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MW 7 December 2016

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WWW.MALTATODAY.COM.MT WEDNESDAY EDITION €1.00 Newspaper post PG 9 • Integrity on FTS WEDNESDAY • 7 DECEMBER 2016 • ISSUE 499 • PUBLISHED EVERY WEDNESDAY AND SUNDAY Bogdanovic: PM defends Labour aide FTS tenderer had told minister of 'disgusting' procurement system Education minister Evarist Bartolo and Prime Minister Joseph Muscat yesteday faced questions on both the Foundation for Tomorrow's Schools as well as the outcome of the Bogdanovic inquiry (pages 2-3) TIM DIACONO PRIME Minister Joseph Muscat has denied that political pressure led to the early release of footballer Daniel Bogda- novic from police custody, arguing that the junior minister's chief of staff who called the police about his interest had done so in the capacity of his coach. An inquiry confirmed that the chief of staff of parliamentary secretary Ian Borg, Jesmond Zammit, had called As- sistant Police Commissioner Carmelo Magri, because as the coach of Xewkija Tigers, Zammit felt "it was his duty" to inquire about his player's arrest. The inquiry – led by retired AFM com- mander Carmel Vassallo – found no evi- dence of political pressure having been exerted on the police to release the play- er in time for Xewkija's Sunday league game against Kercem. When asked by MaltaToday, Muscat said that the fact that Zammit was also Bogdanovic's coach added a different di- mension to the case. "The system in Malta isn't like in other countries whereby people only occupy single roles," he said. "[Jesmond Zam- mit] didn't call the police as Ian Borg's chief of staff but as a coach who was con- cerned about whether his player would be available to him or not. The record- ings have been published and the in- quiry revealed that there was no undue pressure on the police [to release Bogda- novic]. "Could things have been done better? Sure, they always can, but this case has absolutely nothing to do with politics or the government." PAGE 2 M IRIAM DALLI A N FTS tenderer was lef t with a feel- ing of "disgust" when he realised that there was only one way bids submitted as part of the Foundation for Tomorrow's Schools tendering process could be suc- cessful. Emails seen by MaltaToday show how the tenderer had warned Education Min- ister Evarist Bartolo in 2015 – a year before allegations were raised by Philip Rizzo – of the unfair competition in the tender specifications issued by the FTS and the involvement of FTS procurement officer Edward Caruana. MaltaToday on Sunday reported that a supplier who had tendered for school furniture had complained that Caruana – Bartolo's canvasser since 1992 – sug- gested contacting Sandro Ciliberti, a fur- niture supplier. MaltaToday erroneously reported that, following the complaint, Bartolo had asked Philip Rizzo to meet the complain- ant. Rizzo at the time was still chief ex- ecutive officer at the employment agency. What however happened was that, fol- lowing the complaint raised in April 2015, Bartolo told the tenderer that he would " follow up". The tenderer then re- ceived a phone call setting up a meeting with Joseph Caruana, permanent secre- tar y at the Education Ministr y. But to the tenderer's surprise, present for the meet- ing there was also Bartolo's former driv- er: it was at this point that the tenderer realised that Joseph Caruana and Edward Caruana were brothers. PAGE 2 Daniel Bogdanovic INSIDE Evarist Bartolo denies learning of alle- gations in 2015, releas- es emails exchanged with Philip Rizzo in 2016

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