Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1409324
SUNDAY • 12 SEPTEMBER 2021 • ISSUE 1141 • PUBLISHED SUNDAY AND WEDNESDAY maltatoday POLITICS TRUTH IS OF NO COLOUR WWW.MALTATODAY.COM.MT A PN stronghold hosts one of the most harshly-fought contests for a seat PAGE 6 WOULDN'T YOU RATHER BE DOING THIS WHILE WE MANAGE THE SALE FOR YOU? Discover our Sole Agency Packages Local. Experienced. Personal. Frank. franksalt.com.mt/sellfast SELLING YOUR PROPERTY? 20 YEARS LATER AFTER 9-11 Is the world any safer? PAGES 14-15 LUKE VELLA VINCENT Xuereb, the victim of Thursday's shooting in Iklin, was a serial fraudster and con- stantly indebted due to his gam- bling addiction. Xuereb was a known fraudster, with court documents confirm- ing that he had already been convicted in court of multiple fraud cases. On Wednesday, 24-year-old Ryan Sultana was arrested after he allegedly shot 55-year-old Xuereb with a shotgun, in an argument they had after an ap- parent road rage incident. Xuer- eb was grievously injured but is not in danger of losing his life. Sultana appeared in court on Friday, but was not granted bail. Sultana, a gardener from Ik- lin, stands accused of shoot- ing Xuereb and is facing other charges related to misuse of a firearm, causing violence and breaching the public peace. Serial gambling led to life of debt and fraud for Iklin shooting victim MATTHEW VELLA THE Ornis Committee has scaled back an increase in fines for hunters using illegal elec- tronic bird-callers, in favour of a penalty-point system before poachers are referred to a court of law. The fines and penalty points will replace the automatic court referral for hunters and trappers who breach limits on the use of live decoys, do not comply with minimum cage dimensions, use electronic lures, or fail to report trapped birds that are ringed or not released back into the wild. Originally, it was planned to increase fines from €250 to €495 for the use of bird-callers, but under a new draft legal notice, these will remain the same. The same fines will also ap- ply for a second offence instead of being increased. But hunt- ers and trappers who breach the rules will also be penalised, ranging from two to four points for individual offences. They will eventually only be referred to court if they amass 12 penalty points, and these will even be reset to zero after two years from the date of the last offence. The law currently refers a third offence to the court, but hunters lobby FKNK claimed with the Ornis committee that a penalty point system served as a better deterrent against illegalities by repeat offenders. BirdLife insisted that a penal- ty point system could not work without a final deterrent such as the suspension of the hunting licence, as in the case for driv- ers who lose their licence after amassing a number of penalty points. Points system loosens screws on law-breaking hunters Hunters spared increased fines on second offences, will not be taken to court on third offence unless they amass 12 penalty points NOTARIES MUST CHOOSE New rules force notaries to choose public office or private business affairs PAGE 7 €1.95 PAGE 4 BOV 2019 CYBER-HEIST Second man who laundered cash from €13 million bank cyber-heist is sentenced to 11 years in jail Page 2 PAGE 4