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MALTATODAY 14 March 2021

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3 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 14 MARCH 2021 NEWS CAREER OPPORTUNITIES • Records Management Officer (JobsPlus permit 97/2021) • Finance Officer (JobsPlus permit 126/2021) The Malta Development Bank (MDB) is a promotional bank set up by the Government of Malta in 2017 in terms of the Malta Development Bank Act, 2017 (CAP.574). The aim of the MDB is to complement commercial banks so as to bridge financial gaps in bankable investments, thereby supporting socio-economic development in Malta, with special focus on SMEs, inf rastructure, innovation, digitalisation, education, and other socially-oriented projects. The MDB is currently recruiting and invites applications f rom suitably qualified candidates with banking experience who are citizens of European Union Member States for the following vacancies: These posts offer excellent career opportunities and carry attractive remuneration packages commensurate with qualifications and experience. A full job description for these posts is available on the MDB's website: www.mdb.org.mt. Additional information may be obtained by contacting the MDB on careers@mdb.org.mt or on +356 2226 1700 Applications together with curriculum vitae and a copy of qualification certificates are to be submitted by Monday 12th April 2021 addressed to: The Chief Executive Officer, Malta Development Bank, Pope Pius V Street, Valletta VLT 1041 or via email on careers@mdb.org.mt accused in the Caruana Galizia murder] told us, 'Let's hope this one's not like the Bone bomb'. And then one of the Maksar brothers said that bomb had not been placed under the seat but under the key lock. The car door had shielded him." This stark testimony in court reveals for the first time ever some form of intimate knowl- edge on the bomb attack that nearly killed Bone, by both the hardened criminals accused of killing Caruana Galizia and those suspected of procuring the bomb. Romeo Bone was one of four men who had been held by police in connection with their investi- gations on the hitmen that shot car dealer Raymond Agius, 49, twice in the head at close range at the Butterfly Bar in Birkirkara on 25 April, 2008. The other three suspects were two Birkirkara men, and another man from Ħaż-Żebbuġ. A police source with knowledge of the investigation said police had sus- pected the hit was over a series of property deals and disagree- ments over smuggled goods. The suspects were two assail- ants wearing crash helmets with visors, who carried out the ma- fia-style execution, at 9:15am on 25 April, 2008, then fled on a motorcycle. Agius, a well-known businessman as well as a proper- ty dealer, used to call at the bar regularly. Muscat's reference to Bone in court is the first time linking the Degiorgio-Agius tandem to an- other car bomb attack. However, the same police source insists that after Bone was targeted by the car bomb in 2017, no suspects had been ques- tioned by police. Gangland connections Accused George Degiorgio was already revealed to have had a previous association with busi- nessman John Camilleri, who was killed with a car bomb in St Paul's Bay in 2016. Camilleri, known as Giovann 'tas-Sapuna', had been chasing Degiorgio in court over a debt of thousands of euros on a property deal since 2011. Camilleri was demanding that Degiorgio pay him back over €52,000 for a St Paul's Bay apartment he 'sold' him back in 1996 – not by legitimate proper- ty transfer, but through a verbal agreement. Romeo Bone, 43, had him- self been investigated over the murder of businessman Joseph Baldacchino, shot while parking his car in Valletta in November 2010. The victim's car licence plate number had been scrawled on a piece of paper found in Bone's car, but he was never charged. Apart from the charges brought against the Agiuses on the Car- mel Chircop murder, the broth- ers have also been previously linked to Terence Gialanze, who disappeared in November 2012 just four weeks after disposing of his shares in a company he joint- ly owned with them. The Agius brothers, known by the family nickname Tal-Mak- sar, were among 10 people ar- rested in a police raid as part of the Caruana Galizia murder in- vestigation in December 2017. They were later released, while three men – George Degior- gio, Alfred Degiorgio and Vince Muscat – were charged with the murder. Gialanze's disappearance re- mains shrouded in mystery but court documents reveal how the young man left a trail of debt behind him and victims who were sweet-talked into acting as guarantors for loans he took to finance his business and lavish lifestyle. He set up Globe Inter- national Enterprises Ltd with the Agius brothers in 2009 to import and export beverages, detergents, cosmetics, toiletries, sanitary ware and food. On 2 November 2012, Gialanze trans- ferred his shareholding to Imora Holdings Ltd, belonging to Adri- an Agius. Imora Holdings held a 20% shareholder in Interaa Holdings, a company that included Cas- sar & Schembri Marketing as main shareholders (40%). Cas- sar & Schembri was a company owned by supermarket boss Ry- an Schembri, which supplied his now defunct More Supermarkets chain. At one point, Agius was registered as a director of the More Hamrun outlet. Romeo Bone (left) survived a 2017 car bomb but lost his two legs. He had been questioned by police over the 2008 murder of car dealer Raymond Agius (bottom, left) father of Adrian and Robert Agius, the two men who now stand charged with having procured the bomb that killed Daphne Caruana Galizia. "George said, 'Let's hope this one's not like the Bone bomb'. And then one of the Maksar brothers said that bomb had not been placed under the seat but under the key lock. The car door had shielded him." Left: the scene at the Butterfly Bar in Birkirkara where Agius was murdered in cold blood in 2008

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