Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/761508
maltatoday, SUNDAY, 11 DECEMBER 2016 News 3 Bartolo under fire for not having taken action earlier CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 A canvass- er for Bartolo since 1992, Edward Caruana was the Education Min- ister's personal driver before be- ing appointed by the minister as a procurement officer, on a person of trust basis. Caruana's brother, Joseph Caru- ana, serves as permanent secretary within the same ministry and who was responsible for payments of direct orders originating from the FTS after these were endorsed by the responsible entity. MaltaToday has revealed how Philip Rizzo, who was appointed CEO of the Foundation in April, re- signed over allegations of abuse by Edward Caruana at the same foun- dation. MaltaToday also revealed how warnings of serious problems at the FTS had been raised as early as April 2015, with the minister being warned over the familiarity between Edward Caruana and Ciliberti. Faced by increased calls by the Opposition to shoulder responsi- bility, Bartolo this week tabled in parliament the email correspond- ence that passed between himself and Rizzo. In one email, Bartolo pointed out: "No one came forward with any tangible proof. Had been promised before your time but none materi- alised." A complainant who had talked to Bartolo about the FTS procure- ment system, revealed to MaltaTo- day that he had sent emails to the minister, with material received on behalf of Ciliberti's Italian supplier. The complainant had told Bartolo that the whole matter was "disgust- ing". Bartolo has defended his position by stating that he had taken action by removing Caruana from the foundation. On his part, Opposition leader Si- mon Busuttil has labelled Bartolo a hypocrite and asked him to shoul- der political responsibility. Bartolo was the only outspoken critic of Konrad Mizzi during the Panama Papers revelations, having said that he would have expected Mizzi to resign for opening an offshore com- pany in Panama. The correspondence Bartolo ta- bled in parliament showed that in April and June 2016, Rizzo flagged dubious quotations submitted by Edward Caruana for works on Go- zo primary schools and sent them to Bartolo who replied: "Let's keep it up our sleeves. I would like to meet on this." In another email on the possible health risk posed by the artificial turf at Ghajnsielem School, Bartolo tells Rizzo not to believe one word of what Edward Caruana told him. "[…] We cannot his [sic] him run a parallel rogue operation that does not respect any procedures on how public money is spent. I would ig- nore him." Bartolo had also emailed Rizzo back in April, telling him that no- body – referring to Caruana – would enjoy immunity because he had worked for him politically since 1992. "Please understand that no one, no one, no one, enjoys immu- nity or is untouchable because he has worked for me politically since 1992. Understood?" Then an email dated 10 Septem- ber shows Rizzo disagreeing with the steps being taken by Bartolo to transfer Caruana, which was an indication that Bartolo was still un- sure on whether to force Caruana to go. "Transferring Edward with same incredibly high remuneration pack- age is worse than doing nothing at all. All Gozo knows what he was up to… someone is going to ask from where during the last two years Ed- ward got [circa] €400,000 to build a six apartment block in Rabat. Be- lieve me, you're all playing with fire with highly flammable material all around in each FTS project's file." Auditor raps ministry over €756 alcohol spend in Dubai MATTHEW VELLA A delegation from the economy ministry that spent three nights in Dubai back in September 2015 has been flagged by the National Audit Office for a hotel bill that included a total of €756 on alco- holic beverages – €318 of which were from the mini-bar. Not bad for what was Chris Car- dona's attendance at the Malta Day celebrations held in Dubai on the 51st anniversary since Malta achieved its independ- ence. "Events like these will help cement the already strong ties which exist between our respec- tive countries," Cardona had said in his speech reported by the De- partment of Information. According to the NAO, the al- cohol spend was a purchase that was "not considered as relating to official business" but was claimed as travel expenditure. Cardona is Labour's deputy leader for party affairs, and one of the PN's favourite targets, since ominously telling supporters at a general conference that he would throw "a hatchet for every dagger" thrown at him… metaphorically of course. The NAO also said that in a trip to the Ukraine, a receipt for the purchase of €296 in personal items, were paid out of the contin- gency money granted to the trav- elling officer. Additionally, the Ukraine trip of 19-24 June, 2015, saw the €1,190 accommodation expenses in- cluded under both 'hotel bill' and 'other receipts' – an error that re- sulted in the refund of €327 to the travelling officer, when it should have been the ministry to be re- imbursed €863. The NAO was also irked that a "politically-exposed person" – no name identified – was given advances for use dur- ing visits abroad in the form of cash, when other travelling officers re- ceived theirs by means of a credit transfer. In nine out of 10 of- ficial and ministerial trips reviewed by the NAO for testing, the breakdown of spending failed to include the ac- tual air fares of €29,000, and one three-day trip to Monaco in May 2015 did not include €8,000 in ac- commodation expenses. When the complete invoice for the Monaco trip was requested by NAO to verify the na- ture of any additional charges, the ministry for the economy said that the full documentation was not available and "probably mis- placed". And the post-travel submissions form for the Monaco trip was not even traced to file, because the ministry did not compile it before the NAO's request. The NAO was even suspicious of misplaced items from the min- istry located at Palazzo Zondadori and the Millennia Building where other offices are hosted, saying in five instances the quantity of as- sets as recorded in the inventory differed from what was found on site: three paintings were said to be missing and a number of paint- ings were found in a store. In its response to the NAO, the ministry for the economy said it would be taking necessary action to recoup the overpayment to the person travelling to Ukraine, and that it "will try to limit the amount of cash advances", and also ensure bills from official business are provided in the English language. Chris Cardona and his delegation came back quenched from 2015 visit to Dubai with €756 bill for alcohol, €318 of which was from the minibar From L-R: Evarist Bartolo, Joseph Caruana, Philip Rizzo and Sandro Ciliberti