Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/219723
News maltatoday, Sunday, 1 December 2013 Libyan CEOs got tax break in 2013 Matthew Vella The bosses of Libyan companies operating in Malta will not be paying any income tax in 2013. The details emerged in a parliamentary paper laid in the House in July, and reported by specialist news agency Maghreb Confidential. According to a February 2013 decree by then finance minister Tonio Fenech, various Libyan directors and managers employed in Malteseowned companies like the Corinthia Hotels International group, or other joint-Libyan enterprises, were spared from paying income tax. The tax exemption was granted by the minister under powers he enjoys from the Income Tax Act, to officials of the Libyan Foreign Investment Authority (LAFICO) who were seconded to companies in which Pictured with Tonio Fenech and Lawrence Gonzi in 2012 is Medavia managing director Abdulrazagh Zmirli. LAFICO has a shareholding. The companies included Corinthia Hotels International, Golden Tulip Vivaldi Hotel, LAMHCO, Medavia, Mediterran Power Electric Co Ltd, Medelec Switchgear Ltd, and Universal Inspectorate and Services. Those enjoying the tax break included Fathi el Wafati, CEO of Med. Power Electric, a joint venture between Libya, Malta and Britain's Hawker Siddeley, and Abdelwahab Bitrou, manager of Medelec Switchgear, a joint venture between LAFICO, Malta, Alstom Grid and Schneider Electric. Medavia managing director Abdulrazagh Zmirli also benefited from the tax break. Zmirli is also a Maltese citizen. In December 2012, he was seized and imprisoned by Zawija militias, together with Medavia's technical general manager Abdalla Dekna. Dekna too enjoys a tax holiday in 2013. Zmirli and Dekna were arrested following claims that they helped the Gaddafi regime during last year's conflict. Zmirli kept Medavia going and retained its employees despite the upheaval in Libya during the uprising against the regime of dictator Muammar Gaddafi. Medavia was one of several joint Maltese-Libyan ventures indirectly affected by EU sanctions imposed on the Libyan Foreign Investment Company during the war. Zmirli, an engineer, was previously a non-executive director of Corinthia Hotels and occupied a similar non-executive post at Mediterranean Investment Holdings. mvella@mediatoday.com.mt Thrombosis guidelines could prevent hospital deaths James Debono Venous Thromboembolism (VTE) – a blood cloth in the veins which causes a blockage in the main artery of the lung – is internationally recognized as one the most common preventable cause of hospital death. But a study based on an audit of Mater Dei Hospital's geriatric facility, published in the Malta Medical Journal, shows that some doctors still fail to adhere to guidelines on how to prevent VTE – "putting patients at risk and incurring considerable expense for the National Health Service", according to the doctors who authored the study. But the serious complication mostly resulting from hospitalization of older patients can be prevented if doctors follow a few simple guidelines. The study found that compliance to internationally approved standards improved from 30.7% to 63.3% after a memoir was printed on a simple A4 sheet, that reminded members of the interdisciplinary staff of the importance of a risk assessment of patients. The memoir included a list of risk factors, and medicines that should be administrated to patients at risk. Simple measures to prevent this disease include encouraging mobility of hospitalized patients. Factors which can prompt physicians to consider preventive treatment, include major surgery, multiple trauma, hip fracture, or lower extremity paralysis because of spinal cord injury. Additional risk factors, such as increasing age, cardiac or respiratory failure, prolonged immobility, presence of central venous lines and a wide variety of inherited and acquired conditions, contribute to an increased risk for VTE. According to the study – authored by Stephanie Azzopardi, Sarah Busuttil and John Cordina – a centralized and organized approach could produce even greater levels of compliance.