Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/517560
2 maltatoday, WEDNESDAY, 27 MAY 2015 News Whistleblower says works were private CONTINUES FROM PAGE 1 Cauchi was testifying as the prosecu- tion's star witness in the compila- tion of evidence against Anthony Debono – husband of former Gozo minister Giovanna Debono – for misappropriation of public funds, among some 13 charges. Cauchi said he was owed some €70,000 for works he carried out for the Gozo ministry's Con- struction and Maintenance Unit (CMU), then headed by Anthony Debono. But when he tried to recover the money owed to him, the ministry's director of works, Joseph Portelli, said he could not pay him for the works. He later emailed Simon Busut- til, who met him together with PN whip David Agius, promising him to "investigate and get back" to him. This was in spite of Agius hav- ing said he would sack mayors found to have engaged in corrup- tion, Cauchi pointed out to the court. "When I met him, Simon Busuttil asked me why I had kept on doing the works, and he said 'don't you know we aren't going to be elected'?" Cauchi, who is protected from prosecution under the Whistle- blower Act, told Magistrate Nev- ille Camilleri that he had been paid €44,000 and was still owed €34,595 for the works which he carried out on various construc- tion projects in Gozo – allegedly at Debono's behest. He said that on 8 February, 2014, Debono went to his house and gave him €10,000 in cash. "Don't reveal I gave you this money, as I owe money to other people," Debono allegedly told him. Then on 29 December, Debono paid him another €10,000 in cash. He told him that he was paying him from his own money. Most of yesterday's sitting was taken up by the prosecution go- ing through each and every al- leged job performed for Debono, asking Cauchi for dates, details of the works carried out, who com- missioned the works, who took Cauchi to the site and who had supplied the concrete. Reading from his worksheet for the period 2004 to 2013, Cauchi gave examples of various con- struction and landscaping works. Debono would come to his house once a year, in February. "If you look at my payments documents you will find all the dates on which I was paid. I could not send invoices because I didn't have a contract," explained the contrac- tor. He said Debono would visit him annually, bringing with him the necessary documentation to al- low Cauchi to fill in the invoices. He identified his handwriting on an invoice which he was shown by the prosecution. "16 hours at Lm6 at ta' Kunjat limits of Zeb- bug road. These are hours which we invented to deduct from the balance," Cauchi said. "This morning I found one [job] which we had done for the heliport, where we had worked 22 hours and invoiced for 25." Equivocal answers such as these featured heavily in the tes- timony and cross-examination of Cauchi. The prosecution showed the witness every single invoice and questioned him about it. Whilst very time-consuming and tedi- ous for all involved, this approach made some headway as several instances of over-charging or in- existent works were identified by the witness, as a result. Cauchi said he would make for- mal invoices and hand them to Anthony Debono. Debono would then pass it on for payment and Cauchi would receive a cheque in the mail, after which Cauchi would issue a fiscal receipt. Cauchi said that he once met Debono and Gharb mayor David Apap Agius to enlarge the local football ground. Cauchi said he had been asked to perform sever- al works commissioned by David Apap Agius and for which Debo- no supplied the concrete. But he later received a letter from Apap Agius's lawyer saying that while he had carried out the works, his client denied asking him to per- form them. He said that to this day he still had not been paid for that job. He said he couldn't invoice Debono as there was no tender involved. Inspector Abdilla asked why he didn't then use the invoic- ing method used for the other works. "Toni and David fought over politics," Cauchi said, add- ing that Debono made it clear to him that he could no longer ob- tain payment from Apap Agius. Cauchi said he carried out works for Sammy Camilleri, known as tal-Geziz, a friend of Anthony Debono. "I helped him in many things, like fixing his fields, or arranging for a generator room in his quarry." He said Camilleri would often call up Cauchi directly, in the knowledge that Debono would not refuse. Cauchi said he car- ried out excavation works in the quarry from 2005 till 2011. Asked why he expected to be paid by Debono, when jobs were commissioned by Camilleri, he answered that Sammy Camilleri would "expect everything to be done by Debono". "We had dug a trench for the drainage pipes. I know they were government pipes as they use a different type of pipe. Debono