“For me it was just business. Yes. Business as usual!” he told a Reuters reporter. He later added: “Of course I’m sorry.” His admission came after several attempts by Degiorgio’s lawyers since 2021 to secure a pardon in exchange for testifying about Degiorgio’s role in the murder of Caruana Galizia and other alleged crimes involving prominent figures on the island. On June 22, the Maltese Court of Appeal dismissed Degiorgio’s remaining legal appeals against the murder charges against him and his brother Alfred, who is a co-accused. The decision clears the way for the trial to proceed. The car bomb killing of the investigative journalist and blogger sent shockwaves across Europe. Maltese authorities have accused Degiorgio and two other men — his brother Alfred and an associate, Vince Muscat — of killing Caruana Galizia in October 2017 on the orders of a top businessman from the island. Degiorgio told Reuters he would plead guilty before any jury trial. “I’ll talk to the prosecutor,” he said. He said he would testify to implicate others in the murder and in an earlier unexecuted plot to kill the journalist. His motive, he said, was to seek a reduced sentence for himself and Alfred and to ensure that “we don’t go down alone!” Until now, both Degiorgio brothers had denied involvement in the murder. Muscat pleaded guilty to murder charges in 2020 and received a reduced 15-year prison sentence in exchange for testifying in that case and some other crimes. One of the island’s richest businessmen, Yorgen Fenech, was also accused in November 2019 of instructing Degiorgio and his two accomplices to carry out the hit. Fenech has denied the charges but has yet to enter his defence. In a statement, his lawyer, Gianluca Caruana Curran, said Fenech planned to prove in court that he “in no way sought, actively sought or supported” Caruana Galizia’s murder. “While strongly protesting his innocence, Mr Fenech maintains that with the evidence available, independent and serious investigations can lead to the arrest and prosecution of the real perpetrators behind the murder.” Fenech was identified as the mastermind by an alleged middleman, taxi driver Melvin Theuma, who escaped prosecution for his role in the case in exchange for testifying. Theuma said he arranged the killing with the Degiorgio brothers on Fenech’s behalf. He testified that he never told the identity of Fenech of the Degiorgio gang. In the interview, Degiorgio said he was willing to testify that a top Maltese political figure had tried to arrange a hit on Caruana Galizia in a separate plot two years earlier. Degiorgio also said he would offer to testify about the involvement of two senior former ministers in an armed robbery. Reuters is not releasing further details of these allegations at this stage or naming the people accused by Degiorgio, who all deny any involvement in any crime. Malta Police and prosecutors handling the murder case did not respond to requests for official comment on Degiorgio’s statements. In a further statement to Reuters through their lawyer, George and Alfred Degiorgio said they are seeking a court order on admission “in line with the one already issued to Vincent Muscat. We are willing to disclose everything we know about other murders, bombs and crimes provided we are pardoned. We emphasize that justice must also be served to the families of the other victims.” Caruana Galizia was murdered after making a series of corruption allegations against prominent people, including ministers in the island’s Labor Party government. Her murder raised suspicions that some of the people she was investigating could be involved in plotting her death. Fenech, who is accused of orchestrating the 2017 blockbuster, was first identified in connection with Caruana Galizia in November 2018 articles by Reuters and the Times of Malta. The report names him as the owner of a company known as 17 Black that Caruana Galizia claimed, without providing evidence, was used to bribe politicians. Fenech also headed a controversial power station project in Malta. According to prosecution evidence presented in court at several preliminary hearings since 2018, George Degiorgio and his gang had followed the journalist throughout the summer of 2017. In the early hours of October 16, 2017, prosecutors allege the gang planted a bomb under a seat in her car. That afternoon, Degiorgio was reportedly on a yacht in the island’s Grand Harbor when his brother Alfred, who was watching the house, called to say Caruana Galizia had gotten into her car and driven away. Degiorgio then sent a text message from the yacht to a mobile device that set off the bomb, prosecutors told the court. After the car exploded, Caruana Galizia’s son Matthew heard the explosion, ran out of the family home and discovered his mother’s body. Since then he has been campaigning for justice for his mother. Asked about Degiorgio’s comments, he told Reuters: “George Degiorgio’s own words show that he is a cold-blooded killer who does not deserve any reprieve.” Arrested two months after the murder, George Degiorgio said nothing to police, refusing to give his name during questioning. Until the Reuters interview, he remained silent and his lawyers spent four years denying involvement in the murder. He has also filed a series of legal appeals challenging the evidence against him. But he is now seeking a deal with prosecutors, ahead of a trial, in exchange for admitting the charges and providing the new information. Alfred Degiorgio, like his brother, has pleaded not guilty to the murder charges but has not presented his case. He has also filed multiple requests to be pardoned on charges in exchange for testifying about what he knows. George Degiorgio said that before taking the job, he didn’t know much about Caruana Galizia or her family, including the fact that they were ordinary people, not criminals. “That was it. Of course! I never met her in her life,” he said. The Degiorgio brothers have made several offers since March 2021 for an official pardon for their crimes. The latest, filed on April 4 by their lawyer, William Cuschieri, said, without naming names or details, that the Degiorgios could file for “Felonies of attempted violent robbery and attempted voluntary manslaughter in which one of the authors was a minister and another writer who is a minister.’ The request was rejected by the Maltese government on April 24, citing the national interest and the administration of justice, according to an official statement. Malta’s Prime Minister Robert Abella had previously condemned the Degiorgios’ attempts to gain a pardon, calling them “criminals” seeking to buy their freedom. Cuschieri, the Degiorgios’ lawyer, responded by saying the prime minister was violating their rights to a fair trial and, without elaborating, said the brothers had “direct information” about a minister’s involvement in the crime.
