Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/523863
maltatoday, SUNDAY, 7 JUNE 2015 News 13 MATTHEW AGIUS THE president of the GRTU Malta Chamber of SMEs, Paul Abela, and vice-president Philip Fenech are to be arraigned in court for perjur- ing themselves in their testimony about the charge of attempted murder against Sandro Chetcuti. Police began investigating wheth- er Abela and Fenech had commit- ted perjury only after Chetcuti, a former GRTU official who today is president of the Malta Developers Association, challenged the police for their failure to institute perjury charges against Farrugia and other witnesses. Abela had testified in court that he had witnessed former GRTU director general Vince Farrugia being assaulted by Chetcuti, who had been charged with attempted murder following a brawl with Farrugia which took place in his GRTU office in 2010. Chetcuti had gone to speak to Farrugia af- ter an SMS Chetcuti intended for the then leader of the Opposition, Joseph Muscat, was sent to the GRTU director general in error. The argument developed into a brawl. But the initial charge of attempt- ed murder was later downgraded by the Attorney General to griev- ous bodily harm as doubts began to emerge about Farrugia's ac- count. A number of SMSs sent by Farrugia to witnesses, downloaded from his mobile phone and exhib- ited during the compilation of evi- dence, indicated that Farrguia had attempted to suborn witnesses in- to testifying that Chetcuti wanted to kill him. Chetcuti was eventually only found guilty of slightly injuring Farrugia. The SMSs confirmed that Far- rugia was attempting to pressure witnesses into giving false testimo- ny and paint a misleading picture of how events had developed. Eventually however, one witness, GRTU employee Sylvia Gauci, re- canted her false version in court, revealing that the testimony of other key witnesses, such as Paul Abela and Philip Fenech, were un- true. Passing sentence on Chetcuti in 2013, the court ordered that the Commissioner of Police investi- gate Farrugia for perjury. Then, last November, Chetcuti instituted challenge proceedings against the Commissioner of Po- lice for failing to file perjury charg- es against Farrugia and a number of witnesses. Chetcuti argued that even though there was clear prima facie evidence to charge Vince Farrugia with perjury, the police commis- sioner was yet to arraign or even investigate the former GRTU di- rector general. In his decree last March, Magis- trate Aaron Bugeja had noted that at the time, former Commissioner of Police Peter Paul Zammit had decided not to charge Farrugia with perjury on the advice of the Attorney General "and his superi- ors". It is not clear who the supe- riors were. But the magistrate ordered the Commissioner of Police to take the necessary steps to prosecute all those who had lied under oath to- gether with Farrugia, but stopped short of naming the witnesses who should face perjury charges. The court was of the opinion that many witnesses supporting the trumped up charges against Chetcuti had been coached to effectively give false testimony, decreeing that "the court is con- vinced that not only did Farrugia influence witnesses on how and what to testify, but in his own tes- timony gave a distorted picture of the facts, making the incident look more brutal than it actually was." The court made particular refer- ence to one SMS which Farrugia had sent to Paul Abela, reminding him to repeat that Sandro Chet- cuti had used the word: "Noqtlok" (I will kill you). Farrugia also asked Abela to say that Chetcuti made his "kill you" threat as Chetcuti was hitting Far- rugia. It later transpired that Paul Abela was not even present in the room at the time. Farrugia had sent SMSs to sev- eral witnesses, including one to Sylvia Gauci, which read "All you have to do on Wednesday… is to say loud and clear, that if your col- leagues were not there he would have killed me. I'm in no doubt he would have stopped only after he battered me. A beast should be locked up in prison. [Bestja trid thalliha Kordin]". Gauci herself later admitted to the court that she had been co- erced into testifying falsely. Her admission effectively brought about the collapse of the attempted murder charge against Chetcuti, raising doubts about the credibility of other witnesses, such as Philip Fenech – a close friend of Farrugia – who had told the court that he had heard shouting at the GRTU offices. Gauci had testified that Philip Fenech was not even in the GRTU offices at the time. Gauci had even testified that Abela and Fenech were also at the meeting during which employ- ees were instructed on what they should tell the police. Gauci confirmed an SMS pre- sented in court which shows she was instructed by Vince Farrugia on 19 March, 2010 to tell police that Chetcuti wanted to "kill" Far- rugia during the assault. The SMS said: "Re Wednesday, when you came in you saw him looking vicious and ready to butt my head with his. Your eyes' mes- sage which I read was 'watch it' and your eyes showed terror. That's what I'll say. And as he hit me you heard him say repeatedly 'noqtlok, noqtlok' (I'll kill you...) That's the truth. I wake up in the night hear- ing those words in his hoarse voice laud [sic] in my eyes. We must all hammer this point." Gauci subsequently told the court: "I saw Vince Farrugia on the floor... and Sandro Chetcuti was at the back [of the boardroom]. I didn't see him hitting Vince" – confirming that she had not wit- nessed the assault itself. magius@mediatoday.com.mt Perjury charges for senior GRTU officials Police to arraign GRTU president Paul Abela and vice-president Philip Fenech for perjury in testimony given during attempted murder charge hearing against Sandro Chetcuti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s displayed in court confirmed that Vince Farrugia (right) was attempting to pressure witnesses into giving false testimony. Paul Abela and Philip Fenech (left and centre) are to be charged with perjury Sandro Chetcuti