Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/745623
5 maltatoday, WEDNESDAY, 2 NOVEMBER 2016 News WƵďůŝĐƌŽĂĚĐĂƐƚŝŶŐ^ĞƌǀŝĐĞƐ>ŝŵŝƚĞĚ /ŶǀŝƚĞƐĂƉƉůŝĐĂƚŝŽŶƐĨŽƌƚŚĞƉŽƐƚƐŽĨ͗ ds^WKZd^^>^WZ^KE ƉƉůŝĐĂŶƚƐƐŚŽƵůĚƉŽƐƐĞƐƐƚŚĞƌŝŐŚƚĂƉƚŝƚƵĚĞĂŶĚĂƚƚŝƚƵĚĞƚŽǁŽƌŬǁŝƚŚŝŶĂĚLJŶĂŵŝĐ ƚĞĂŵƚŽŐĞƚŚĞƌǁŝƚŚĂŐŽŽĚŬŶŽǁůĞĚŐĞŽĨůŽĐĂůĂŶĚŝŶƚĞƌŶĂƚŝŽŶĂůŽĨƐƉŽƌƚƐĞǀĞŶƚƐůŝŶŬĞĚ ǁŝƚŚĂĨůĂŝƌĨŽƌƐĂůĞƐ͘ dŚĞƐĞůĞĐƚĞĚĐĂŶĚŝĚĂƚĞǁŝůůďĞŽĨĨĞƌĞĚĂŶĂƚƚƌĂĐƚŝǀĞĐŽŶƚƌĂĐƚĨŽƌƐĞƌǀŝĐĞ͘ /ŶƚĞƌĞƐƚĞĚƉĞƌƐŽŶƐĂƌĞƚŽƐĞŶĚĂ͘s͘ďLJŶŽƚůĂƚĞƌƚŚĂŶ&ƌŝĚĂLJϭϭƚŚEŽǀĞŵďĞƌϮϬϭϲ͕ƚŽ͗ DĂŶĂŐĞƌŽƌƉŽƌĂƚĞ^ĞƌǀŝĐĞƐ W^>ƚĚ ƌĞĂƚŝǀŝƚLJ,Ƶď 75 St Luke's Road G'Mangia PTA 1022 Drunk driver ordered to pay €20,500 to biker for 2011 hit and run MATTHEW AGIUS A motorist who drove off after hitting and seriously injuring a motorcyclist was ordered to pay almost €20,500 in damages yesterday morning. Mr Justice Silvio Meli, presid- ing the First Hall of the Civil Court, condemned Clayton Galea, 29, from Rabat, to pay the hefty sum by way of com- pensation to Martin Fenech, who suffered a 7% disabil- ity when he was knocked off his bike at 4:30am in Valletta Road, Rabat. Galea had told investigators that he had been on his way home from Paceville when he saw a bright light and felt the car bump as if it had hit some- thing, but had claimed to have not realised that he had hit a person. When the police found Galea's vehicle, it was missing a rear bumper, and had a dented front bumper and rear mud- guard. The car's rear bumper was found at the scene of the accident. A breathalyser test had re- vealed that Galea was almost three times over the limit. Fenech had been assisted by passing motorists and taken to hospital. A Court of Magistrates had acquitted Galea in 2013, hold- ing that there was no alterna- tive but to acquit the accused as the only evidence exhibited in court was "not objective", only for Galea to be convicted the following year, after an ap- peal was filed by the Attorney General. In the 2014 judgement, the Court of Appeal had said it had "no doubt whatsoever... that it had been the accused who negligently, dangerously and unashamedly had not only overtaken a vehicle [on a dou- ble white line], not only crossed into the opposite lane to do so, but had run someone over and, for good measure, had carried on driving!" Yesterday's civil judgement, against both Galea and his in- surer, calculated the damages, including loss of earnings, suffered by Fenech as a result of the accident, to amount to €20,441. MIM survey yields negative results for Malta's aviation industry A survey carried out by the Malta Institute of Management on the local aviation sector yielded wor- rying results. Aimed at gathering relevant data from various aviation com- panies around the world, the questions of the survey revolved around whether such companies and foreign investors know about Malta and its aviation industry, if Malta and its aviation industry are of interest, as well as the level of knowledge of the benefits which Malta has to offer. "In order to move forward and draw conclusions, a clearer pic- ture is required as to the sector's standing on the international lev- el – failure to identify and address such requirements can only result in stagnation of the local aviation sector – a most undesirable sce- nario," the MIM said. According to the institute, with participating countries in Europe, specifically those which mostly identify with the aviation indus- try, 33% of respondents were from Russia, 27% from Spain, and 40% from Britain. From the first question of the survey it transpired that 73% of all respondents do not invest cross border, while the remaining 27% did not answer. The survey also found that 67% of the participants did know about Malta, but that 27% just do not invest in general. The remaining 73% did not an- swer. These figures also showed that there were 33% of respond- ents who did not know about Malta. Participants were then asked what would attract their invest- ment. The most prominent an- swer reportedly seemed to be em- ployment, garnering 33% of the votes. This was followed by 20% contributing to market exposure/ competition, 13% for both