Sufficient evidence to indict Melvin Teuma for forgery, court says

The court ruled that it had sufficient prima facie evidence for the Attorney-General to indict five people accused of having Melvin Teuma framed by the government.

The case against five men accused of having Melvin Teuma recruited by the government through a bogus job for which he never showed up, just months after Teuma helped orchestrate the killing of journalist Daphne Caruana Galicia, reached a major milestone on Wednesday in the morning.

Magistrate Monica Vella ruled in the case against Jørgen Fenech – separately accused of ordering the murder of the journalist, Keith Schembri, former chief of staff to the prime minister, former OPM customer service chief Sandro Krauss, former family ministry private secretary Anthony Ellul and former CEO of Housing Maintenance and Embellishment Co Ltd, Anthony Muscat, continued before her yesterday.

The decree was passed the day after the court rejected the defense’s last request to exclude from the records of the case the testimony Teuma presented before the judicial investigation.

This request was the result of Theuma’s refusal to testify in this trial. Taking the witness stand, Teuma invoked his right not to incriminate himself after lawyers questioned whether a presidential pardon for the killing protected him from prosecution for that particular crime.

In its ruling, the court made it clear that at this stage of the proceedings, the law requires only evidence of a clear case to answer, not evidence of guilt.

Consideration of the case will continue on November 25.

Inspectors Nicholas Vela and Brian Paul Camilleri are prosecuting.

Lawyers Gianluca Caruana Curran and Charles Mercieca are defending Fenech. Attorneys Edward Gath and Mark Vassallo are assisting Schembra. Lawyer Stefano Filetti is assisting Muscat. Ellul is represented by attorneys Vince Micallef and Ryan Ellul.

Lawyers Michael and Lucio Schiricho appeared for Kraus.