Judge Consuelo Scerri Herrera allegedly told a neighbour that the Degiorgio brothers would eventually be granted bail while they were awaiting trial over the assassination of Daphne Caruana Galizia, according to evidence given by pardoned middleman Melvin Theuma.

The claim emerged on Monday during Yorgen Fenech’s trial, as prosecutors continued playing secretly recorded conversations between the businessman and Theuma.

Theuma told the jury that Ryan Farrugia, the partner of his partner’s daughter, owned a farmhouse next to Scerri Herrera and had spoken to the judge about the Degiorgio brothers.

According to Theuma, Farrugia told him that Scerri Herrera had said the brothers would likely eventually be granted bail.

There is no suggestion in Theuma’s evidence that the judge spoke directly to either him or Fenech, and his account of the alleged conversation was based on what Farrugia had told him.

The reference to Scerri Herrera emerged as the court heard recordings in which Fenech and Theuma were discussing the prospects of bail for George and Alfred Degiorgio.

Fenech is heard saying that if the brothers were granted bail, they would leave Malta within a week, while he would leave for London with his family.

The testimony involving Scerri Herrera assumes added significance because the veteran judge was Prime Minister Robert Abela’s first choice to become Malta’s new Chief Justice earlier this year.

Abela’s handling of her nomination generated controversy after he publicly expressed his preference for Scerri Herrera amid disagreement with the Opposition over who should succeed outgoing Chief Justice Mark Chetcuti.

The Shift reported at the time that Abela’s handling of the nomination raised questions about the political manoeuvring surrounding the appointment to the country’s highest judicial office. His government initially put forward Scerri Herrera, but the Opposition refused to support her nomination, preventing the two-thirds parliamentary majority required for the appointment.

Monday’s testimony formed part of another detailed account by Theuma of the efforts made to keep the Degiorgio brothers quiet following their arrest in December 2017.

Theuma told the court that he had done whatever he could to continue assisting the brothers while they were in custody because he feared they could expose him as their contact in the murder plot.

He testified that he paid €60,000 of his own money to Mario Degiorgio to be passed on to George Degiorgio’s partner. According to Theuma, Fenech subsequently reimbursed him for that payment.

The payment was over and above the €150,000 Theuma says Fenech provided for the assassination itself.

Theuma told jurors that Fenech had instructed him not to abandon the brothers and had said money should continue flowing to them ‘till the very end’.

The court also heard Theuma describe Fenech as the ‘main mastermind’, saying the businessman had admitted to him that he had paid for Caruana Galizia to be killed.

Fenech denies involvement in the assassination and is contesting the charges against him.