Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1495215
10 NEWS maltatoday | SUNDAY • 19 MARCH 2023 19 th March 2023 European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development 2014-2020 PRE-ANNOUNCEMENT The Director General, Funds and Programmes Division, within the Parliamentary Secretariat for European Funds pre-announces the issuing of calls for the following measures under the Rural Development Programme 2014-2020. Applications will open on Monday 3 rd April 2023 and will close on Friday, 2 nd June 2023 at noon. Measure Number Title of Measure 4.1 Sub-Measure 4.1 - Support for Investments in Agricultural Holdings 8.5 Sub-Measure 8.5 - Support for investments improving resilience andenvironmental value of forest ecosystems' 22* Measure 22 - Exceptional temporary support to farmers and SMEs particularly affected by the impact of Russia's invasion of Ukraine (art 39c) The Guidelines and the application will be uploaded on the website www.fondi.eu in due course. For more information, the Managing Authority can be contacted on rdd.mefl@gov.mt or 2555 2634. Those interested are to contact the MA by e-mail on rdd.mefl@gov.mt by Friday 24 th March 2023 and will be invited to an information session. Details of the information session will also be uploaded on the MA website on Monday 27 th March 2023. *Measure 22 is still subject to clearance. On this measure, all eligible beneficiaries will be contacted directly. Programm tal-Iżvilupp Rurali għal Malta 2014-2020 Parzjalment iffinanzjat mill-Unjoni Ewropea Rata ta' Ko-finanzjament: 75% Unjoni Ewropea; 25% Gvern ta' Malta Il-Fond Agrikolu Ewropew għall-Iżvilupp Rurali: L-Ewropa tinvesti f'żoni rurali 19 th March 2023 European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development 2014-2020 PRE-ANNOUNCEMENT The Director General, Funds and Programmes Division, within the Parliamentary Secretariat for European Funds pre-announces the issuing of calls for the following measures under the Rural Development Programme 2014-2020. Applications will open on Monday 3 rd April 2023 and will close on Friday, 2 nd June 2023 at noon. Measure Number Title of Measure 4.1 Sub-Measure 4.1 - Support for Investments in Agricultural Holdings 8.5 Sub-Measure 8.5 - Support for investments improving resilience andenvironmental value of forest ecosystems' 22* Measure 22 - Exceptional temporary support to farmers and SMEs particularly affected by the impact of Russia's invasion of Ukraine (art 39c) The Guidelines and the application will be uploaded on the website www.fondi.eu in due course. For more information, the Managing Authority can be contacted on rdd.mefl@gov.mt or 2555 2634. Those interested are to contact the MA by e-mail on rdd.mefl@gov.mt by Friday 24 th March 2023 and will be invited to an information session. Details of the information session will also be uploaded on the MA website on Monday 27 th March 2023. *Measure 22 is still subject to clearance. On this measure, all eligible beneficiaries will be contacted directly. MCAST manager whose kickback claims were disproven, reinstated in former role MATTHEW VELLA THE former human resources manager whose allegations of corruption had kick-started a government inquiry at the Mal- ta College of Arts, Science and Technology, was reinstated to her job on the strength of an Ombudsman's decision. Josephine Abdilla had sued MaltaToday for libel – unsuc- cessfully – over a series of re- ports detailing the outcome of a 2018 government inquiry in- to her case, that disproved her allegations of kickbacks at the college, while upholding the complaints against her by staff and teachers, painting the pic- ture of a reviled personality. But on the strength of a deci- sion from the Ombudsman in 2022, which investigation was unarchived after the first Mal- taToday reports, Abdilla was reinstated at MCAST in a ca- pacity and post different from the one she had held. Abdilla was sacked in 2018 on the strength of 29 separate charges drawn up by MCAST; she responded in kind with a detailed 159-page document. Yet no disciplinary proceedings had ever been taken against her by the college, ostensibly be- cause her allegations of kick- backs provoked the ministry into ordering a government inquiry. A year later, Abdilla's allega- tions of corruption were dis- proved in the inquiry, chaired by financial consultant Paul Bonello. Yet the report was never published. In 2021 MaltaToday reported the outcome of that inquiry, revealing testimonies of whis- tleblowers who accused Ab- dilla of exerting pressure on them during the selection of MCAST teaching candidates. The report had also found that MCAST top brass had tolerat- ed "an endemic and toxic prac- tice of recommendations" for favoured teaching candidates, mainly with pressure from the Office of the Prime Minister for the selection of certain ap- plicants for teaching jobs. Abdilla sued MaltaToday for libel on the August 2021 re- ports, and petitioned the Ed- ucation Commissioner Judge emeritus Vincent de Gae- tano to reactivate her initial complaint – which had been stopped by his predecessor. The ombudsman subsequently decreed that MCAST had act- ed "wrongly" and "abusively" in suspending her for over three years and four months. A magistrate's court subse- quently threw out the libel case, ruling that MaltaToday's reports were indeed accurate. The court upheld MaltaTo- day reports that Abdilla had lied under oath in her testimo- ny before the board of inquiry, finding that she had created an atmosphere of unpleasantness and tension amongst staff and teachers through oppressive behaviour and bullying tactics, and that her claims of corrup- tion and blackmail had been discredited by the inquiry. Despite the conclusions of the inquiry, no disciplinary proce- dures were ever taken against Abdilla. The government also resisted publishing the inquiry, retainubg Abdilla on full sala- ry while under suspension, and even refused to give Vincent de Gaetano a copy of the report. Magistrate Rachel Montebel- lo, in her libel decison, said it was "worrying" that no action appeared to have been taken against Abdilla by the author- ities, in spite of a conclusion by its own board which found that she had acted irregularly and possibly illegally. The magistrate noted that the Bonello report had observed that witness evidence had con- clusively proven that Abdilla had tried to exert pressure on the members of a board in- terviewing candidates for the post of English teacher, in a way that favoured an unworthy candidate. Abdilla was also reported as having intervened in an irreg- ular manner in the recruitment process, while trying to influ- ence the board to illegally dis- criminate against candidates and award "false and fabricated marks to the candidates she in- dicated". mvella@mediatoday.com.mt Human Resources manager whose corruption allegations kickstarted inquiry that disproved those claims, and spent three years on full pay while suspended, reinstated to MCAST after Ombudsman complaint