MaltaToday previous editions

MALTATODAY 29 August 2021

Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1405706

Contents of this Issue

Navigation

Page 4 of 63

5 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 29 AUGUST 2021 NEWS Enjoy Summer to the fullest! Book your POOL DAY with us and enjoy the following perks: €60 per Adult per day (Monday - Friday) €70 per Adult per day (Saturday - Sunday) Offer includes a welcome Prosecco on arrival followed by a three course lunch or dinner from our delectable menu selection. *Drinks not included We also have a fantastic offer from our SPA! Detox and destress your body with our Spa Sana facilities while enjoying your pool day at a reduced price of only €15 per Adult! To make a book or for more information kindly contact us on info@villagehotelmalta.com www.villagehotelmalta.com a potential teaching candidate. But he said it never resulted to him that De Bono gave any ex- plicit instruction on such deci- sions. Abdilla sues MaltaToday Abdilla has been paid her sala- ry for three years since being put on special leave from MCAST, after colleagues filed several complaints against her, accusing her later in the ministerial in- quiry of attempting to influence members of a selection panel grading teaching recruits. Although having never seen the inquiry report, Abdilla has sued MaltaToday for defama- tion for reporting conclusions from the inquiry. Her lawyers are Andrew Borg Cardona and Matthew Cutajar. The education ministry re- mains unwilling to comment on why Abdilla is still being paid a full salary despite being out on special leave and an internal inquiry having disproved her allegations, and even suggested criminal action to be taken over alleged perjury. The ministerial inquiry was launched in 2018 after Abdilla was placed on forced leave and later alleged corruption and bribery at the heart of MCAST's operations in an angry email to the education ministry. But the inquiry disproved her allegations and instead, the ta- bles were turned against her: whistleblowers came forward saying they had been pressured by Abdilla in selecting favoured candidates for MCAST teaching jobs. She has denied the accusation in a lengthy right of reply to MaltaToday, despite the clear findings of the inquiry. The education ministry has spent months refusing to an- swer this newspaper's questions on the contents of the inquiry report and whether Abdilla was still being paid her full salary since placed on leave in 2018. Abdilla had also alleged that MCAST's former chairperson of the board of governors, Silvio De Bono, had solicited a one- month salary as commission from MCAST recruits. She claimed that despite being "so upset with the practice", she had apparently placated Debono by having her own daughter take up a course at Debono's own private educational institute, IDEA, for which she paid €500. De Bono was surprised at the accusation, when he testified be- fore the board of inquiry, stating that he was under the impres- sion of having had a good work- ing relationship with Abdilla. He denied having demand- ed any such 'commission' from MCAST staff. Yet Abdilla offered neither ev- idence for this allegation, nor a proper reason for her apparent inclination to 'force' her daugh- ter to attend an IDEA course. When asked to provide evi- dence for her allegation, Abdilla later retracted the serious accu- sation. "It's a joke," she told the in- quiry, denying that De Bono had taken such a bribe. The inquiry concluded, in its findings, that Abdilla had at- tempted, for reasons known to her, to create traces for a crime that had never happened. Asked to comment about these findings this week, Abdilla told MaltaToday she had not read the conclusions of the inquiry report and refrained from com- menting on the way her testimo- ny had been reported. Silvio De Bono, as owner of a private centre for education, IDEA, should not have accepted his reappointment to the post of non-executive president of the MCAST board of governors, the inquiry said.

Articles in this issue

Links on this page

Archives of this issue

view archives of MaltaToday previous editions - MALTATODAY 29 August 2021