Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/797847
maltatoday, SUNDAY, 12 MARCH 2017 News 13 in expenditure on advertising and taxes. The NGO Commission also con- firmed that the GYC has not yet filed its annual reports for 2015 and 2016, the years the iLead pro- ject had taken place. MaltaToday managed to get its hands on a scanned copy of the GYC's bank statement for the period between January and May 2015. It shows regular withdrawals of cheques – numbered 'Cheque 4', 'Cheque 3', 'Cheque 5' etc with no further details – amounting to over €15,000 in withdrawals over the six months and ranging from a tiny withdrawal of €4.86 to a more significant €4,000. A €4,500 pay- ment is also shown as coming in from SOS Malta – a human rights NGO that co-financed the iLead project. Sources close to the GYC told MaltaToday that the council had no major source of income that year other than the iLead project, raising suspicion that the cheques came out of that scheme. A separate bank statement shows that GYC had in October 2016 received €61,204 in EUPA funds for a new youth leadership project – money which was not declared in its financial statement for last year. Mercieca responds: 'Ask the Council, not me' MaltaToday sent a raft of ques- tions to Mercieca – including re- quests for copies of the statutes, as well as the names of the presi- dent, secretary and treasurer of the seven 'ghost' NGOs, and for a full breakdown of costs of the iL- ead project including his personal salary. However, Mercieca said that such questions should be directed to GYC as he is not a member of the executive committee. When asked simply how he re- sponds to allegations that seven NGOs – including his own 'Inno- vative Youths Gozo' – do not exist, he similarly said that such ques- tions should be sent to the GYC. When asked why he was listed as the contact person for the EUPA scheme in 2016 although he was no longer part of the GYC, Mer- cieca responded: "I am a freelance consultant for European Funding and Project Management where I have managed projects successful- ly on a national and international level... the GYC can provide all the details in relation to the project". When asked what vetting the Gozo NGO Association con- ducted on the council's NGOs, he vaguely responded that 'the asso- ciation has its own rules and stat- utes with which it abides". Most notably, when asked why he withdrew his original nomina- tion for this year's AGM, Mercieca claimed that "I did not withdraw my nomination but I decided not to contest since my priority is to dedicate my time for all Gozitans as a PN candidate". This of course contrasts sharply with an email published by Mal- taToday which clearly shows that Mercieca was one of the original 11 nominees. tdiacono@mediatoday.com.mt Clockwise from left: The GYC's bank statement for the period between January and May 2015 shows regular withdrawals of cheques amounting to over €15,000; the GYC's two-paragraph annual report for 2016 (bottom right); above: Ryan Mercieca