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maltatoday, SUNDAY, 8 MARCH 2015 News 7 CONTINUED FORM PAGE 1 All the material for these works was provided by the Gozo ministry itself – including cement, stone and metal mesh. MaltaToday has been able to see a list of most of the works carried out for private Gozitan individuals – they include an illegal garage in a quarry, private works for a Gozitan Nation- alist mayor, works on a restaurant close to Victoria, a water reservoir, garages in Nadur, works on an illegal Gozitan experimental farm, a road at Sellum in Xaghra, works on a fire- works factory, homes in Zebbug and Santa Lucia, and works on a bakery next to Ta' Pinu and the building of a wall in Gharb. Invoices and photographic evi- dence of all these works have been seen by MaltaToday and are believed to be in the possession of the police. It is also believed that this fraudu- lent practice had been going on for a number of years. Anthony Debono, as officer in charge, was also responsible for ensuring that the projects and de- velopment department would issue invoices for works that were never carried out by the private contrac- tors, but which were done elsewhere by the Gozo ministry such as at Wied Mielah and Wied il-Lunzjata, among other places. Many of these works had been finished or were near to being finalised. One such case involved work 'done' at Wied Siker in Fontana, with the Gozo ministry issuing a tender for works there which the contrac- tor had not done. The costs for the works however covered work he had done at a private residence. Debono was not only responsible for ordering the works, but he would personally accompany the contrac- tors and inform them about the na- ture of the works. At least five con- tractors were involved. MaltaToday was told that Debono would phone the contractors and direct and ex- plain to them the nature of a particu- lar job. In one particular instance the work on a road which was surfaced with cement was carried out on the same day of the 2013 election, to the sur- prise of the constituents living in that road. Anthony Debono yesterday re- fused to answer questions when con- tacted. Giovanna Debono, told about the matter, said it was the first time she was hearing about it, she had no knowledge of it, she said, so could not comment. Debono's conflict of interest as the husband of Gozo Minister Giovanna Debono had been flagged by Malta- Today as far back as 2004. Giovanna Debono had been quizzed at the time by journalist Matthew Vella over her husband's role. Debono's reply had been that she had no qualms about the fact that her husband Tony was the officer- in-charge of the Construction and Maintenance Unit (CMU), the de- partment which is mainly responsi- ble for carrying out roadworks, dis- patching construction materials and general maintenance. "My husband is given orders and he executes those orders. He is an official of the government, and has nothing to do with government con- tracts," she had said. Tony Debono was responsible for general public works around the is- land of Gozo, as well as roadworks, general maintenance of government property and housing, infrastruc- tural maintenance, and other serv- ices for different government offices. Debono was at a time also responsi- ble for the government stores, and the provision of important supplies for the construction of roads, such as concrete. Giovana Debono was a star can- didate for the Nationalist Party in Gozo. In the three elections, in 1998, 2003, 2008 and 2013 she was elected on the first count, with 4,949, 6,591, 5,633 and 4,751 first count votes re- spectively. Last September, Debono an- nounced she would not be standing for parliament again. It could not be established yesterday whether the higher echelons of the Nationalist Party were aware of what was going on in the Gozo Ministry when the PN was in government. From depositions given by the whistleblower it now turns out that Anthony Debono was indeed respon- sible for many decisions taken at the Construction and Maintenance Unit. The whistleblower and other private contractors have said that they were not in a position to refuse work. "In Gozo, we were completely de- pendent on Anthony Debono, we were not in a position to refuse work. Yes, we knew that there was some- thing shady about the works we were doing. We asked no questions and all payments were covered by fiscal receipts. But it was obvious that they were related to favours for constitu- ents," they said. sbalzan@mediatoday.com.mt MORE Gozo minister finds nothing unethical with her husband's position http://bit.ly/1Be82ZF List of private works billed to ministry seen by MaltaToday minister unfazed bluster on encroachments some €1.5 million in arrears and bills, and €2.5 million in private bank loans. Con- troversially, one of the shareholders in Cities Entertainment claimed a €210,000 brokerage fee for landing the deal. But Muscat has defended his action, in which he appointed a former GPD direc- tor, John Sciberras, to act as negotiator with CE shareholder Mario Camilleri, as a way of circumventing the long-drawn court action ahead and to reclaim Café Premier as fast as possible and provide the Biblioteca with a vertical access. Yesterday Muscat said that Bugeja could have approached him or the parliamen- tary secretary if the Lands Commissioner had a problem with the deal. "If he really had a problem with it, he should have re- fused to sign the contract," Muscat said. It was the Cabinet secretary that drew up the memo to the Cabinet of Ministers to approve the €4.2 million buy-back. Yesterday Muscat also said that a number of encroachment agreements signed under the previous administra- tion were under investigation, putting the spotlight on former lands minister Jason Azzopardi who signed extensions on encroachment permits for, among them, newspaper stands to be placed out on pavements. "I have already challenged the prime minister publicly on last Monday's Re- porter to publish any Lands Department files in connection with the Fekruna ex- propriation," Azzopardi told MaltaToday about the compensation to the owner of the derelict Mare d'Oro restaurant, at Fekruna Bay on Xemxija. The compensa- tion was paid out on the eve of the 2013 election, with two large tracts of land in Kappara given to the owner of the restau- rant. "Those negotiations lasted over two years between the Lands Department and the owners of the land, and in which process there was never any involve- ment by any politician, and concluded for a public purpose. So much so that the present government continued the embellishment of the area made possible only after the expropriation. "The Lands Dept. file on the Café Pre- mier bailout was concluded in under four months after the elections with the per- sonal involvement of the Prime Minister, even using his personal email account, and including the withdrawal in June 2013 of the court action against the Café Premier owners which had been initiated in 2012, and with the exclusion of all the Lands Dept. officials and the parliamen- tary secretary for lands." Azzopardi said that Muscat should pub- lish all the files of the Mare d'Oro expro- priation for a comparison of the transpar- ent process with that of the Café Premier. "The NAO criticised heavily the shroud of secrecy enveloping the Café Premier bailout to the extent that the Lands Dept. architect [today director of the Joint Of- fice] handpicked by the OPM consultant carried out the valuation of Café Premier behind the back of all his superiors, in- cluding the Commissioner of Lands, and which valuation could not be traced in the Lands file by the Auditor General."