Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/780138
3 maltatoday, WEDNESDAY, 1 FEBRUARY 2017 News Hillman over inquiry into bribery allegations had been a sub-contractor on part of the construction works. Sladden's involvement in A2Z Consulta was revealed in the Australian Financial Review, which said the Cypriot company passed on a €900,000 constitu- tion of debt to his BVI company Blue Sea Portfolio. BSP had been created by American tax advisor Paul del Vecchio, the same man who cre- ated other offshore companies for Schembri, his partner Mal- colm Scerri in the Kasco group, and Hillman. Together with BSP, Schembri's Colson Services Ltd and Hill- man's Lester Holdings Group Ltd, owned A2Z Consulta. The Panama Papers suggested that Sladden's Malta company Redmap 'subcontracted' A2Z Consulta, which had an agree- ment with his Blue Sea Portfolio Limited drawn up on 4 October, 2012 "for quality checks and ne- gotiations" with Redmap's sup- pliers. The 10-year engagement would involve the payment of €250,000 from A2Z Consulta to BSP. In this way, the British Virgin Islands company would charge the Cypriot company for ser- vices charged to Maltese com- panies. Other documents to assign debt and a receivable, were sent by a Nexia BT executive in Mal- ta to a Mossack Fonseca repre- sentative, for a debt of €750,000 from Redmap to BSP to be transferred to Sladden's other company P.S. & Sons Ltd. Sladden has denied that the payment ever materialised. "A2Z Consulta was engaged in 2012 by Redmap to provide various services including qual- ity checks of the business car- ried out by Redmap. However the business relationship never materialized and hence no pay- ment was ever effected. "No funds or monies were ever transferred. All income made by Redmap is declared with the tax authorities. I also confirm that A2Z Consulta never traded nor generated any income and is in process of being wound-up," Sladden had said. Schembri also denied having received or transferred funds from A2Z Consulta. At the time Hillman said he would not dis- cuss matters that "could be the subject of the enquiry conduct- ed by my employers... I never benefitted, in any way, from A2Z Consulta." mvella@mediatoday.com.mt Keith Schembri said the settlement proved that there was no wrongdoing from his business group Average annual income of asylum seekers in Malta a paltry €4,823 TIM DIACONO SOME 80% of asylum seekers living in Malta are living in or are at risk of poverty, a landmark study has revealed. The study – conducted by hu- man rights NGOs JRS Malta and Aditus and funded by the Malta Community Chest Fund – found that the mean annual disposable household income of asylum seekers, excluding money trans- ferred to relatives in their coun- tries of origin, stands at a mea- sly €4,823. This falls way below the National Statistics Office's 'At risk of poverty' threshold of €7,600. Apart from participants resid- ing at the Marsa and Hal Far open centres or at accommoda- tion provided by the Church, the vast majority rented their ac- commodation at an average price of €3,010 a year. It is therefore unsurprising that 74% of respondents said that they were unable to buy a car, com- pared with 3.3% of the general population. 95.8% cannot afford an annual holiday abroad, com- pared with 51% of the Maltese population, while 40% cannot af- ford to eat meat, fish or chicken every second day, compared with 15.5% of the population. The study was conducted last year amongst 125 asylum seek- ers, including 33 minors, spread across 72 households. Partici- pants hailed from a variety of re- gions across Africa and the Mid- dle East, with the most common country of origin being Libya, with 23 people. 73% were beneficiaries of sub- sidiary protection, refugee status or temporary protection. Al- though 47 of the 72 participat- ing households were eligible for social benefits, only 30 actually claimed them, the most common being social assistance. The study also indicated that asylum seekers tend to suffer from relatively low levels of psy- chological well-being, although they score more highly where physical health is concerned. The document, entitled 'Strug- gling to Survive', was launched by JRS psychologist Julian Caru- ana at a conference at the St James Cavalier yesterday. Describing the study's results as "alarming", Caritas direc- tor Leonid McKay warned that asylum seekers in Malta tend to struggle to survive in silence. He noted that their situation has grown more precarious by the rising costs of rent across the island – with a one bedroom apartment in Qawra now costing an average €350 per month. European Studies lecturer Ste- fano Moncada sought to dismiss popular myths that asylum seek- ers leech public funds, arguing that they actually contribute much more to the economy than they take in terms of social ben- efits, and that they do not poach jobs away from locals. Appogg chief executive Alfred Grixti called for a shift away from a "culture of dependency" on social benefits, reeling out the popular analogy that hungry men must be given a rod instead of a fish. 'Increase minimum wage, regularise long-term failed asylum seekers' The human rights NGOs used the occasion to urge the govern- ment to increase the statutory minimum wage over and above the COLA adjustment, slightly, but annually, for a period of three years – a proposal that was recently floated by a coalition of NGOs. They also called for the regu- larisation of failed asylum seek- ers who have been living in Malta for over five years and who have made themselves constantly vis- ible to the immigration police. The holders of Temporary Hu- manitarian Protection – New, (THPN) status, which is set to expire in November – should be given a new permanent status. Moreover, they said that need should be prioritised over pro- tection status when determining access of asylum seekers to social security benefits. "Whilst we believe that in prin- ciple this should apply to all in- dividuals seeking asylum, as a starting point we recommend removing the distinctions in entitlements for social security benefits between beneficiaries of refugee status, subsidiary pro- tection and temporary humani- tarian protection," the report reads. "We particularly want to recommend this approach in relation to children's allowance, given that in principle prevent- ing minors from suffering from depression should be given pri- mary importance, in accordance with the best interests of the child." Other proposals include im- plementing an integration pro- gramme for asylum seekers at reception stage, providing asy- lum seekers with more social and recreational activities, and equipping community services to be able to serve asylum seek- ers. tdiacono@mediatoday.com.mt