brought them. I found them to be there already. He was not content with having them done, he want- ed to take over." Debono's lawer, Joe Giglio cross-examined the witness. "Did you tell David Apap Agius about the pending works? Did this conversation about works for votes take place during the meet- ing with Busuttil?" he asked. "I don't think I did," Cauchi eventually replied, adding that he limited himself to saying that the works were made for the private sector. Giglio pressed him: "So did you tell the Opposition leader that the works were being performed for the private sector? Yes or no?" "I think so," replied Cauchi. Defence raises conflict of interest Giglio then told the Court that he was challenging the right of the Attorney General to de- cide on whether the case can go ahead, arguing that the AG had a conf lict of interest. Giglio said the defence would not be contesting the prima facie evidence, but that since the At- torney General had granted whistleblower protection to Cauchi, he should not be the one to decide whether the case should proceed. He reserved the right to take all necessary steps on this conf lict. The court invited the Attorney General to reply to the claims within 48 hours. Defence lawyer Joe Giglio (left) and former minister Giovanna Debono, accompany Anthony Debono to court War of words over how much Busuttil knew MATTHEW VELLA OPPOSITION leader Simon Bu- suttil has insisted that a whistle- blower's testimony confirms his version of events about never discussing the allegations of 'works for votes' being ordered by the former Gozo minister's husband. But the Labour Party was quick to call on Busuttil to "tell the whole truth" about his contact with the Gozitan whistleblower at the heart of the alleged scan- dal. The leader of the opposition said Joseph Cauchi's testimony in court had confirmed his ver- sion of events about meeting the contractor in June 2013. He said Cauchi had asked to meet him soon after he became PN leader in May 2013, and that in June he complained to Bu- suttil that he was owed money by the Gozo Ministry, and was concerned that with the change of government this would not be paid. "I replied that there was no reason why financial commit- ments should not be kept simply because of a change in govern- ment," Busuttil said. "During the meeting there was no mention whatsoever of any 'works for votes' allegations. Had this been the case, I would have obviously replied that, if this was so, then no public money could be due for works performed in private property because this would amount to misuse of pub- lic funds." Busuttil made this statement back on 31 March. "The truth is that if there was anyone who knew about these al- legations and kept them hidden it was Joseph Muscat and Anton Refalo. Joseph Muscat certainly knew because it is clear that the Labour Party disclosed these al- legations to the media on the eve of the local council campaign in what is now a pattern that we all have become used to. "Anton Refalo knew since, at least, last summer. Neither Mus- cat nor Refalo explained why they kept this information to themselves and used it when it suited them rather than report it to the police immediately," Bu- suttil said. Busuttil has repeatedly denied discussing the work-for-votes scandal when he met the Gozitan contractor turned whistleblower back in 2013. He claims that the first time he heard of the allega- tions was from the media. Busuttil had belatedly con- firmed meeting Cauchi in 2013 but denied ever discussing the allegations or having any knowl- edge of them. The Opposition has been un- der fire for not doing anything about the allegations when they became priv y to them. This in- cluded an email the contractor sent to then-Nationalist Party secretary general Chris Said last year in which the words "work for votes" were clearly spelt out. Labour: Busuttil putting his credibility into question Shortly after Busuttil issued the statement, the Labour Party called on him to "tell the whole truth " about his contact with the Gozitan whistleblower. "The whistleblower presented 70 false invoices in court today, representing 70 of Busuttil 's lies," Justice minister Owen Bonnici told a news conference at the PL headquarters. "Busuttil had described the entire case as mud-slinging, bringing his honesty, sense of justice and credibility into question." Referring to an email Joseph Cauchi sent Busuttil, released by the Opposition leader, Bon- nici said Cauchi had requested a meeting with Busuttil about "a problem in the past that might be of concern to you in the fu- ture". "I don't think that someone who was simply referring to pay- ments due by the government would have told Busuttil that the problem could be of concern to him in the future," Bonnici argued. Simon Busuttil: Version 'confirmed'