Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/560195
maltatoday, SUNDAY, 23 AUGUST 2015 6 News CONTINUED PAGE 1 Robert Sant and Rueben Gatt. Curiously, in the police's charge sheet the opposition MP was listed as Francis Zam- mit, duping The Sunday Times into not re- vealing that it was actually Zammit Dimech, when last week it reported the names of those charged by the police. The MP is no longer a director and legal representative of Seabank Hotel and Cater- ing Ltd after resigning his post upon being appointed foreign affairs minister in January 2013. He had been appointed director two years earlier. Pointing out that he was not directly linked to the Latvian man's death, Zammit Dimech said "nobody on the board of directors was directly responsible for what was happening on the construction site." Moreover, the St Julian's MP said that the charges do not impinge on his parliamentary role and he has no intention of giving up his seat. Zammit Dimech said that it is now up to court to "objectively" decide on the "nexus," or link, and the level of responsibility between those charged and the tragic events which caused the man's death. 27-year old Maksims Artamonovs was the only victim of the tragic incident in which he was crushed beneath a mound of rubble. The Latvian man's body was recovered 24 hours after the collapse following an 18-hour search guided by sniffer dogs. He was dismantling scaffolding in a newly- built car park beneath a wooden dome-like structure, which was to become a night- club. Artamonovs – who was employed by B&B Construction – was his family's sole bread- winner, supporting his mother, sister and her young daughter, who all lived in Latvia where he was ultimately buried. The magisterial inquiry into the incident had taken more than a year to be concluded and so far has not yet been published. The case has been assigned to Magistrate Doreen Clarke and the eight man charged with involuntary murder are expected to ap- pear in court in October. TIM DIACONO THE Maltese Olympic Commit- tee was left with egg on their face after the sole competitor in this summer's European Youth Olym- pic Festival (EYOF) was found not to meet the competition's age re- quirements just one week before the games were due to begin. MOC media director Charles Camenzuli confirmed with Mal- taToday that the committee only got to know of 17-year-old athlete Janet Richard's ineligibility on 17 July, during the final accreditation process. The final accreditation of ath- letes at the EYOF games takes place in the host country right before the start of the games and, an informed source told MaltaTo- day, an MOC delegation had actu- ally travelled to Tbilisi in Georgia this summer only to discover that their chosen athlete was over the age limit by some six months. However, Camenzuli denied that any MOC official or any oth- er delegate had travelled to Tbilisi to formally accredit Richard for the EYOF. The media director explained that Richard qualifies as a 'youth' according to regulations set by the International Association of Athletics Federations; indeed, she had represented Malta at the IAAF World Youth Champion- ships in Colombia ten days before the start of the EYOF. "The MOC started the online registration process [for Janet Ri- chard] in May," he said. "During the process, we presented a copy of her passport and other data. At no point were we informed of the age restrictions." But there had been a letter about that: to level the playing-field for the game's younger competitors, the EYOF age regulations dif- fer according to each sport. Had the MOC properly read a letter sent by the games' organisers to all European national Olympic committees in October 2014, they would have realised that in athlet- ics, only athletes born in 1999 and 2000 were eligible for the games – therefore instantly ruling out Janet Richard, who was born in 1998. The letter also explicitly states that festival qualification "is en- tirely in the responsibility of the national Olympic committees, strictly adhering to the respective age and maximum participation quota". Richard told this newspaper that the MOC had first informed her back in November that she would be participating in the games. Since Richard was Malta's only representative and the deadline for the registration of competitors had passed, the MOC's oversight could well have cost the country a place at the European Youth Ol- ympics. However, Camenzuli recounted how Patrick Hickey, president of the European Olympic Commit- tees, had personally stepped in and requested that Malta be al- lowed to send a replacement in Richard's stead. The MOC therefore turned their focus on 14-year-old gym- nast Sana Grillo – year of birth for gymnasts, 2000 and 2001 – whom they had informed of her partici- pation a mere week before her scheduled performance. She per- formed poorly, finishing 76th out of 80 European gymnasts in what the MOC described in a press release as a "respectful perform- ance". Questions could be raised as to whether Grillo was physically and psychologically prepared for the games, given that she had mini- mal time to prepare herself for them. However, both Camenzuli and GymStars club assistant director Francesca Borg insisted that she was in good condition to per- form. "Grillo is one of the MOC elite athletes and she is constantly training and preparing for com- petitions under the direction of her coach, club and national fed- eration," Camenzuli said. "Her progress, like all other elite athletes, is constantly updated to the MOC.… Although anything can happen on the day, we had no doubt that she was in a good condition to perform. In fact, her individual result was even better than that obtained some weeks before in the Games of European Small States in Iceland, where she won a silver medal in the team event." tdiacono@mediatoday.com.mt Injunction against Enemalta refused MIRIAM DALLI A request for a warrant of prohibi- tory injunction against Enemalta has been thrown out of court, with the applicant told to settle his €87,000 debt with the electricity supplier. Mr Justice Mark Chetcuti argued that the request filed by Sandro Vella, owner of two confectioneries, in Zabbar and Bormla, "was simply a request not to honour an agree- ment" he had entered into with En- emalta. In a crackdown on electricity thefts last year, Enemalta uncovered over 850 cases, some dating back 10 years. Consumers who know- ingly tampered with their meters were urged to come forward and pay for the stolen electricity and fines; the company drafted payment programmes but also warned of im- mediate disconnection of supply in case of default. A Gozo court last month upheld a request for an injunction after hear- ing how Teddy Cefai had allegedly been threatened by Enemalta of- ficials with being cut off unless he paid €9,300. Cefai testified that he was faced with a take-it-or-leave-it offer despite denying he had done anything wrong. While the Gozo case is now sub- ject to pending criminal action, the move attracted the attention of oth- er individuals found to have tam- pered with their electricity meter. In his request for the warrant, Vel- la argued that Enemalta had "pres- sured him" into admitting owing €87,000 without being given a clear explanation or the opportunity to evaluate the sum. In its reply, Enemalta however denied coercing Vella and said that multiple meetings were held, during which Vella had also sought legal ad- vice. Arguing that the consumer had "now simply changed his mind", the agreement signed between the two parties was binding and Vella had paid €4,000 in two down payments. In its four-page submission, Ene- malta said it never threatened Vella but the corporation was reserving all its rights at law should the con- sumer breach the agreement. Malta's youth Olympic blunder sees ineligible athlete fielded Janet Richard, was ineligible to compete MP among eight charged with manslaughter