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SUNDAY • 7 SEPTEMBER 2014 • ISSUE 774 • PUBLISHED EVERY WEDNESDAY AND SUNDAY maltatoday Newspaper post YOUR FIRST READ AND FIRST CLICK OF THE DAY WWW.MALTATODAY.COM.MT YOUR FIRST READ AND FIRST CLICK OF THE DAY WWW.MALTATODAY.COM.MT VIDA IS FREE WITH MALTATODAY • ASK FOR YOUR COPY PAINT IT BLACK! ANN MARIE MANGION 'There are real sex abuse cases out there. We can't end up being influenced by the false accusations' PGS 12-13 INTERVIEW MALTATODAY SURVEY How many claim to have participated in the ALS ice bucket challenge and donated to charity? FIND OUT ON PAGE 16 MaltaToday tracked down the Maltese partners of Skanska's construction venture in 1995 – Blokrete, Devlands, and Sebastian Dalli of Mixer Ltd – but nobody will talk about the inferior quality of cement that has threatened the structure of Mater Dei's A&E • FULL STORY PAGE 5 Met Police paedophile unit investigate whether Louis Minster, living in Malta, ignored sexual abuse complaints emanating from Richmond council's children's homes Social services head admits being told of abuse allegations JURGEN BALZAN A former director of social services in the London Borough of Richmond- upon-Thames admitted with Mal- taToday that he was aware of reports of an alleged paedophilia ring during his term in office in the late seventies and early eighties. To date, Louis Minster, who now lives in Malta, has always denied that he was aware of the alleged sex abuse on boys in care at the Grafton Close, Teddington Park and Rodney Road children's homes, which were run by the Richmond council. The 82-year-old told this newspa- per: "I have absolutely no involvement at all," however when asked whether he was aware of the alleged abuse he said, "No…well, yes, through one of my staff." Although Minster looked physically frail, making use of an aluminium walking frame to reach the door of his residence in Naxxar, he lucidly replied to the questions put to him. When pressed on the matter, Min- ster said, "Listen, I'll talk to you, leave me your number and I'll just get my solicitor to be with me." Minster was in charge of the coun- cil's social services at the time it is al- leged boys from Grafton Close chil- dren's home were taken to Elm Guest House in Barnes and sexually abused by a number of prominent people, including former UK government ministers, senior MPs, senior police officers and people with links to the royal family. CONTINUES PAGE 7 Land at Institute for Tourism Studies earmarked for development MATTHEW VELLA The land occupied by the Institute for Tourism Studies in St George's Bay is actively being considered by the gov- ernment as a prime site for the location of a new hotel development. MaltaToday understands that efforts are underway to identify a suitable area for the relocation of the ITS, which was established in 1987, be- fore the site is released for a possible call for expressions of interest. Hotelier Silvio Debono, of the Seabank Hotel in Mel- lieha, denied rumours that he was interested in developing a hotel on the site of the ITS. As the Maltese franchisee of Hard Rock Café, Debono is seeking land to develop a Hard Rock Hotel, having stat- ed in June that the Seabank Group was "looking with the government to see where the available land is." "I am interested in open- ing a five-star hotel and I am waiting for calls of expres- sions of interest issued by the government on various sites, to find a site for this new ho- tel," Debono told MaltaTo- day. Debono however denied having discussed the land oc- cupied by the ITS. "I will be interested in any site identi- fied by the government which is issued in a call for expres- sions of interest." CONTINUES PG 4 September 2014 - Issue 57 www.vida.com.mt IN BLACK & WHITE Vintage classics for autumn Back to school Fashion staples for the new school year €1.20 Hospital contractors won't speak up