The secret recordings made by Melvin Theuma continued to take centre stage in the murder trial of Yorgen Fenech on Tuesday, as the self-confessed middleman described the recordings as the one thing that could prove his account of what had happened behind the scenes following the assassination of Daphne Caruana Galizia.

Fenech has pleaded not guilty to complicity in the wilful homicide of Caruana Galizia and to criminal association to commit the murder. Caruana Galizia, a columnist with The Malta Independent, was killed in a car bomb on 16 October 2017.

Much of Tuesday morning's hearing revolved around recordings involving Theuma and businessman Johann Cremona, as well as earlier conversations involving Fenech.

Theuma repeatedly returned to the importance of the recordings, explaining that he feared that without them his allegations would simply become his word against those of others.

"If I didn't have recordings, I could say the parish priest commissioned me. Who would believe me?" he told the court.

Theuma said the recordings gave him a degree of power because they contained conversations that could corroborate what he was telling investigators. At one point, he was heard telling someone to prepare the recordings so that he could go to the police.

The recordings also captured Cremona, a former business partner to Fenech, advising Theuma to distance himself from Fenech.

"Yorgen is under the spotlight," Cremona is heard saying, before advising Theuma to avoid him and let a year pass before they were seen together.

Cremona also told Theuma to get rid of his phone once the situation was over.

Theuma explained that Cremona had been trying to reassure him that he himself was not the person who would ultimately be implicated. According to Theuma, Cremona had told him that the Ta' Maksar brothers, former minister Chris Cardona and lawyer Arthur Azzopardi would instead be the ones to "go down".

In another recording, Cremona told Theuma that "the power is in your hands", apparently referring to the recordings he had accumulated.

The conversation also touched on police investigations and investigator Keith Arnaud. Cremona is heard saying that Arnaud could not bring someone in without evidence, while Theuma agreed that investigators knew Fenech had engaged him.

"They know that Yorgen engaged you. Completely. There's no hiding it," Cremona said in the recording.

Theuma also told the court that he had sometimes invoked the name of the police commissioner in his conversations with Cremona, but admitted that much of this had been a bluff.

"I used to pretend that I was getting information from the commissioner," he said.

Theuma was also questioned about a remark in which Cremona referred to the commissioner wanting a large amount of money. Theuma was categorical that the commissioner had never asked him for money in exchange for securing a presidential pardon.

The recordings brought the discussion back to money and Fenech's financial position.

"Our power is money," Theuma recalled Fenech repeatedly telling him.

Theuma also spoke about Keith Schembri, saying that at the time he had placed Schembri "in the same boat as Yorgen" because of what he described as his "messed up mind". However, he stressed that Schembri had never commissioned him to do anything and had never given him any money.

"There was only one mastermind: Yorgen Fenech of the Tumas Group," Theuma said.

Theuma further recalled Fenech allegedly pressuring him to tell the Degiorgio brothers to proceed with the murder. According to Theuma, Fenech was concerned that otherwise Caruana Galizia would publish what she knew and that the murder would have been carried out "for nothing".

Another recording referred to the possibility of using people from abroad to kill Caruana Galizia. Asked who Cremona was referring to when he mentioned the possibility that "he" could have got people from abroad, Theuma identified Fenech.

Theuma was also questioned about references to Italian experts who might assist the Degiorgio brothers with their legal case. He said the recordings referred to "Italians" who would "help them" and to a sum of money, but he did not know how they were supposed to assist.

The proceedings also touched on Vincent 'Il-Koħħu' Muscat and his then-lawyer Arthur Azzopardi. Theuma explained that another recording concerned Muscat's refusal to accept a 12-year prison sentence.

Throughout the morning, the recordings painted a picture of people discussing the investigation, the risks they faced and how they might protect themselves.

Cremona is heard telling Theuma, "If they mention you, mention him." Asked who he would mention, Theuma replied: "Yorgen, of course."

Theuma also said that Cremona had been trying to reassure him that "they have nothing on you", while telling him that he would eventually have to explain to police that a particular recording involving Fenech concerned Caruana Galizia.

The hearing began with a dispute over how the recordings should be played. Defence lawyers objected to Theuma being allowed to listen to recordings through headphones when neither the court nor the defence could hear the same material.

The prosecution argued that the recordings were an important part of its evidence and that steps had to be taken to ensure jurors could hear them clearly. Judge Edwina Grima rejected a request for jurors to be given headphones, saying the prosecution should have dealt with missing transcripts and difficulties with the recordings before the trial.

The recordings were subsequently ordered to be played in open court.

As the testimony continued, Theuma returned repeatedly to the recordings and to his fear of being left without evidence to support what he was saying.

For him, they were more than conversations preserved on tape. They were, he told the court, his protection against a situation in which he could make allegations about a murder but have no means of proving them.

