Vince Muscat granted presidential pardon over Carmel Chircop murder

Vincent Muscat, or il-Koħħu, has been granted a presidental pardon to tell all about the 2015 murder of lawyer Carmel Chircop, reports say.

According to a Times of Malta report, Cabinet approved the request during a heated meeting on Monday.

Earlier today, Muscat pleaded guilty to his role in the murder of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia. Together with George Degiorgio and Alfred Degiorgio, he stands accused of procuring, planting and detonating the bomb that killed Caruana Galizia in October 2017.

Carmel Chircop, 51, was shot dead in 2015. He was hit by four bullets, and found lying in a pool of blood in a multi-storey garage complex near Birkirkara primary school.

Last year, MaltaToday revealed that Chirchop had loaned a substantial sum of money to people connected to the More Supermarkets bust, where millions were said to have been lost after director and owner Ryan Schembri fled the island.

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.

Agius was arrested today, together with his brother Robert and associate Jamie Vella, for supplying the bomb that killed Caruana Galizia.