Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1300177
11 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 18 OCTOBER 2020 wars and no justice? originated from a "Żejtun man". In May 2013, is-Suldat, was killed in a drive-by shooting in Marsa. Not long after, the Żejtun man, alleged bomb-maker Peter Cassar, or 'Pietru l-Ħaqqu', was shot dead outside his home in February 2014. In March 2015, Caruana himself was fi- nally killed, shot dead with a spray of ma- chine gun fire in the San Blas neighbour- hood of Żebbuġ. Haulier Josef Cassar survived a car bomb in Marsa in 2016, losing his legs in the horrific attack. Then there is the car bomb that assassinated the 67-year-old busi- nessman Giovann Camilleri 'tas-Sapun' in October 2016, followed by the "most terrifying" bomb, in February 2017, when Romeo Bone's legs were both blown clean off when a bomb went off in his car at the Msida junction. Despite the long list of men killed in bombs and shootings, police have failed to bring anyone to justice on this murderous spree. More Supermarket connection In the complex, inter-connected world of Maltese crime, it appears salient now that when Daphne Caruana Galizia first crowbarred the name of Adrian Agius into one of her posts on a suspicious su- permarket bust – the one, single reference she ever made to him – that same name would crop up in a mysterious event that took place just one year later. It was the death of lawyer Carmel Chir- cop, 51, shot four times in a Birkirkara multi-storey garage on the morning of October 8, 2015. Since then, little has been disclosed of the ongoing investigations into the murder of a lawyer who enjoyed extensive communi- ty bonds and other business relationships. But Chircop, it turns out, had been of the 'investors' in the mysterious More Super- markets bust, having loaned a substantial sum to the men connected to the super- market chain where millions are said to have been lost after owner Ryan Schembri fled the island. In 2014, More Supermarkets left huge debts it owed to both traders and other associates who had loaned Schembri and his business large sums of money. And it was in March 2014, that Chircop personally had entered into a contract with Ryan Schembri, then appearing as director of the company Erom Limited (the reverse of More) to loan him the sum of €750,000. Appearing as debtors in the contract were Schembri's business partner Etienne Cassar, but also Adrian Agius: now known as one of the men first arrested by police in December 2017 in connection with the assassination of Caruana Galizia, and later released on police bail. Together, Schembri, Cassar, and Agius, owned shares in another joint company called Interaa Holdings. Both Cassar and Agius resigned their positions in October 2014. According to their contract, Chircop agreed to loan the three businessmen, €750,000 interest-free. The contract sug- gests the loan had already taken place, since a €50,000 repayment had taken place on the day of the contract itself, and that a further payment was expected by the end of the month, and a further €50,000 to be paid by April 30, 2014. A final payment of €600,000 had to be paid by not later than February 15, 2015 – less than a year later. The contract, how- ever, bound the creditors to repay the en- tire sum within seven days of being noti- fied by Chircop of any default in payment terms. Schembri and Cassar, who together owned Cassar & Schembri Marketing – the company that supplied foodstuffs to the More Supermarket chain – issued two loan notes to Chircop, personally in their names for the debt. But Agius was guarantor on the debt, presenting as a special hypothec his grand villa property. Chircop exempted the notary from car- rying out the usual searches on the title and the property guarantee. Three months later, Schembri started transferring his supermarket business to a new investor, the restaurateur Darren Ca- sha, who was then under the impression that the More Supermarkets chain was in excellent financial health. Schembri later fled the island in September 2014. In October 2015, Carmel Chircop was murdered in cold blood. Six months after Chircop's murder, Adrian Agius took recourse to the law courts in a bid to cancel the notarial deed that had locked in his property as guaran- tee for the €750,000 debt. Chircop's widow, however, refused the claim, insisting that Agius himself had in- formed the victim "to take his villa as re- payment for the loan." Yet, neither party ever made it to court to take a stand on the alleged claim. In September 2017, the house Agius put up as a guarantee was sold for €1.8 million. Soon after, following various deferments, Agius's lawyer Arthur Azzopardi told the court in January 2018 that Agius was re- nouncing the case after an out-of-court settlement with the Chircop heirs. Azzopardi was contacted for comment but insisted he did not represent Agius. Walking away from drug charges Robert Agius, 36, had been arraigned in May 2012, charged with heroin-trafficking conspiracy, cocaine possession and illegal keeping of live ammunition. The charges were serious, but this sum- mer he walked away from scot-free. Agius had been identified as a suspect af- ter police caught a woman who had land- ed in Malta from Cairo, Egypt with two plastic blocks filled with heroin. The woman gutted Agius and told police that she had agreed to smuggle drugs in for him. In a controlled delivery, set up by the Drug Squad, police swapped the narcotics with decoy wooden slabs, and caught Agi- us receiving them on tape. However, once proceedings against Agi- us began, the woman – a crucial witness in the case –persistently refused to testify. As proceedings dragged on, Agius's lawyers filed a constitutional application, arguing that their client's right to a fair hearing within a reasonable time had been breached. More than six years had passed since Agius was arraigned. Then, in July, citing case law, a court de- clared that the prosecution had not suffi- ciently proved the accused's intention to sell or traffic drugs. As for the cocaine possession charge, the court observed that the suspect substance had never been scientifically analyzed by the police and so they had not even prov- en that it was an illegal drug. All that was proved was the possession of a live bullet. For that Agius made off with a €500 fine. 2008: The murder of Raymond Agius, still unsolved to the day End of the road: Raymond Caruana is murdered in a spray of machine gun fire in the San Blas neighbourhood of Zebbug in 2015. The theft of his cocaine haul in 2012 sparked a gangland war that kept going on for year. Photo: John Pisani/MaltaToday In his court testimony, Melvin Theuma had said that it was Tumas magnate Yorgen Fenech who informed him that Vincent Muscat had told police about his involvement. "Kohhu is talking... listen, go tell Mario (Degiorgio, brother of George and Alfred) that he is talking..." Theuma then said that Fenech told him: "'Make sure you send a message to Maksar because that's where the bomb was made.' I did not even give it any weight because I don't know who Maksar is." His claim not to know the Maksar brothers was given short shrift in court by Marc Sant, the lawyer of Vince Muscat. "You did not ask Fenech who the Maksar brothers were? You say Yorgen knew them, yet you the middleman did not know about them?" Theuma denied knowing who they were. "I just hear they are called 'Maksar', but I've never spoken to them, nor do I know of them or the way they look."