'More than resignation' sparked off assassination plot

The motive behind Richard Cachia Caruana's failed assassination plot was not simply the resignation of Meinrad Calleja's father but also the fact that the accused felt his guardian had been removed and this created a serious obstacle for him in the importation of drugs, prosecutor Silvio Camilleri argued in the Criminal Court yesterday.

Dr Camilleri was making submissions to Chief Justice Vincent DeGaetano in the trial by jury of Calleja who is pleading not guilty to complicity in the attempted murder of the prime minister's personal assistant just over nine years ago.

Defence lawyer Manwel Mallia said the prosecution was trying to put the accused in a bad light and was stringing together several issues to try to prove its case. There was no evidence that Maurice Calleja - the accused's father - was Calleja's guardian and that when he had been removed this created a big obstacle in the importation of drugs. (Maurice Calleja was commander of the armed forces.)

The submissions were made in the absence of the jury after the victim, while testifying, asked the court whether he could speak about one of the motivations for the removal of Maurice Calleja.

After jurors were asked to leave the courtroom, the victim said Meinrad Calleja had been found guilty of drug trafficking in Italy and was brought to Malta. His sister was then caught with a kilo of cocaine which she said had been given to her in her father's house.

It was decided by the court that the witness should not testify on Calleja's case in Italy and cite it as one of the motivations for Maurice Calleja's resignation. However, he could say there were other factors that led to the prime minister's decision, apart from the alleged drug trafficking case in Malta in which the accused's sister was involved.

Describing how he was stabbed, the victim said he had realised that someone had just tried to kill him after seeing a three inch wound on his hand. Shortly after he was stabbed, he felt short of breath and was sure he was going to die.

This was the only time the witness seemed very emotional in his testimony, which took the best part of yesterday's morning and afternoon sessions.

"I felt as if I was drowning," he said and recalled telling Nicholas Jensen, who was by his side at the time: "What a waste. I am too young to die."

The victim recalled that he had been to Jensen's house for about five minutes on the night of the incident. He then left and they agreed that Jensen would go to the victim's house.

The witness said he drove home and as he left his car, he saw two men, one standing next to St Dorothy's convent and the other opposite. He was a little shocked to see them as he did not know any of them but proceeded to remove some clothes from the luggage boot to place them on the back seat of the car. As he was doing so, he felt a punch on his back and turned on his back on the back seat. As he turned, he assumed it was the two men who had attacked him and started kicking the person in front of him and shouting: "What have I ever done to you?"

The victim said he kicked frantically as he was scared they would try to drag him out of the car. From his position, he could see the two men. He could also spot Jensen coming towards them from a distance through the rear windscreen.

The assailants left before Jensen arrived and the latter never saw them at close range, the witness said. The victim said it was only then that he felt blood trickling down his back. He got out of the car when Jensen arrived and told him: "I have been stabbed" but his friend did not believe him.

"When I bent down to get the mobile phone from the front seat I realised I also had a deep, rough, jagged wound on my left hand some three inches long."

He said that as he walked with Jensen to his house, he feared the assailants would return. He opened the door and went inside, called the prime minister and told him he had been stabbed and needed an ambulance.

He then phoned his brother and told him what had happened.

The prime minister in turn phoned John Rizzo Naudi to seek medical advice because the victim had told him he thought the knife had pierced his lung. The advice was for the victim to lie down until a doctor arrived and he was transported to hospital.

"Jensen was by my side all the time. I went down on my knees as I could not stand anymore. I was having a problem breathing. I had serious problems to breathe even in the ambulance on the way to hospital," the witness said.

He said the police commissioner had asked him if Joseph Fenech was one of the two men who had attacked him. He replied that had Fenech been there he would have recognised him and would have said so.

The witness said he knew Zeppi l-hafi - Fenech - since before the 1987 general election, when the victim was campaign manager for the Nationalist Party.

Fenech was among a number of people who used to stay outside the prime minister's house to offer protection because of previous incidents when his house had been heavily vandalised. (At the time Eddie Fenech Adami was Leader of the Opposition.)

The victim said he attended six or seven identification parades and in the first one, on December 26, 1994, Fenech was in the line- up. The victim said he told the police commissioner he had already informed him that Fenech was not on the scene of the crime and the police commissioner replied that the line-up was being held for the benefit of others as well.

The victim had not identified anyone in the line-up. He later learnt that two men whom he had not previously identified were going to be charged and he was worried about it. However, the police commissioner told him that one had admitted and the other had left a palm print. He said the police commissioner had also told him it was rare for a victim to identify his assailants in a line-up.

The witness said that during the compilation of evidence against Ian Farrugia and Charles Attard, the presiding magistrate had asked him to look around and see if he could identify anyone. He said he had recognised Attard in the courtroom.

Asked by the prosecution why he had never identified him in any of the line-ups, the victim said that in the identification parades, Attard was wearing a moustache but during the compilation of evidence he had shaved and he could recognise him as one of the two men who had stabbed him in Mdina.

Asked about his relations with the accused, the victim said he knew both Calleja and his father. On December 1, 1993 the prime minister had been informed that Maurice Calleja's daughter had been arrested together with Fenech in possession of a kilo of cocaine.

The prime minister was informed about the case in the afternoon and later that same day it was confirmed to him by the police commissioner that she had said the drug had been given to her by the accused at her father's house.

The witness recalled that the prime minister, who had appointed Maurice Calleja as brigadier, was very worried about the case and felt that Maurice Calleja's position was untenable.

The prime minister had instructed him to call the deputy commander of the armed forces, Claude Gaffiero, and inform him about the case and to find a way to relay a message to Maurice Calleja that it would be better if he resigned. The prime minister had preferred Maurice Calleja to resign rather than having to remove him.

But the deputy commander felt uncomfortable having to speak to the brigadier himself as he was next in line. The names of Philip Zammit Briffa and George Micallef had been mentioned as people who could relay the message. Thus, no one would know that Maurice Calleja would have been made to leave.

The witness said he preferred speaking to Micallef, who was considered as a father figure in the army. The former army officer accepted to speak to Maurice Calleja and the following day reported back that the commander inferred he would be resigning.

He said it was decided not to say anything in the media so that Maurice Calleja would have a chance to resign on his own accord. He had to resign after the December 13 military parade.

Under cross examination, the victim said Micallef had told Maurice Calleja he was conveying the message that the latter should resign and that he was asked to relay such a message by the prime minister's office.

He added that he was having lunch at Adrian Strickland's house when the phone rang and Daphne Caruana Galizia, correspondent of The Times, said they had a story that Maurice Calleja would not be resigning.

He recalled telling the reporter that so far as he knew the commander would be resigning and should be given time to resign. But the correspondent insisted they had information he was not going to resign. The witness said he replied that in that case Maurice Calleja would be removed.

Asked by the defence whether one could identify him as the source that had been mentioned in connection with the case, the victim said that if one read the story published by The Sunday Times it would be easy to assume that he was the government source.

Asked about the tender for the construction of the Freeport Terminal 2 in 1994 and whether he was aware of complaints of threats by one of consortia, the witness said he recalled a letter was sent to the prime minister and that there was a controversy about the matter. There were very few cases involving big tenders about which there were no complaints.

He said he was never involved in the tender or selection process of the Freeport or San Raffaele (now Mater Dei) Hospital.

The trial continues.