Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1390367
7 maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 7 JULY 2021 NEWS Il-Qorti tal-Ġustizzja tal-Unjoni Ewropea qiegħda tfittex, permezz ta' sejħa għal offerti, tradutturi esterni. Il-Qorti tal-Ġustizzja tal-Unjoni Ewropea tixtieq tagħti lil tradutturi esterni, fuq bażi ad hoc, ix-xogħol ta' traduzzjoni lejn il-Malti ta' testi ġuridiċi minn ċerti lingwi uffiċjali tal-Unjoni Ewropea: It-talbiet għal informazzjoni bil-posta elettronika għandhom jintbagħtu fl-indirizz FreelanceMT@curia.europa.eu L-avviż ta' kuntratt huwa ppubblikat fil-ĠU 2021/S 101-265581 tas-27/05/2021. Id-dokumenti tal-avviż ta' kuntratt huma aċċessibbli fl-indirizz: https://curia.europa.eu/jcms/freelance Il-Ġermaniż (DE) L-Ingliż (EN) L-Ispanjol (ES) Il-Franċiż (FR) It-Taljan (IT) Il-Pollakk (PL) Projet_annonce_presse_MT_BW.pdf 1 26/05/2021 17:41:00 LAURA CALLEJA AN investigation into tax eva- sion and the role Labour MP Rosianne Cutajar played in bro- kering a property deal in Minda for Yorgen Fenech has been on- going since February, the Times of Malta has reported. The Tax Compliance Unit started an audit and an investiga- tion soon after the multi-million property deal was exposed back in December 2020. The investigation includes Cutajar, as well as Charles Farru- gia, an associate of hers. Farrugia, known as it-Tikka, also acted as a broker for the property deal, from which he was paid commis- sion in cash. Tumas magnate Yorgen Fenech and the seller of the property, Jo- seph Camilleri, are also featured in the tax probe. Inland Revenue Commission- er Marvin Gaerty has reportedly requested his staff look into the allegations that Cutajar received some €46,000 in cash for her role in the property deal. On Monday, Cutajar's resigna- tion as parliamentary secretary for reforms became permanent. She resigned in February. "Prime Minister Robert Abela today communicated with the Honorable Cutajar his decision to keep this resignation in force," the statement released on Mon- day said. On Sunday, MaltaToday report- ed that Cutajar was informed by the Prime Minister of his decision at a meeting at Castille. In a report of over 200 pages, one of the long- est ever penned by the Parliamen- tary Commissioner for Standards in Public Life, George Hyzler found overwhelming evidence of a breach of ethics by Cutajar. Rosianne Cutajar investigated for tax evasion since February KARL AZZOPARDI PARLIAMENT'S Committee for Standards in Public Life should adopt the Commissioner's report on Labour MP Rosianne Cutajar when this is discussed next week, Nationalist MPs Karol Aquilina and Therese Comodini Cachia said on Tuesday. "The report needs to be ap- proved, we expect it to be ap- proved, if we want to send out the message that we are truly working on removing Malta from the grey- list," Aquilina said. On Monday, members of parlia- ment's ethics committee agreed to publish an investigation into Ro- sianne Cutajar's involvement with murder suspect Yorgen Fenech in an Mdina property sale. The report penned by Standards Commissioner George Hyzler in- cludes a two-volume annex with evidence collected throughout the investigation. A separate volume containing private chats between Cutajar and Fenech and the MPs bank state- ments will only be made available to MPs on the committee. Hyzler concluded that Cutajar breached ethics when she failed to declare brokerage fees she re- ceived from the deal in her par- liamentary declaration. He also recommended that his findings be passed on to the Tax Commis- sioner for further investigation. The investigation was requested by independent candidate Arnold Cassola following a MaltaToday story that showed how Cutajar and her political aide, Charles Far- rugia known as it-Tikka, received a brokerage fee for the sale of a property in Mdina to Fenech. Addressing a press conference on Monday, Aquilina said that Prime Minister Robert Abela had the "golden chance" of showing he truly means business, and should have removed Cutajar from the Labour parliamentary group. Abela has so far left Cutajar out of Cabinet after making perma- nent her resignation from parlia- mentary secretary after Hyzler's report was published. Cutajar had resigned temporarily last February pending Hyzler's investigation. "It is clear that Robert Abela and his ministers are hostage to infor- mation she knows about them," Aquilina said. Approving Hyzler's report would mean that Rosianne Cuta- jar would have to shoulder re- sponsibility for her actions. "If Robert Abela is refusing to take the necessary decisions, no wonder the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) did not trust him," Comodini Cachia said, drawing comparisons to former Prime Minister Joseph Muscat's actions when he knew about allegations against former minister Konrad Mizzi. Aquilina and Comodini Cachia are the PN representatives on the standards committee, which is chaired by Speaker Anglu Farru- gia. The government representa- tives are Justice Minister Edward Zammit Lewis and government Whip Glenn Bedingfield. 'Big difference' Fielding questions from the me- dia, both MPs played down sug- gestions that Cutajar's case had any semblance to PN leader Ber- nard Grech's tax dues prior to the leadership election. Grech had received a number of warnings for failing to pay his in- come tax and VAT, over €60,000 in total, over two decades. The dues were settled just before the PN leadership election last year. Aquilina said that Grech had ad- dressed his tax issues, and there was certification to prove it, while Comodini Cachia insisted Ro- sianne Cutajar had received mon- ey from an individual who had serious allegations dangling over his head, after information on 17 Black was already published. "There is a big difference be- tween the two situations," she in- sisted. The Standards in Public Life Committee will be discussing the report next Monday when Hyzler is also expected to appear in front of it. PN expects government MPs to adopt Hyzler report on Cutajar Nationalist MPs Therese Comodini Cachia and Karol Aquilina