Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1491408
NEWS 7 maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 1 FEBRUARY 2023 LESA issued more than 280,000 fines in 2022 Foreign workers paid €200 million in social security contributions MATTHEW AGIUS A judge has imposed a four month deadline on prosecutors to conclude their evidence in an ongoing case against a man accused of cigarette smuggling that started in 2015. Patrick Pace had been charged with complicity in the theft of a shipping container, carrying a total of 1,050 cases of ciga- rettes, from the Malta Freeport in August 2015. He was also ac- cused of corrupting an official. The merchandise in question had arrived in Malta on 24 July 2015, aboard the ship Northern Jaspar. During Pace's arraignment, the prosecuting police inspec- tor had told the court that the value of the cigarettes in the container was some €304,000, carrying with it an excise duty of €1.6 million. Pace was further accused of evading €386,000 in VAT and €175,000 in importation fees. Police Inspector Rennie Sti- vala, prosecuting, had told the court that Pace had been one of four men arrested in connection with the theft. Of those four, two had been charged: Pace and Roderick Borg. Pace had been arrested on the strength of the version of events that Borg gave to the police. Therefore Borg's testimony was necessary in the case against Pace, Stivala had explained. The inspector testified that the compilation of evidence against Borg had stalled after he requested a Constitutional reference over his statement to the police. Borg was the only remaining witness in the compilation of evidence against Pace. When Borg was called to testify in September 2021, his lawyer submitted that his testimony was inadmissible against Pace as they were accused of being accomplices and Pace's case was still ongoing. In a judgement on the matter handed down Tuesday, Mr. Jus- tice Robert Mangion, presiding the First Hall, Civil Court in its Constitutional jurisdiction, ob- served that the Attorney Gener- al cannot expect the case against Patrick Pace to remain pending for an indefinite period, while awaiting a final outcome in the proceedings against the final prosecution witness. "If Roderick Borg's testimo- ny is so important to the case against Patrick Pace, then the onus was on the same prosecu- tion and the Attorney General to do everything possible to ensure that the criminal pro- ceedings agaisnt Roderick Borg come to an end in the shortest time possible." The court said it would not only declare a breach of the accused's fundamental rights, but that it would also order the stage for the exhibition of the prosecution's evidence to be concluded within four months from today. Lawyers Jason Azzopardi and Kris Busietta assisted the appli- cant. Judge gives prosecution 4 months to conclude its evidence in 2015 cigarette smuggling case KURT SANSONE SOCIAL security contributions by foreign nationals totalled more than €200 million in 2021, a six-fold in- crease over 2012, information tabled in parliament shows. The increase corresponds with the exponential growth of foreign workers since 2014, which formed the basis of government's economic growth strategy. The numbers tabled by Finance Minister Clyde Caruana in reply to a question by Nationalist MP Ryan Callus, show that the first significant year-on-year increase happened be- tween 2014 and 2015. After 2015, the national insurance contributions by foreign nation- als continued to rise exponentially every year. Employees pay 10% of their income, subject to a maximum capping, as social security contributions. In turn, employers pay an equivalent amount for each of their employees. Self-employed persons pay the full contribution. In 2012, the combined NI contri- butions of foreign workers and their employers stood at €30 million. Two years later social security contribu- tions by foreign workers increased to €44 million and in 2016 these jumped up to €78 million. The last available data is for 2021, showing that the combined contri- butions by foreign workers and their employers surpassed the €200 mil- lion mark. MARIANNA CALLEJA LOCAL Environmental and Safety Agency (LE- SA) issued 280,726 tickets by 20 December of last year, information tabled in parliament shows. From the issued tickets, 16,879 were contested, Home Affairs Minister Byron Camilleri replied to a question by Nationalist MP Ivan Bartolo. Camilleri told the House that from the con- tested tickets, 5,211 petitions were accepted by LESA, while 10,548 were not accepted. A further 141 were accepted partially, and 979 decisions are still pending. The tribunal heard 4,119 cases, of which 2,578 were declared not guilty and 1,541 were found guilty. 2022 was not the only year in which a large number of cases were ruled not guilty at tribunal. In comparison, 2022 saw a decrease in the number of tickets issued by LESA, with a record 342,725 being issued the year before (2021). This led to a higher number (12,126) of tickets being disputed at tribunal. Out of the 342,725, only 3,045 were found guilty while 9,081 tickets were found not guilty. In 2020, 6,669 tickets were contested at tribu- nal, of which only 1,842 were found guilty and 4,827 were found not guilty.