Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/414558
maltatoday, WEDNESDAY, 12 NOVEMBER 2014 News 6 'Government policies changed to suit Norman Vella' MATTHEW AGIUS THE principal permanent secre- tary at the OPM, Mario Cutajar, has told the employment commission that government policies had been changed to suit Norman Vella. The revelation came as the commis- sion continued to hear the case insti- tuted by Norman Vella, the former presenter of TVHemm, against the Prime Minister and the Principal Permanent Secretary. Vella is claim- ing that political discrimination led to his reassignment from PBS to a passport control desk job. "I remember there was a big hulla- baloo involving Where's Everybody, PBS, timelines and changes in policy. Policies had been changed to accom- modate Vella," said Cutajar. When asked to explain what he meant by that statement, Cutajar explained that "the policy change meant that Vella's deployment to PBS was raised to five years instead of three." He said that the decision was made around the years 2011 to 2012. Mario Cutajar testified that he had begun legal proceedings after his contract with Heritage Malta was cancelled following the 2008 general election, in spite of his performance being rated 96%. Cutajar is alleging political discrimination. Cutajar and Vella had worked to- gether on the local TV programme "Bijografiji". Cutajar had spent 15 years work- ing with the GWU, eventually rising through the ranks to become deputy general secretary. He told the com- mission that he first met Vella when Vella was working as a journalist with the GWU. Cutajar explained that he was seconded "on loan" from the government and paid by the gov- ernment, as was the case with other trade union representatives. Vella's lawyer, Andrew Borg Car- dona, asked him whether he had received any order to terminate the deployment of Norman Vella to PBS, as his approval was required. "There was a recommendation from the ministry of internal af- fairs that he be removed," answered Cutajar, adding that he made sure that Vella was not removed before the last scheduled programme of the series. He denied discussing the matter of Vella's termination with the PBS chairman or Chief of Staff Silvio Scerri. Neither did he speak to Vella, in spite of them being old friends. Cutajar described the decision to move Vella as "demand-driven". "Vella was needed by the ministry," he said, adding that Kevin Mahoney, permanent secretary of Home Af- fairs, had made the recommenda- tion in writing. "As a man with a long experience of HR and trade unionism, did you have any suspicion of any subtext behind the relocation of Vella to the passport desk?" asked Borg Car- dona. "If I had documentation and as- certained that the reason given was true, I did not need to look into the matter". Cutajar denied having any memory of conversations with Vella before things surfaced. A statement in the Times of Malta newspaper was made to the effect that PBS had asked the ministry to transfer Vella. Cross-examined by lawyer Paul Lia, who is representing the Prime Minister in the proceedings, Cutajar denied taking any ulterior action to have Vella removed. He said he fol- lowed normal proceedings based on the recommendations received by ministries. "The same process still takes place today." Rakhat Aliyev cannot be investigated over torture claims Worker injured in Gensna stage production accuses OHSA of inaction DANIEL MIZZI RAKHAT Aliyev cannot be investi- gated by the Maltese police for the alleged torture and frame up of two Kazakh bodyguards in the late 1990s, after a magistrate ruled that the police were right in not pursuing a criminal complaint as the Kazakh millionaire did not qualify as a permanent resi- dent in Malta. The ruling comes after Pyotr Afa- nasenko and Satzhan Ibraev, the former bodyguards of Kazakh Prime Minister Akezhan Kazhegeldin, claimed that Aliyev – who was now us- ing his wife's surname of Shoraz – was responsible for their illegal detention and torture under the administration of his father-in-law, dictator Nursul- tan Nazarbayev, in the late 1990s. After Aliyev self-exiled in Malta, the former bodyguards had filed a crimi- nal complaint, calling on then-police commissioner John Rizzo and assist- ant commissioner Andrew Seychell to investigate and prosecute Aliyev over the torture claims. Their complaint was however turned down in May 2013 after the police had insisted that they do not have the ju- risdiction over claims which took place in Kazakhstan in the late 1990s. Moreover, a Maltese court threw out the suit as there had been no pri- ma facie proof that Aliyev had in fact committed crimes against humanity In August 2013, the two former bodyguards filed a fresh complaint, again asking the Maltese police to in- vestigate their claims of torture. Once again, however, the police commis- sioner insisted that Malta did not have jurisdiction. In his ruling, Magistrate Aaron Bugeja underlined that prior to in- vestigating a criminal complaint, it must first be established whether Aliyev was in fact a "permanent resident" at the time the criminal complaint was filed. Deputy Attorney General Don- atella Frendo Dimech – represent- ing the police commissioner – ar- gued that at the time, Aliyev was not a permanent resident in Malta but was merely exercising his right to freedom of movement. Moreover, the court heard that between 2010 and 2013 Aliyev was residing in Malta, and was granted a residency permit in 2010. How- ever, a year later, the Kazakh diplo- mat renounced his permanent resi- dency permit when he was granted the right to freedom of movement due to his marriage to Elnara Sho- razova, an Austrian national. In their pleas, the plaintiffs said that nevertheless, Aliyev had sev- eral ties with Malta as he had purchased properties and invest- ments, and also argued that the Maltese authorities had a moral and legal duty to investigate the claims. Upholding the pleas made by Deputy Attorney General Don- atella Frendo Dimech, Magistrate Aaron Bugeja argued that at the time when the criminal complaint was filed, Aliyev was not a perma- nent resident in Malta as per the Immigration Act. Consequently, the magistrate ruled, Aliyev could not be investi- gated over the torture allegations, and that the police commissioner's refusal was justified. 48-year-old worker from Fgura files judicial protest against the Health and Safety Authority MATTHEW AGIUS THE Occupational Health and Safety Authority has been taken to court for not opening an investiga- tion into an incident that resulted in the surgical removal of a workman's spleen. Emmanuel Ronayne, 48, of Fgura, suffered serious injuries on March 17 this year whilst installing equip- ment for the performance of the mu- sical Gensna at MFCC in Ta' Qali. He suffered serious chest and back injuries when a structure sup- porting lighting collapsed onto the stage. Ronayne claims he has not completely recovered physically and mentally. Back in June the producers of the musical, Paul Abela, Ray Mahoney and David Borg, had presented Ro- nayne with a €10,000 donation. Borg had announced that a 10% cut of ticket sales would be donated to the injured worker and his family. In the judicial protest filed yester- day, Ronayne accuses the OHSA of serious shortcomings, as an investi- gation has not yet been opened. The plaintiff quoted a reply to an email sent by his lawyer asking the author- ity for an update on the progress of the investigation and what steps were to be taken against the respon- sible party. "I wish to inform you that the OH- SA has not made any investigations into the incident you mention and therefore no steps are going to be taken from our end," it read. The plaintiff describes the absence of an investigation as "abusive" and antithetical to its raison d'etre. The inaction also blocks Ronayne from taking legal action against whoever was responsible for the incident. "The arbitrary decision of the Au- thority… not only goes against the spirit of the law founding it but also the goals of the Authority, which in- clude identifying breaches that have given rise to injuries at the work- place, in order to prevent them be- ing repeated," reads the protest. Rakhat Aliyev Producer Paul Abela (right) and the injured Emmanuel Ronayne (sitting, right) Norman Vella – policies changed to suit him Magistrate rules that police cannot investigate torture claims against former Kazakh diplomat Rakhat Aliyev as he was not a permanent resident