about the murder before it took place and had never involved him in the crime. He said he only became involved after Kenneth Camilleri, a member of then-prime minister Joseph Muscat's security, asked him to take him to Theuma's home after the murder and after the Degiorgio brothers had been charged.

Questioning then shifted to discussions about money. Cremona recalled hearing Theuma tell Camilleri to prepare bags of cash for the Degiorgio brothers and Vince Muscat in connection with bail, adding that Theuma had a tendency to blame others. He also confirmed hearing Theuma say he intended to go to Castille to ask Keith Schembri for €100,000 "so that Keith would shit himself".

Cremona testified that Theuma had spoken to him about seeking a presidential pardon, saying it would cover both the murder and his money laundering offences. He confirmed that Theuma had claimed he was negotiating with then police commissioner Lawrence Cutajar over the timing of money laundering raids, that Europol knew about both the recordings and the money laundering investigation, and that the police commissioner had already listened to the recordings.

He further confirmed that Theuma had claimed Edgar Brincat paid the police commissioner €5,000 because he considered Theuma "like a son", and said Theuma appeared to know where planned police raids would take place.

Asked about Kenneth Camilleri, Cremona said he never spoke to him again after meeting him for coffee near Parliament. Although Camilleri worked in security at Castille, he said he did not believe he knew Yorgen Fenech or had any connection to him.

The defence also questioned Cremona about the secretly recorded conversations. Cremona maintained that the recordings reflected only one side of the story because Theuma had the advantage of deciding what to record. He said Theuma never told him he was recording him, although he did tell him he was secretly recording Fenech. Cremona repeated his claim that the police commissioner had listened to the recordings before Theuma's arrest.

Throughout the cross-examination, Cremona repeatedly insisted that many of the statements heard in the recordings were things he invented simply to calm Theuma, whom he described as increasingly paranoid.

"I was wrong because I should have thrown Melvin out," he told the court. "Melvin made my life a misery for a year and a half. Look where he has brought me. I have nothing left because of him."

Towards the end of the sitting, De Marco questioned Cremona about why Kenneth Camilleri had approached him to arrange a meeting with Theuma.

Cremona said he believed "something must have happened" involving Theuma about a week earlier, although he still did not know what it was. He said Camilleri asked him to put him in touch with Theuma, prompting him to contact Theuma without revealing who wanted to meet him.

Madam Justice Edwina Grima then adjourned proceedings until Friday morning.