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MT 19 November 2017

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maltatoday SUNDAY 19 NOVEMBER 2017 2 News CALL FOR FULL-TIME BILINGUAL RESEARCH AND RESOURCES LEADERS WITHIN THE NATIONAL LITERACY AGENCY Jobsplus: 425/2017 The National Literacy Agency, within the Ministry for Education and Employment, is seeking to recruit Bilingual Research and Resource Leaders to work within the Language in Education Resource Unit. The eligibility criteria for this post are: • • Applicants must, at the closing date of receipt of applications, have a recognised degree, in Maltese and/or English at MQF Level 6; • All applicants must have at least 3 years proven relevant work experience, in one or more of the following: education, linguistics, translation, research and statistics; • All applicants must be in possession of an Advanced level certificate in Maltese and/or English or equivalent unless in possession of a first degree in both languages; • All applicants must possess an ECDL certificate in Word Processing, Spreadsheet, Database and presentation or a recognised appropriate comparable qualification. Candidates Candidates should submit their letter of application, together with a summary of qualifications and experience in a European Curriculum Vitae Format, a copy of their relevant scanned certificates and a recent Police certificate of conduct, by email to john.b.farrugia@gov.mt or by post to Mr John Farrugia, Executive Secretary, National Curriculum Centre, Joseph Abela Scolaro Street, Hamrun, HMR 1304, by not later than Monday 27th November 2017. Applications Applications by post should be sent by registered mail, allowing for sufficient time to ensure delivery by the above deadline. Applications will be acknowledged in writing within seven days. Late applications will not be considered. Further information may be obtained from Mr John Farrugia on 2598 2997 or via email at john.b.farrugia@gov.mt MATTHEW AGIUS FUEL smuggling partners Gordon Debono and Darren Debono, both arrested on suspicion of running a contraband fuel racket between Libya and Malta, had not always been on good terms. Both criminal and civil proceedings for fraud were filed between the two businessmen. In 2013 Gordon's company Eleven Eighty Eight had issued a garnishee order against Darren Debono in his own name and as representative of Maltese company ADJ Swordfish Limited over a cigarette consign- ment. This did not wash with the court, which ruled that it was meant to pressure Darren Debono into ac- cepting credit terms. Debono contested it via a court case, which the company did not respond to. Deciding the case, the Civil Court said the request for the revocation of the garnishee was apparently well-founded. "It emerges clearly that the contractual relationship that led to the issuing of the warrant was not made with Darren Debono or with ADJ Swordfish Limited but with the latter company as a man- datory of the foreign company Tiu- boda Oil Services Ltd." Tiuboda is the Libyan company owned by arrested smuggling king- pin Fahmi Slim Ben Khalifa, the former business partner of Darren Debono. A precautionary warrant is in- tended to protect a possible credit, pending a favourable decision to- wards the creditor. But the court said it cannot be used to put undue pressure to force a debtor "to ac- cept terms of a creditor when this is not yet made official by a court decision." So the court ordered Eleven Eight Eight Limited to pay €1,164.69 to Darren Debono and another fine of the same amount to his company ADJ Swordfish Limited. A criminal case followed after in July 2017, Darren Debono was unsuccessfully charged with hav- ing defrauded Gordon Debono and Eleven Eighty Eight Limited back in January 2013 – a case that could only have been filed after a criminal complaint by Gordon Debono. In that case, magistrate Antonio Micallef Trigona ruled that for guilt to be found, proof was needed of deception that led to the enrich- ment of the accused at the expense of someone else; or alternatively that the accused unjustly enriched himself at the expense of someone else. ADJ Swordfish, on behalf of Tiu- boda, had entered into an agree- ment with Eleven Eighty Eight Limited on the purchase and sale of a consignment of Marlboro ciga- rettes for the total price of €315,000. The Libyan purchaser paid for it in two tranches – €185,000 on 16 Jan 2013 and €130,000 a week later on 30 January. "It appears that the prosecution is resting on the fact that a represent- ative of Banif Bank testified that on 25 January 2013, the cheque had not cleared due to insufficient funds in the relevant account," Magistrate Antonio Trigona ob- served. The witness was unable to exhibit the original cheque which had been referred to drawer and returned to APS bank, and as the court noted, "leaving the allegation which had no supporting evidence, and rather, contradicted by other evidence." "Irrespective of this, from the evidence it is clear that fraud abso- lutely does not subsist in any of its constitutive elements and neither the deception as an element of the alternative charge of innominate fraud and this not even remotely from the testimony of the plaintiff." Fuel racket partners alleged fraud against each other MATTHEW VELLA THE former CEO of the Public Broadcasting Services, John Bun- dy, has faced allegations of sexual harassment by staff, although one report was later withdrawn. MaltaToday is informed that John Bundy has denied any such allegations when confronted, but he did not reply to a written re- quest for comment yesterday by this newspaper. Bundy was sacked from the job after a €500,000 car lease deal he brokered was found in breach of procurement rules by the broad- caster's auditor. But more details about the vet- eran TV presenter are surfacing since his dismissal. At least two cases of sexual har- assment have transpired against Bundy since reports of his clash with PBS directors made head- lines. In the first case, a member of the PBS secretarial staff filed a written complaint which was, however, later withdrawn. The woman in- formed the board that she did not want to proceed with the report due to personal and family rea- sons. No action was taken on this case. In the second case, the complain- ant approached a senior govern- ment official as well as having spo- ken of the harassment with other PBS staff and presenters. MaltaToday is informed that in this case, a government official asked Bundy to explain his posi- tion. Again, while no action was taken on the harassment charge, MaltaToday has learnt that the victim – a make-up artist – was later replaced by another make-up artist. Earlier this week, Bundy told The Malta Independent that he would consider legal action against the PBS board of directors for his dis- missal. Tension had been riding high with the board of directors since the first days of his appointment – which happened without any pub- lic call. In one of several clashes Bundy had with the PBS board, on 16 August a meeting with the CEO ended in a shouting match when the directors complained with Bundy for finalising the TVM programme schedule without their knowledge. Bundy was told that he had in- cluded two drama productions by Pierre Portelli – formerly the Mal- ta Independent director who has now taken the helm of PN media arm Media.Link – namely Hobbni Int and Tereza. The board pointed out that the contract with Portelli for Hobbni Int had been signed before May 2017 when the schedule was still being drawn up and as yet not fi- nalised. An internal email with draft schedules also showed Bundy had included Tereza, which at the time was being screened on One TV, the Labour Party's television channel. Confronted by the board mem- bers, Bundy was also taken to task for allegedly recording the board meeting, and instructed to desist from recording such meetings. Last week, MaltaToday also re- ported that Bundy had been in- structed not to enter the office of PBS chairman Tonio Portughese without prior consent. But CCTV footage of one such unauthorised entry, to consult documents and staff contracts, appears to have been blacked out when the CCTV was obscured with a piece of paper. Bundy faced sexual harassment claims while at PBS Bundy: PBS tenure has been sullied

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