In the afternoon sitting, the prosecution moved away from Theuma's recordings and began showing jurors photographs and messages exchanged between him and Fenech, with Theuma repeatedly saying the businessman had sought to reassure him as fears grew that the murder investigation was closing in.

Before the recordings ended, Theuma was heard telling Johann Cremona that he had never mentioned either Fenech or Keith Schembri. In court, however, he again stressed that Schembri had never commissioned him to do anything.

"I could never mention Keith Schembri because only Yorgen had sent me... Keith never mentioned anything to me," he said, explaining that he used to mention Schembri because he believed the former OPM chief of staff was passing information to Fenech.

Another recording contained Theuma saying that Schembri was "definitely his accomplice", but he again insisted in court that it had been a "mistake" to mention him.

Theuma was also questioned about a recording in which he referred to Fenech "playing a game" with then-Assistant Commissioner Silvio Valletta. He explained that Fenech would invite Valletta to his Żebbuġ ranch and try to "find out what Valletta knew".

The prosecution then turned to Signal chats between Theuma and Fenech.

Asked whether he had ever had any motive to kill Caruana Galizia, Theuma said he had not. He recalled once giving the journalist a lift after finding her near Portomaso with her tyres slashed, saying he had not even known who she was at the time.

It was only when Fenech later instructed him to find George "iċ-Ċiniż" Degiorgio to kill her that he searched for Caruana Galizia online, Theuma testified.

In one exchange, Theuma asked Fenech to call him after becoming suspicious of a man he had seen near his home. Fenech reassured him that he had "spoken to his friend", whom Theuma identified in court as Schembri.

Other messages showed Fenech reassuring Theuma about their relationship as the latter became increasingly fearful.

"No one can touch me," Fenech wrote in one message, while in others he told Theuma: "Today, you are my brother and your son is my son" and "You're the only one I worry about."

Theuma said he believed Fenech was worried that he would expose him.

Further messages read: "No one can fuck with me" and "I will keep you by my side always, forever."

"If you and I remain strong, no one can touch us and they can kiss our balls," Fenech told him.

Asked what he understood from this, Theuma said Fenech knew he was "weak" and feared he might crack under pressure and begin speaking.

Theuma also recalled confronting Fenech around the time Vincent "il-Koħħu" Muscat was speaking to police, asking him: "What have you gotten me into?"

"If Yorgen had respected me, I wouldn't be here before the judge," Theuma told the court.

Another exchange showed Fenech telling Theuma: "You're having a breakdown. But we are such good people." When Theuma told him, "That hit us hard, my friend," Fenech replied: "We'll win."

Theuma said "that" referred to the murder and that he understood "we'll win" to mean they would not be caught.

In another message, Theuma told Fenech: "You make sure that if there is any evidence, you destroy it immediately." Theuma said his use of the plural referred to both Fenech and Schembri, prompting an objection from the defence.

Prosecutor Godwin Cini remarked that "the truth hurts" and that the messages were "not going anywhere", leading Judge Edwina Grima to reprimand him in front of the jury.

"Be grateful that I have not found you in contempt of court, because you made that comment in the presence of the jurors," the judge told him.

Further messages concerned what Theuma described as an attempt to undermine evidence already in police hands.

Fenech instructed him to call Cremona and claim there had been no "betrayal" because his uncle had agreed, with Theuma saying they wanted to make it appear that an earlier reference to betrayal concerned a taxi-related issue rather than anything connected to the murder.

According to Theuma, the plan was intended to "get them to stop listening", referring to surveillance by the Malta Security Service.

Fenech also referred to police as "the cousins" and told Theuma he believed they had found a way for certain matters to stop being mentioned and for the file to be closed.

The court later heard calls automatically recorded on Theuma's phone, before prosecutors returned to messages between the two men.

In one exchange, Theuma told Fenech he was "broken" and overwhelmed by worries. Asked what was troubling him, he replied: "I had no other worries except Daphne Caruana Galizia."

The court also heard that Fenech had discussed obtaining a mobile phone with a foreign SIM card for Alfred Degiorgio because their phones had been "marked".

Theuma said he desperately wanted to speak to Degiorgio to make clear that the money being sent to him was coming from Theuma, at one point even considering getting himself sent to prison so he could speak to him.

Fenech instead told him someone "from our side" would get a phone with a foreign SIM card into prison. "You're my rock, mate," Theuma replied, explaining that meeting Fenech used to calm him down.

The final conversations dated to November 2019, shortly before Fenech's arrest. Theuma expressed fears for his partner and her children and said he did not have the strength to cope with what was happening.

Fenech reassured him that everything would pass and they would eventually be able to rest. Theuma also explained that when Fenech instructed him to "clear up everything", he understood this to mean disposing of anything linked to his illegal lottery operation as well as the recordings concerning the murder.

Cini then concluded the prosecution's examination of Theuma. His cross-examination by Fenech's defence is expected to begin on Wednesday.