tax regulation and access to capital, and 7% to both legislation and low bureaucracy. Government costs were not voted for, with the remaining 7% of respondents de- clining to answer. MIM said that it tried to zero in on Malta's assets with re- gard to the aviation indus- try, asking participants specifically whether the aircraft repair school and workers in the avi- ation sector in Malta would attract them as investors. The results showed that 20% of re- spondents felt that this would not be enough to attract their investment, with the remaining 80% saying that it would not en- courage them at all. Not one of the participants said that it would attract them as investors. The next question dealt with Malta's fiscal regime that includes minimum depreciation periods for aircraft airframes, engine and associated overhaul. These are said to be written off for tax pur- poses over a period greater than or equal to six years. Yet only 13% of respondents said this would be enough for them to bring over their investments. 60% answered that this alone was not enough, whereas 27% answered that they were undecided. MIM claimed that Malta is known to grant tax incentives to companies that are involved in maintenance, repair and over- haul dealing with aircraft in the form of tax credit. Reportedly, the procured results showed that this was popular among the partici- pants, with 47% answering that this would be a good incentive for them to invest. 33% answered that it was not, and the remaining 20% answered that they were un- decided. The institution added that Mal- ta's tax incentive offers a tax re- fund on distributed profits where the shareholders are entitled to a refund of 6/7ths of the tax paid on the profits. This seemed to be the most popular factor, having 73% of participants stating that this would highly affect their invest- ment decision. On benefits offered by Malta, participants ranked that the most important factor (33%) is the ease of import/export. This was fol- lowed by an aviation park to provide better infrastruc- ture, geo-strategically and diplomatically po- sitioned along with excellent accessibil- ity to European cap- itals obtained the same result. Also, a pro-business gov- ernment and well developed and high- ly efficient MRO seg- ment was mentioned. The most unappeal- ing factor when decid- ing about an investment in aviation, turned out to be political instability, according to the survey. This is followed by high costs, compliance costs and superior competition, respec- tively. Knowledge of the existence of Malta Enterprise, the government agency that provides services to foreign investors as well as acts as a trading hub for companies in Europe, North Africa and the Middle East, was negligible, the survey found. Only 27% of the participants responded that they knew of it. However, when the contributors were asked whether they would use such an organi- sation if they were to invest in Malta, the outcome resulted in the respondents giving an equal percentage to all three options. MIM said that the survey results showed apparent indifference and disinterest in what Malta had to offer. "This points to a number of presumed factors, which mainly concern the lack of proper promo- tion of our aviation sector," it said. "It is unfortunate for example, that despite the launch of the Avi- ation Park in Safi, and the changes in legislation over the years, we are still not visible on the global stage, and prove we are way below the industry players' radar." The institution highlighted the importance of a more in-depth study in order to better under- stand the successes of other coun- tries in this sector, mentioning Cyprus as an example. It also la- mented the fact that Budget 2017 made no reference to the sector, describing it as "a fact which con- sequently raises the question of whether sufficient importance is being conferred to the industry. "It is time for the authority in charge, namely the ministry of transport and infrastructure to focus consistently on the aviation sector, if this is to one day flourish and succeed," it added.