Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/927417
maltatoday WEDNESDAY 17 JANUARY 2018 News 4 OPENING SOON IN MALTA CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 The agreement was an- nounced following months of talks between the airline and the company, during which a number of similar agreements were signed with all other sec- tions of the airline's employ- ees. On Sunday, MaltaToday re- vealed that the company had offered its pilots a basic salary increase equivalent to 19.3% over a five-year period, that would see earnings increase by an average €72,392 over a five-year period for first offic- ers and €105,600 for pilots While Tourism minister Konrad Mizzi had repeatedly stated that all collective agree- ments needed to be signed by the end of the year, and that pilots' demands needed to be sustainable, the situation took a turn for the worse over the weekend. On Sunday, Prime Minister Joseph Muscat issued a second warning to pilots in the span of a few weeks, insisting that he had a responsibility to safe- guard Malta's economy and to serve its people. Later that evening, it emerged that the union had asked its members to vote to grant its executive the author- isation to commence indus- trial action, over what it said was an issue unrelated to the ongoing discussion. The authorisation, it said, had been requested over seri- ous threats and intimidation directed towards an ALPA member by one of the airline's senior managers. This prompted the airline to seek a court injunction against the union, holding it responsible for damages any action could cause the airline. On Monday, as negotiations were underway, it was revealed that the airline had planned to lease six aircraft, with ac- companying f light crew, that would step in, if the situation continued to deteriorate. TIA RELJIC A Czech man who claimed he was kidnapped and forced to sign documents which implicated him in VAT fraud is set to be ex- tradited to the Czech Republic. Marek Drga was arrested in Malta in November on tax eva- sion charges due to unpaid VAT amounting to over €350,000. Drga was remanded in custody and was given five days to file a constitutional case, as the Mal- tese court said that his allegations could not be proven on a level of probability. In December, the court ordered the return of Drga to Czech Re- public on the basis of a European Arrest Warrant (EAW), a judge- ment which he appealed, as he claimed that he was kidnapped twice (once in Gozo) and forced to sign some 50 pages of docu- ments related to a company he no longer owned. During the emotional appeal, Drga claimed that he refused to sign documents relating to a shady deal involving construc- tion giant Miroslav Zaremba, who had previously sub-con- tracted Drga's company, and that he left the Czech Republic after criminal fraud investigations against Zaremba commenced, saying he was threatened for not signing the documents and felt "trapped" as he claimed the Czech police and government were involved. Drga said that after moving to Gozo, he was kidnapped and forced to sign the documents anyway. He told a Maltese judge that the Czech police were in- volved in the alleged abductions in order to obtain his signature, and that the extradition request was for reasons other than those mentioned in the EAW. However, he failed to produce evidence. The court said that it was not in a position to decide whether the man was framed, and that it could not refuse the extradition based solely on his declaration that the Czech court and police were not acting in good faith. Therefore, the Maltese court refused his request to revoke the previous judgement and Drga will be kept in custody to await his return to the Czech Republic. Lawyer Roberto Montalto was defence counsel. Lawyer George Camilleri from the Office of the Attorney Gen- eral prosecuted. A Maltese judge has dismissed the defence of a man who claimed his extradition was requested by the Czech government because of its involvement in a tax fraud case together with the country's police Court orders extradition of Czech man, dismisses Gozo kidnap claims Air Malta planned to lease six aircraft and crew in case of possible pilots strike