Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/501315
maltatoday, SUNDAY, 26 APRIL 2015 News 7 TIM DIACONO THE man who filed a judicial pro- test against Prime Minister Joseph Muscat to stop him from re- appointing Manuel Mallia to the Cabinet has an axe to grind with the former Home Affairs Minister. In his judicial protest, 66-year-old Frank Teuma from Cospicua – the self-styled founder of a new politi- cal group Moviment Laburisti Ba- tuti ['Labourites in need'] – warned that Mallia's past "is tarnished with grave mistakes, which show he is not fit to become minister", be- cause such a post requires honesty and integrity. But when contacted by MaltaTo- day, Teuma recounted how Mallia had acted as lawyer for his brother Peter Paul, who in 1989 faced seri- ous drug-related charges after the police seized half a kilogram of co- caine addressed to his house. According to Frank Teuma, his brother had then advised him to write a letter admitting that the drugs were Frank's own, but for his personal use. Fearing that his broth- er would receive a ten-year prison sentence, Teuma put pen to paper and was consequently jailed for five years without bail on charges of drug importation – charges he still vehemently denies. It was only later that Peter Paul told his brother that the advice had come from his lawyer, Manuel Mal- lia. Frank Teuma claimed that Mal- lia and his brother had "conspired" against him, and that the cocaine and drug-weighing scales used as evidence in his case had "disap- peared" from the court's safe. "I have been waiting 21 years for a Labour government to get elected and do me justice," Teuma said. "Prior to his election, Muscat had promised to end injustice. There is absolutely no proof or evidence that I had imported those drugs." After his release from prison, Teuma tried and failed to seek com- pensation from the Constitutional Court and the European Court of Human Rights. He tried to set up an NGO 'JusticeWatch Malta' to fight legal injustices but it didn't get off the ground because "people were too scared to join it". In September 2014, he filed a ju- dicial protest against Justice Minis- ter Owen Bonnici and the Attorney General over the appointment of retired Magistrate Joseph Apap Bo- logna to the board of the Permanent Commission Against Corruption. Teuma believed that Apap Bologna, who died a month later, had a part to play in his "unjust" conviction. 2018 election run 'not ruled out' Teuma has claimed that Mallia is not a "true Labourite", but his grief with the governing Labour Party does not start and end with the former minister. "Under Dom Mintoff, the Labour Party was a party for the poor and weak, those at the bottom end of so- ciety," he said. "On the other hand, Muscat has employed people on exuberant salaries, while leaving the working class to make do with 58c a week. Then he expects us to be hap- py with a 2c reduction of petrol. "The economy is doing extremely well, so why doesn't Muscat raise the minimum wage to €6, improve pensions, and render the ninth hour of a working day obligatory over- time? The working class, not the upper middle class, is the grassroots of the Labour Party." He has huge plans for his fledgling Moviment Laburisti Batuti, which he said has already attracted a few members. "I want it to become a Partit Soc- jalisti Maltin, and if we gain enough support and encourage enough in- tellectual people to join it, then we could contest the next election in three years' time," Teuma said. "We want our party back, and Muscat can keep his movement." MATTHEW AGIUS A court yesterday remanded a 29- year-old Gzira man in custody, after he was arraigned before it, accused of trafficking drugs and of firearms offences. Magistrate Gabriella Vella heard police inspectors Herman Mula and James Grech accuse Jomic Calleja with trafficking in cocaine, conspir- ing to traffic cannabis grass, import- ing the illegal plant and selling it. He was also charged with being in possession of a firearm without the necessary licence, firing it in an in- habited area and breaching previous bail conditions. Calleja was also accused of com- mitting a crime during the operative period of a probation order, and re- lapsing. Inspector Mula told the court that an investigation into a drug impor- tation organisation was started in September, leading to an 18kg haul of cannabis grass. During the course of their investigations, the accused emerged as a suspect, however he absconded to Sicily before he could be questioned. He was also wanted in connection with a shooting incident in Qormi. Police had raided a premises belong- ing to the accused and recovered four 7.62mm cartridges used in AK47 as- sault rifles. A pill-making machine was also retrieved. In the subsequent three weeks, three European Arrest Warrants were issued for Calleja in three separate criminal cases. The extradition pro- cedure from Sicily was finally granted yesterday The accused spoke only to confirm his details and plead not guilty. Magistrate Vella remanded the ac- cused in custody and ordered the ac- cused's assets be frozen pending the outcome of proceedings. Calleja's defence counsel, lawyer Simon Micallef Stafrace requested he be treated for bipolar disorder while in prison, a fact which the prosecu- tion said they had not been informed of. Micallef Stafrace told the court that he had only been informed of this fact that day. The court requested the director of prisons to follow the recommen- dations made by the examining psy- chiatrist. The accused will be held at Mount Carmel Hospital rather than Corradino prison if he is found to be suffering from a mental health condi- tion. Man 'protesting' Mallia's return to Cabinet has axe to grind Gzira man, 29, extradited to Malta on drugs, arms trafficking charges Three European Arrest Warrants were issued for Calleja Former Minister Manuel Mallia – his advice is claimed to have led to a man's imprisonment