Lawyer Carmel Chircop gave More Supermarket directors €750,000 interest-free loan. He was then killed. Adrian Agius was one of the chief suspects questioned
Carmel Chircop had loaned a substantial sum to people connected to the More Supermarkets bust, where millions are said to have been lost after director and owner Ryan Schembri fled the island
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 mysterious More Supermarkets bust.
Carmel Chircop, 51, was killed in the morning of 8 October 2015 as he walked to the Birkirkara garage complex, where he died from four gunshot wounds to his upper body. Since then, little has been disclosed of the ongoing investigations into the murder of a lawyer who enjoyed extensive community bonds and other business relationships.
But it transpires that Chircop had loaned a substantial sum to people connected to the More Supermarkets bust, where millions are said to have been lost after director and owner Ryan Schembri fled the island.
Schembri, who relocated to the United Kingdom from Dubai, has never been heard of since.
But in 2014, his More Supermarkets chain left millions in debts it owed to both traders and other associates who had loaned Schembri and his business large sums of money, as this newspaper found out in the case of Chircop.
In March 2014, Chircop entered into a contract with Ryan Schembri, then appearing as director of the company Erom Limited, to loan him the sum of €750,000.
Also appearing as debtors in the contract were Schembri’s business partner Etienne Cassar, as well as Adrian Agius: one of the men first arrested by police in December 2017 in connection with the assassination of Daphne Caruana Galizia, and later released on police bail. Together, Schembri and Cassar, and Agius, owned shares in another joint company called Interaa Holdings.
Agius was one of the 10 men arrested by police in December 2017 in connection with the assassination of Daphne Caruana Galizia, but was released within days without charges.
According to their contract, Chircop agreed to loan the three businessmen, €750,000 interest-free.
Indeed, the contract suggests that 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 on 31 March, 2014, and a further €50,000 to be paid by 30 April 2014.
A final payment of €600,000 had to be paid by not later than 15 February, 2015 – less than a year later. The contract, however, bound the creditors to repay the entire sum within seven days of being notified by Chircop of any default in payment terms.
Schembri and Cassar, who together owned Cassar & Schembri Marketing – which acquired and supplied foodstuffs to the More Supermarket chain – issued two loan notes to Chircop, personally in their names for the debt.
Additionally, Agius was guarantor on the debt, presenting as a special hypothec his grand villa property on Engineer Street, Madliena heights. Chircop exempted the notary, Malcolm Mangion, from carrying 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 Casha, who was then under the impression that the More Supermarkets chain was in excellent financial health. Schembri later fled the island in September 2014.
Subsequently, and 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 guarantee for the €750,000 debt.
Chircop’s widow, however, refused the claim, insisting that Agius himself had informed Chircop “to take his villa in Madliena as repayment for the loan to Erom. If what he now claims is true, [Agius] would have not put the villa up… the business that was to take place with Carmel Chircop never did happen because the agreement was that either Erom or the loan guarantor, pay back the money loaned to them.”
Yet neither party ever made it to court to take a stand on the alleged claim.
Indeed, in September 2017 the house Agius put up as a guarantee was sold for €1.8 million. The notary was the same person who set out the deed for Chircop’s loan.
Soon after, following various deferments, Agius’s lawyer Arthur Azzopardi told the court in January 2018 that Agius was renouncing the case after an out-of-court settlement with the Chircop heirs.
Chircop’s debtors: Schembri and Agius held joint company
When the Caruana Galizia assassination suspects were arrested back in December 2017, police also arrested seven other men: two of them were Adrian and Robert Agius, sons of murdered car dealer Raymond Agius ‘tal-Maskar’, shot dead in 2008 in the Butterfly Bar of Birkirkara. His killers were never apprehended. The Agiuses were later released, while three men – George Degiorgio, Alfred Degiorgio and Vince Muscat – were charged with the murder.
It remains unclear why he and his brother had been apprehended. Yet in his testimony in court, the assassination’s middleman turned State’s evidence Melvin Theuma, alleged in court that someone by the nickname of ‘Maksar’ had procured the bomb that was used by the executors of the Caruana Galizia assassination. The name was never stated in court.
Agius had earned a mention on Caruana Galizia’s blog when she mentioned him three times in one day – 12 October 2014. The story of the day was news of the More Supermarkets bust that left an alleged €40 million in debts after its prime mover Ryan Schembri ran away from the island.
Agius held a directorship in a company related to More’s main shareholder Ryan Schembri – cousin of bête noire Keith Schembri (he had yet to reach Panama notoriety). With Schembri as director of the company Interaa Holdings, the shareholders were made up of Schembri’s own Cassar & Schembri Marketing (40%), M&R Construction (15%) and Panelix Supplies (25%), and Agius’s Imora Holdings (20%).
Caruana Galizia had alleged that Agius was taking loans from businessmen wanting to avoid tax, and promised interest of 20% on alleged shipments of “meat from Brazil” – her quotation marks indicating a heightened sense of scepticism. Yet these claims have so far never been backed by evidence.
Still, Caruana Galizia did place Agius as a friend and close associate of alleged drug dealer Terence Gialanze, who vanished in November 2012 at the age of 24, and is now presumed dead.
MaltaToday has since established that Gialanze had been in business with Agius and his brother Robert, and that four weeks before disappearing, he had disposed of his shares in the company.
