Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/602004
maltatoday, SUNDAY, 15 NOVEMBER 2015 10 News Vienna insists on MIA watch complaint MATTHEW VELLA THE owners of Malta Internation- al Airport – Vienna International Airport (VIE) – are pursuing a criminal complaint against former MIA chief executive officer Markus Klaushofer, after Vienna's public prosecutor recommended that the complaint be rejected by a regional criminal court in Austria. VIE filed its report after Klaush- ofer, sacked back in January, was alleged to have benefited from a €3,000 discount on an Omega watch from one of the duty-free shops at Malta airport. The shops are operated by the Nuance Group, who are partners with VIE in the Malta Mediterranean Link consor- tium that owns a majority stake in the airport. In its investigation, Vienna's pros- ecutor's office for economic crimes and corruption said that as CEO of Malta airport, Klaushofer was not acting as a member of the staff of VIE. "It would only have made sense to influence Klaushofer in respect of his position as an office of MIA." The prosecutor also said that it was of the opinion that with Klaushofer earning €147,000 annu- ally as CEO, it was unlikely that the €3,000 discount would make him susceptible to influence. "The val- ue of the benefit, which in the end probably did not exceed €3,000 in view of the two-digit discount rates usually granted for such high-end watches, is insignificant compared to Klaushofer's high income and against the backdrop of the eco- nomic importance of an extension, if any, of the lease agreement be- tween MIA and Nuance." The prosecutor moved that the Vienna Regional Court of Criminal Matters reject the motion by VIE to continue preliminary proceed- ings on its criminal complaint. But VIE has filed an application to continue proceedings, insisting that Klaushofer's secondment to MIA was an official duty and that he was still integrated into VIE's organisation. It also said the prosecutor was in- correct in believing that the €3,000 discount was not sufficient to in- fluence the former CEO. "This is not a question of provability, but of the relevant legal parameters," VIE said, saying the law did not recog- nise any 'threshold of susceptibility' and the prosecutor could not sim- ply assume that the benefit would not influence Klaushofer's deci- sions because of his high income. Klaushofer has filed an unfair dismissal claim in the Industrial Tribunal after turning down a €400,000 golden handshake from VIE. While he claims his dismissal was motivated by VIE's demand for regular access to MIA's finan- cial data, VIE accuse him of hav- ing supplied Antin Infrastructure in Paris with adjusted traffic fore- casts to influence the price of VIE's shares in Malta airport – ostensibly to become "friendly" with the new investor in an attempt to retain his executive position. VIE holds 57.1% of the shares in Malta Mediterranean Link, the airport operator which altogether owns 40% of MIA. MML's other shareholders are SNC Lavalin, whose shareholding VIE is now expected to acquire; and the Nu- ance Group, whose representative is Maltese entrepreneur Michael Bianchi. Learning THE Maltese cannot avert their eyes from the human rights trag- edy they – perhaps inadvertently – had a hand in facilitating. This was one of the many messages imparted by Elizabeth Chyrum, the director of the Human Right Concern – Eritrea. Based in Lon- don, the Concern aims to "pro- mote and protect human rights of Eritreans inside and outside of Eritrea", and last week's Valletta summit on immigration brought Chyrum to our shores to discuss the various implications of mi- gration for Eritrea in particular. But Chyrum's experience of Malta is both extensive and harrowing. Back in 2002, the Maltese government of the day deported around 250 Eritrean migrants fleeing their homeland from the brutal regime. An act of diplomatic pragmatism that led to the brutal, systematic torture of many of their number. "I actually had to deliver the news that they were going to be deported," Chyrum tells me, downcast as she recalls the har- rowing days that ensued. "No- body had told them. And I even advised that they take all their clothes off as a sign of protest, because I thought perhaps the authorities would show some sympathy towards their situa- tion…" This, however, was not to be. "Spray was used, they were beaten because they refused to leave the detention centre, and one detainee was seated in the middle of the plane with two Maltese soldiers to either side of Elizabeth Chyrum of the Human Rights Concern – Eritrea is sceptical about the monetary aid pledged for development in Africa in the wake of the Valletta Summit, while she also tells TEODOR RELJIC about the harrowing ordeal Eritrean refugees suffered after Malta agreed to deport them back to the beleaguered African state