Vince Muscat, who is one of the convicted hitmen behind the murder of Daphne Caruana Galizia, told a trial on Tuesday that his lawyer had tried to claim the €1 million reward on offer for information into the journalist’s death.
The application, which was handled by Muscat’s lawyer Arthur Azzopardi, was not accepted, a jury heard.
It was the fourth day of Muscat’s testimony as he faced cross-examination by the defence lawyers of Robert and Adrian Agius, George Degiorgio and Jamie Vella in a trial on the murders of Caruana Galizia and of lawyer Carmel Chircop.
Muscat was granted a presidential pardon in exchange for testimony on the latter, while he is also testifying about Caruana Galizia’s murder after he reached a plea deal which saw him sentenced to 15 years in prison for his involvement in the brutal assassination.
During cross-examination, Muscat was asked about the €1 million reward, to which he said that it was his lawyer at the time Arthur Azzopardi who mentioned it to him.
The reward was announced by the government on 21 October 2017 – five days after Caruana Galizia was killed in a car bombing outside her home, saying: “This is a case of extraordinary importance and requires extraordinary measures—and justice must be done, whatever the cost.”
This offer was made with the condition that whomever provides information will have to tell the truth and the whole truth, testifying under oath about everything they know about this homicide in front of the Inquiring Magistrate and during all the stages of the criminal procedures.
The government did not decide on whether the information or testimony is sufficient, credible or complete, but the point of reference was the Magisterial Inquiry report, the government had said.
Vince Muscat told jurors on Tuesday that his lawyer had applied for this reward, but this was not accepted. He said that he had not been aware of this until later on. It is not clear from Muscat’s testimony exactly when the application for the reward was made.