Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/440087
maltatoday, WEDNESDAY, 31 DECEMBER 2014 7 Borg Hedley confirms receiving donations from Montebellos FOLLOWING a series of scandals involving former PN finance min- ister Tonio Fenech, on 3 Novem- ber, 2010 MaltaToday reported that the MP categorically denied knowing of donations from the Montebello construction develop- ers JPM Brothers. Three days later, MaltaToday revealed that Fenech 's former private secretary, Noel Borg Hedley, admitted he had accepted cheques from the beleaguered Montebello brothers. Borg Hedley claimed that these were used for funding the minis- ter's campaign activities and he later told MaltaToday the cheques were addressed to him and his wife in return for his intervention related to the under- declaration of properties. "MaltaToday can reveal that a former member of Fenech 's private secretariat was responsi- ble for the collection of cheques, signed in his name and also his wife's (but not the minister's), from JPM Brothers and other do- nors. The official then cashed the cheques to allegedly pay for the minister's electoral campaign," MaltaToday reported. Confronted by this newspaper, Borg Hedley alleged he had been instructed by the minister to collect donations from several contributors. "Amongst them were JPM Brothers, and I would go to their office to collect the cheques made in my name. I paid for the electoral expenses myself," Borg Hedley said. Fenech categorically denied any knowledge of or connection to the case but the matter was a thorny one for the former finance minis- ter, not least because the contrac- tors were the same ones he had hired to carry out renovation works on his house in Balzan. The job ended in controversy after a subcontractor – Charles Magro of Rainbow Projects Ltd – alleged that JPM Brothers had told him they were doing the renovation on the minister's resi- dence as "a favour" in return for the former minister's alleged help to enable JPM Brothers sell the Jerma Palace Hotel – an allega- tion Fenech categorically denied. 3 November, 2010 Voters disenfranchised ALMOST 90% of the non-Maltese EU residents who were on the electoral register for the 2004 Eu- ropean Parliament election were struck off the new register pub- lished by the Electoral Commis- sion. A comparison between the two electoral registers reveals that 966 out of the 1,050 non-Maltese EU citizens enrolled in 2004 are no longer registered, and will not be eligible to vote in Malta on June 6. Newly registered foreign voters since 2004 number a few more than 1,000, leaving the total number of enrolled non-Maltese EU nationals approximately the same: a tiny fraction of the esti- mated 19,000 currently resident in Malta. All those whose names were removed had a 20-day limit, starting Monday 20 April, to apply for inclusion in the 2009 electoral register. Mr Joe Calleja, secretary of the Electoral Commission, confirmed the above figures and explained that none of the 966 disenfranchised voters had requested to be deleted from the 2009 register. According to Calleja, all non-Maltese residents had until 31 March to apply for inclusion, and those who failed to apply were removed automati- cally. The situation is markedly dif- ferent for Maltese nationals, who did not have to re-register for the June elections. 26 April, 2009 15 Years 2009 2010 Flying with big business FINANCE minister Tonio Fenech was outed over a "conflict of inter- est" by a Nationalist MP, during a rowdy five-hour meeting of the Nationalist parliamentary group at Villa Preziosi in Lija. Backbencher Franco Debono dropped a bombshell when he challenged Fenech about his alleged conflict in accepting to watch a sports event abroad with businessmen Joe Gasan and George Fenech, aboard the private jet owned by the Tumas Group, to watch Arsenal play in Spain. Debono's claim assumed par- ticular relevance in the light of Fenech's proposed changes to the Lotteries and Other Games bill, interpreted as an attempt to divert more business to the casino sector, in which the Tumas Group is a leading player. The same Group was also bid- ding for the 10-year lease of the Dragonara Casino in St Julian's. "Yes, in March I travelled with Joe Gasan by private jet, upon his insistence to watch Arsenal play," Fenech told MaltaToday, and claimed he had asked the prime minister whether it was any prob- lem for him to travel with Gasan and Fenech. "The PM said that as long as it was exclusively for football, there should be no problem." 11 October, 2009