Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/803478
7 maltatoday, SUNDAY, 26 MARCH 2017 News ADVOCATE Applications are invited for the post of Case Officer (State Aid) in the Ministry for the European Affairs and Implementation of the Electoral Manifesto. Applications will be received at the Corporate Services Directorate, Ministry for European Affairs and Implementation of the Electoral Manifesto, 31B, Tal-Pilar, Marsamxett Road, Valletta, VLT 1850 by not later than noon of Monday, 10 th April 2017. Further details may be obtained from the Government Gazette of 24 th of March 2017. Application forms may be downloaded from: https://opm.gov.mt/en/PSD/RESOURCING/Pages/Forms%20and%20Templates/Forms-and- Templates.aspx Application forms may be downloaded from: However, Matthew Formosa said that following these reports the company was only asked to adjust the contractual conditions offered to foreign workers. In 2011, the General Workers Union also filed an industrial dis- pute against JF Security after the company allegedly introduced a mechanism by which workers' hours were reduced from their pay. Government contracts Questions sent to the Finance Ministry on whether the company has been awarded any contracts since 2014 remain unanswered. A quick search in the Govern- ment Gazette shows that the com- pany has been awarded at least two contracts since then; a direct order for security services by the Malta Financial Services Author- ity in April 2016 and a contract for cleaning services by the Regulator for Energy and Water Services also in 2016. The two contracts were worth €18,127.68 and €5,875.20 respectively. The company also provides cleaners to public hospitals and health centres and also provides hundreds of workers to govern- ment agency WasteServe. Workers, including foreign em- ployees, who spoke to MaltaToday said that when they speak up for their rights the company's direc- tors and management staff threat- en to revoke their work permits and have them repatriated. In one instance, the workers said, a colleague of theirs was fired after refusing to work overtime which he was not being paid for. But Peter Formosa vehemently denied this and said that all work- ers are compensated for overtime as stipulated by law. Beyond the precarious condi- tions reported by the workers, other documents confirm that for- eign workers are owed large sums of money and the contracts signed were not honoured. jbalzan@mediatoday.com.mt Debono's catering companies gave PN almost €600,000 in four years CONTINUED FORM PAGE 1 Now MaltaToday is in a position to confirm that, since 2014, the PN has received almost €600,000 from Sky Gourmet and a similarly publicity-shy company, Malta Healthcare Caterers. Malta Healthcare Caterers – like Sky Gourmet owned by Sil- vio Debono's Seabank Hotel and Catering Limited and catering giant James Caterers – specialises in hospital catering and supplies in-patient meals to a number of healthcare institutions including Mater Dei Hospital, Karin Grech Hospital and Sir Paul Boffa Hos- pital. The PN is being accused of breaching party financing rules, after Debono's db Group alleged that it had been asked to pay sala- ries of top PN executives, through the donations would have been "paid" to the PN's media company Media.Link, but which were not backed up by actual commercial services rendered. This has led to the PN being in- vestigated by the Electoral Com- mission, with the PN insisting that it will not publish copies of these invoices, citing the privacy of the commercial arrangements between Media.Link and its cli- ents. While the PN has denied the al- legation that commercial services were not rendered, db Group has insisted that it has invoices to prove the donations were paid via the PN's media company. Labour leader Joseph Muscat has gone as far as describing the affair as fraudulent given that no service was rendered. Responding to questions by MaltaToday on whether Media. Link had accepted payments simi- lar to the one it received from Sky Gourmet from other companies, PN leader Simon Busuttil insisted that the commercial sensitivity of the company's dealings must be respected. "With that argument, one can then argue that anyone who ad- vertises on Net or Super One [sic] is breaking the law. We must be very careful how we put our words," he said on Friday. "Unlike the Labour Party, the PN has reg- istered with the Electoral Com- mission and published its dona- tions." Busuttil added that the PN has copies of the invoices Media.Link had issued to the db Group worth €70,800, including VAT. "The Electoral Commission is investigating this case, as well as Labour's failure to register itself as a party with the Electoral Com- mission," he said. "We'll keep de- fending our position as we have nothing to hide. Labour hasn't even registered itself, and is there- fore in no position to give any les- sons about the party financing law." PN secretary-general Rosette Thake's (left) salary has been alleged financed through donations of the db Group being paid into the PN's media companies