Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1197486
MATTHEW VELLA A lawyer who was found dead in a Birkirkara multi-storey garage in 2015, after being shot four times, had been one of the 'investors' in the mys- terious More Supermarkets bust. Carmel Chircop, 51, was killed in the morning of 8 October 2015 as he walked to the Birkirkara garage com- plex, where he died from four gunshot wounds to his upper body. Since then, little has been disclosed of the ongoing in- vestigations into the murder of a lawyer who enjoyed ex- tensive community bonds and other business relationships. KURT SANSONE CHRIS Fearne still leads his rival Robert Ab- ela as the Labour leadership race enters its final week but the distance has narrowed, a MaltaToday survey found. The survey was held among Labour Party members and puts Fearne's support at 55.4% against Abela's 44.6% when the results are ex- trapolated on those who declared their voting intention. However, the results are conditioned by the large percentage of respondents who did not declare their preferred choice for prime min- ister. Almost six in 10 of respondents (58.9%) were uncertain who they will vote for, while another 9.5% said they will vote for none. The raw numbers give Fearne 17.5% and Ab- ela 14.1%, pointing to a race that can go from a tight contest to an easy victory for Fearne when the margin of error is taken into ac- count. An internal membership survey leaked to The Sunday Times of Malta last week put Fearne's support at around 65%. 2 SUNDAY • 5 JANUARY 2020 • ISSUE 1053 • PUBLISHED EVERY WEDNESDAY AND SUNDAY €1.95 INSIDE • MT2 maltatoday 2 INSIDE • LISTINGS • TV • LAW • CLASSIFIEDS Q and A Brad James This Week Art curator Sara Dolfi Agostini Film Black Christmas LABOUR LEADERSHIP Murdered lawyer had loaned More directors €750,000 interest-free maltatoday PAGE 3 Chris Fearne's lead eroded by resurgent Abela mt survey PGS 8-9 Ryan Schembri (left) departed from Malta in late 2014 after his supermarket business amassed millions in debt. Carmel Chircop, who was shot dead in 2015, had been one of his creditors FREE with MaltaToday BUILDING COMMUNITIES UNHCR MALTA MAGAZINE 2020 LIFE AFTER RESCUE EMPLOYMENT OF REFUGEES AND ASYLUM-SEEKERS IN MALTA MALTA JOINS GLOBAL EFFORTS TO ADDRESS STATELESSNESS 1 How to fix the Republic... How to fix the Republic... SPECIAL FEATURE•PAGES 10-15 CELEBRATING 20 YEARS OF BOLD JOURNALISM WWW.MALTATODAY.COM.MT/20YEARS DAVID AGIUS 'We're talking about Adrian Delia as a possible future prime minister' PGS 16-17 Man arrested and released in Caruana Galizia raids in 2017 was guarantor for loan