Company documents show that Gialanze set up Globe International Enterprises Ltd with the Agius brothers in 2009 to import and export beverages, detergents, cosmetics, toiletries, sanitary-ware and food. Shareholding was split equally between the three men. However, on 2 November 2012, company records show that Gialanze transferred his shareholding (2,000 shares) to Imora Holdings Ltd, belonging to Adrian Agius.
Update, March 2021: Police suspected Carmel Chircop was killed over More Supermarkets loan
Police have long suspected that Birkirkara lawyer Carmel Chircop had been murdered over monies he was owed on a credit he extended to More Supermarkets: their chief suspect had been Adrian Agius ‘tal-Maksar’, whose brother Robert is also charged with having supplied the bomb that killed Daphne Caruana Galizia.
Suspect Adrian Agius appeared in court today charged with co-conspirator Jamie Vella and Caruana Galizia murder suspect George Degiorgio of the murder of lawyer Carmel Chircop in Birkirkara in 2015. Agius’s brother Robert Agius and Jamie Vella are charged with supplying the bomb that killed journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia in October 2017.
The Agius brothers, known by their family nickname ‘tal-Maksar’, pleaded not guilty to the amended charges, which now also implicate Robert Agius as part of the Chircop murder. Jamie Vella, unemployed, pleaded not guilty. George Degiorgio’s lawyer informed the court that his client will not reply to any questions.
Police had already investigated and questioned Adrian Agius as a chief suspect on the murder of Chircop, after the lawyer’s widow confirmed an outstanding matter of business between the two men on the defunct More Supermarkets chain.
Prosecuting inspector Keith Arnaud said Agius had confirmed meeting Chircop at a Naxxar café to discuss outstanding money issues, after Chircop loaned the supermarket chain €750,000 interest-free.
“Chircop would persistently chase him for money but that there were no arguments… The intention was to develop the warehouse into offices. But it was on a promise of sale which Chircop was due to earn €700,000 from. The sale was for €3 million. Adrian Agius complained that he had made it appear as a loan to avoid tax and insisted he had no reason to kill the lawyer. Agius had told police that he was going to challenge the validity of the agreement which was made before a notary,” Arnaud told the court.
Agius had denied any involvement in the murder of Chircop and had given details on the business he had with Chircop to the police.
The Qormi warehouse had to be transferred to Chircop and then sold to More Supermarkets, but the promise of sale was never signed. Chircop had engaged Agius to gather €600,000 he was due from Ryan Schembri, who was the owner of More Supermarket.
Chircop’s widow had also told police that she would hear her husband complain to Agius about the money. “The widow explained to the police that there was a particular problem with Adrian Agius. She said that there were some payments due to Chircop from Agius and to pay this, he had taken her with him to Agius’ villa in Baħar iċ-Ċagħaq, which was supposed to be given as payment. They ended up not taking the villa and the amount remained pending.”
A garnishee over his business was mentioned and the villa was put up as collateral. The lawyer had not accepted to be paid by instalments. Agius had not explained to the police why he suddenly started hanging out with George Degiorgio.
€20,000 for Vince Muscat
Arnaud said the investigation showed that the murder was commissioned by the Agius brothers but the police didn’t have enough evidence to prosecute. “This changed with the Vince Muscat pardon request,” Arnaud said of the suspect who earned a pardon on the 2015 Chircop murder.
“At the potato shed in Marsa, George Degiorgio had told Vince Muscat that ‘Maksar’ had a job involving the murder of a lawyer. They had followed Chircop’s movements but were later given an address. Muscat was offered €20,000 to participate in the assassination. Chircop was to be shot from inside a vehicle. Jamie Vella was to fire the shots,” Arnaud said.
Arnaud says that part of the money, €10,000, was given by George Degiorgio, “sent from Robert”, and another two instalments of €5,000 were collected personally from Robert Agius.
Chircop murder and getaway: how it played out
Arnaud said the murderers had conducted reconnaissance on the garage complex in Birkirkara. They would keep a look-out from a small window in the complex seeing the approaches. They drove from Santa Venera to Rampol Buildings and up to the door of the garage with Jamie ready to fire.
When Chircop was killed, he had been making his way into the Rampol Buildings garage complex in Birkirkara. As soon as Carmel Chircop opened the garage door, Jamie Vella fired five shots at the lawyer from inside the getaway vehicle.
His dead body was found face up, three quarters inside his garage with his lower leg protruding into the entrance. There was damage from gunshot to the lock. The victim had suffered gunshot wounds to his abdomen and was lying in a pool of blood. His briefcase and mobile phone were next to him.
A neighbour found the body and called the police. Arnaud says that no spent cartridges were found at the scene. This led to the police thinking it could have been a revolver and that the murderer had gathered the spent cartridges. The victim had eight wounds. All were bullet wounds – some entry and some exit wounds. This meant he was shot four times in his back. Two projectiles were found still inside the body.
Arnaud said that cameras on John Borg Street at 6:36am, captured a Toyota Ractis car entering the garage complex; when it departed right after the 7am shooting, it turned left and then onto Naxxar Road.
The car then veered onto Valley Road and turned near the HSBC instead of going into the valley, near the aqueducts. The footage traced it to Fleur De Lys, then to Santa Venera. The vehicle’s journey was a five or six-minute drive after the murder of Chircop.
They went to Santa Venera, leaving the car in a garage there and then went to Jamie Vella’s nearby apartment. Over there they changed clothes to avoid gunshot residue findings and went their separate ways. The weapon used was thrown away in the sea off Marsa, near the Tiger Bar area. This was the version of events given by Vince Muscat, Arnaud concluded.