Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1047665
NEWS 5 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 4 NOVEMBER 2018 CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 Referring to the salary paid in 2008 – well over €101,000 and more than any other MEP earned at the time – the aide says: "The exaggerated salary was purposely designed to al- low for monies to be funnelled back. It is also not true as re- ported in the Maltese media that I received extra finances for my translocation to Malta. The translocation occurred a year later in 2009. Addition- ally, I should add that the pay- ing agent quoted in the media is not the paying agent per- taining to 2008." The letter goes on stating that the aide "was paid in ex- cess of my salary but never pocketed the full amount of this deliberately inflated sal- ary. The reason for this: the money was retained by the paying agent working for the MEP… and utilised for other purposes." Tax records from 2006 to 2012 were sent to the OLAF director, and these have been issued by the tax authori- ties so that they can be in- dependently verified by the anti-fraud agency. "My actual salary was overstated by thou- sands. The precise amounts I received can be verified by cheques issued by the paying agent and deposits made at the HSBC bank." David Casa has hit out at re- ports on the way he has run his office and denied claims made by the former aide. The tax records seen by MaltaToday show that Casa paid his former aide a total of €101,513 in 2008 (tax assess- ment year 2009), a record sal- ary that would have meant the aide was even paid more than MEPs themselves that same year – when salaries were tagged at €92,000 under new statute rules. The aide claims he was never actually paid that full amount, and that his actual salary was overstated by some €35,000 to €40,000. The transparency declara- tions presented by Casa to the Nationalist Party show that his office always returned a small sum – around 5% to 7% – from the total €270,000 EP budget that is made available to MEPs to employ staff. But the aide says his €100,000 sal- ary was devised so as to retain part of that budget. Additionally, he has said he personally made up the fig- ures declared in Casa's trans- parency declaration on the €50,000 general expenses al- lowance. "In order to ensure we claim the full EP budget for general expenses, the fig- ures were made up for costs for office management, office equipment, communications, conferences and events, and stationery, so that we could claim the full budget. There are no receipts to back up the full amount," the aide said. The allegation confirms the shortcoming for this part of all MEPs' expenses budgets. An EU court has recently rejected calls for greater transparency, and upheld a decision by the European Parliament to not require MEPs to reveal how they spend public money in- tended for their offices, by providing invoices and re- ceipts for their constituency office costs. Casa's aide has insisted with MaltaToday that this lack of transparency allowed him to make up fictional amounts so that the expenses budget could be justified in full. "Most MEPs claim the maximum of- fice allowance… There is no requirement to provide in- voices, receipts or any details on how the funds are spent." The MEP has denied any fic- titious rounding up of expens- es and has insisted that all em- ployee salaries were received in full "in the manner agreed with them, and in conformity with any applicable rules. Sal- aries are paid either by bank transfer or by cheque. I have no right, interest or ability to monitor what staff deposit in bank accounts." The former aide has already supplied a sworn affidavit de- tailing the euro-parliamentar- ian's cocaine habit between the years 2009 and 2017 dur- ing which the two had a close relationship. In his declaration, the aide blows the whistle on week- ends spent in hotels where Casa would consume cocaine, spending some €700 on these sessions. The aide described Casa being "hyper" and be- ing "so taken up by this drug habit that he would miss im- portant political events and other private functions. There were also instances of drug taking in his office at the PN HQ but this did not continue after September 2017. His drug habits were well known to his entourage and most of his close aides and friends." Casa has denied the allega- tion. mvella@mediatoday.com.mt necessary procedures," Chetcuti said. But in the absence of an EU base, customers buying goods from UK websites will have to follow the same procedures as people buy- ing products from websites in the United States, China and so on. This includes providing proof of payment for the product to the courier delivering the good. And in a no-deal situation, they will have to pay customs duty too. Car importers should be OK When it comes to cars being imported from the UK by dealers in Malta, Chetcuti said he didn't think such businesses would be facing major challenges. Many such dealers are already familiar with customs procedures relating to cars coming from Ja- pan, he underscored. "So, if a trade agreement is reached, the dealers will follow the same procedure as cars imported from Japan, but without the tariffs. But in the case of a hard Brexit, there will also be tariffs to pay, similar to the case with cars com- ing from Japan." A spokesperson for used-car dealer Ventur said the company didn't expect any big changes in their business after Brexit. Chetcuti says the situation will be more of a headache for drivers who import a vehicle from the UK themselves, since they might not be familiar with the necessary cus- toms requirements. mcosta@mediatoday.com.mt OLAF probe into MEPs Nationalist MEP David Casa