Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1538870
4 maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 27 AUGUST 2025 COURT juring a man, drink-driving, reckless else. He was also accused of damag- cuti did not contest the validity of the evidence. Moreover, it was noted Francine Farrugia requested changes to audit files after submission, court told FRANCINE Farrugia allegedly sought approval for last-min- ute payroll adjustments even after the audit file had already been submitted and reviewed, MCAST HR Director Valerie Attard told a court on Tuesday. Francine Farrugia is currently facing multiple charges includ- ing money laundering, fraud, and misappropriation of over €2.3 million in public funds. The former Siġġiewi local councillor served as a manager within the salaries department at the MCAST. In the previous sitting, Farru- gia was granted bail against a €50,000 deposit and a personal guarantee of €25,000. However, MaltaToday was informed that Farrugia was not released from custody due to not being able to pay the €50,000 deposit. On Tuesday morning, Valerie Attard, the HR Director of MCAST testified in court. At- tard takes care of affairs re- lated to HR such as employee onboarding, recruitments and disciplinary procedures. Attard said that Francine be- gan working at MCAST in De- cember of 2019 as part of the HR team, but was later trans- ferred to the Payroll Depart- ment as Senior Manager, tak- ing charge of all payroll related matters. In court, she briefly outlined the payroll process at MCAST. Farrugia was due to send the audit file by the last Monday of the month at 9am, which would be sent to the Financial Controller for auditing. Once this step was cleared, she would compile and forward the pay- roll (bank) file, which was re- quired to be uploaded to the banks by Wednesday. Attard said that sometimes, changes were sometimes in- troduced between the audit file and the final bank file. She said that these adjustments would cover matters such as employee terminations, probation adjust- ments, or last-minute allow- ance revisions. Francine sometimes requested permission to make last-min- ute changes even after the audit file had been sent. The witness referred to an email in which Francine informed the Finan- cial Controller that she was awaiting additional informa- tion to be included in the audit file, even though it had already been submitted. Attard ex- plained that these changes were introduced after the audit file had been reviewed and cleared. Once the audit file was sent, Attard testified that she had no knowledge of any subsequent changes made. She said that certain allowances adjustments were channelled directly to the financial controller. Attard further clarified that once the bank issued the pay- ments, a reconciliation pro- cess was carried out. A report from the Dakar Payroll system was transferred into an Excel sheet to kickstart the reconcil- iation process. Anita Muscat, who was responsible for this, verified pre-tax and post-tax allowances and cross-checked each payslip item against FS5 records. No irregularities were flagged during these reconcili- ations. Francine delayed sending audit and bank files The witness highlighted that Farrugia "procrastinated" send- ing the necessary files. The CFO frequently com- plained that Francine failed to meet the strict monthly dead- lines for sending the audit and bank files. This created signif- icant pressure since the Finan- cial Controller only had one day to review the audit file. While no quality issues with the files were identified, the delays were described as a recurring prob- lem. She stated that she had previously warned Francine about her repeated late submis- sions. However, under cross-exami- nation by lawyer Peter Fenech, Attard said that she only emailed Francine once about the issue of delays. Answering questions put for- ward by parte civile lawyer Ste- fano Filletti, the witness con- firmed that Farrugia also had access to alter employees' IB- AN details. Parte civile lawyer Stefano Filletti further pressed the wit- ness to clarify matters concern- ing the deletion of duplicate payslips. Attard confirmed that although Dakar produced re- cords of issued payslips, once a payslip was deleted, it would not appear in the system. Payroll managers had full access to insert and remove payslips, she stated. The court further heard that Farrugia also held other re- sponsibilities linked to payroll beyond her standard duties. She also sat on a particular MCAST committee dealing with academic resources allow- ances, while also carrying out part-time lecturing work out- side regular office hours. The defence team requested that Farrugia's bail conditions are revised, requesting that her high bail deposit is reduced. At the end of the sitting, the prima facie decree was issued by the court, stating that there was enough evidence for Fran- cine Farrugia to stand trial. The sitting was adjourned to 6 October at 10:45am. Farrugia was represented by defence lawyers Peter Fenech and Amy Zahra. Prosecution was led by AG lawyers Alessia Schembri and Michael Muscat, with police inspector Wayne Rodney Borg. Defence lawyers Stefano Fillet- ti and Thea Licari appeared for MCAST. Filletti is also appearing for the Ministry of Education, the parte civile. The case was heard before Magistrate Rachel Mon- tebello. MAYA GALEA mgalea@mediatoday.com.mt rancine Farrugia remanded in custody after not being able to pay €50,000 bail deposit • Defence lawyers representing Farrugia request less strict bail conditions Francine Farrugia