Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/567101
maltatoday, SUNDAY, 6 SEPTEMBER 2015 News 3 JURGEN BALZAN PN leader Simon Busuttil yester- day issued a brief statement in which he said that no action will be taken against MP Francis Zam- mit Dimech, who is among eight people facing charges of involun- tary homicide of a Latvian man who died during the construction of a hotel in Mellieha in 2012. "Francis is showing strength and resolve in this difficult time and I stand foursquare behind him," Busuttil said, adding that the de- cision was unanimously backed by the party's MPs. The statement comes after last week MaltaToday had sought, un- successfully, to elicit comments from Busuttil on whether he had discussed the matter with Zam- mit Dimech and whether the MP would continue to fulfill his duties as MP and as the party's spokes- person for migration. The PN leader said that until the court pronounces its judgement, "no action should be taken against Francis Zammit Dimech by the party" because the MP "was not involved in what happened in any manner whatsoever". The former tourism minister is among those charged with the involuntary death of the construc- tion worker, in his capacity as a former director of Seabank Hotel and Catering Limited. However, the PN leader under- lined the fact that Zammit Dimech was a non-executive director with no direct or indirect involvement in the running of the Seabank. 27-year-old Latvian national Maksims Artamonovs was the on- ly victim of the accident in which he was crushed beneath a mound of rubble during the construction of the Seabank Hotel in Mellieha. Noting that Zammit Dimech does not occupy an executive role in government, Busuttil said "it would have been different if he were a minister. But he is not. There is therefore no role of re- sponsibility to dismiss him from." Busuttil added that the tragic accident was not even remotely connected to Zammit Dimech's parliamentary and political duties or with his past ministerial duties "and therefore dismissal from the party is not warranted." In comments to MaltaToday, the MP said that he only got to know about the charges through the media and had not yet received a notice to appear in court. While saying that he would be "the last person on earth" to com- promise the investigations and legal procedures, Zammit Dimech said he has been charged in his capacity as a non-executive direc- tor. Pointing out that he was not di- rectly linked to the Latvian man's death, Zammit Dimech had told MaltaToday that "nobody on the board of directors was directly re- sponsible for what was happening on the construction site." He had added that it was now up to the courts to "objectively" decide on the nexus and the level of responsibility between those charged and the tragic events which caused the man's death. Zammit Dimech has been charged alongside Seabank Hotel owner Silvio Debono, CEO Arthur Gauci, B&B Construction owner Angelo Bartolo, B&B Holdings and Investments general manager Etienne Bartolo, structural en- gineer Pierre Farrugia, architect Robert Sant and Rueben Gatt. Curiously, in the police's charge sheet the opposition MP was list- ed as Francis Zammit, however, the police's media relations office confirmed that "the name in the charge sheet is correct." The MP is no longer a director and legal representative of Sea- bank Hotel and Catering Ltd af- ter resigning his post upon being appointed foreign affairs minister in January 2013. He had been ap- pointed director two years earlier after serving as one of the compa- ny's lawyers for a long time. The magisterial inquiry into the incident took more than a year to be concluded and so far has not yet been published. The case has been assigned to Magistrate Do- reen Clarke and the eight men charged are expected to appear in court in October. In a two-line statement, Labour said that after two weeks of dith- ering, Busuttil finally announced that he would not take any action against the MP. "The conclusion is simple: Si- mon Busuttil is all words but no action," Labour said. Busuttil: disciplinary action against Francis Zammit Dimech 'unwarranted' PN leader foursquare behind MP charged with involuntary homicide over Seabank hotel collapse Francis Zammit Dimech was a non-executive director of the Seabank Hotel when a roof collapsed during a construction project, killing Maksims Artamonovs