Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/825117
3 maltatoday, WEDNESDAY, 17 MAY 2017 News testifies in Pilatus unpaid salary case "Yes, but almost every day I was given petty cash to pay for something. I cannot say which day I received an amount," AB replied. "Have you ever been more specific than today?" asked Fil- letti, almost irate. The court rephrased his question. "Do you recall ever stating or being more specific and stating that in March you remembered hav- ing to pay a fine?" "I remember that… it could have happened in March," said the woman. "I ask because there are no pending fines for the end of March," Filletti said. "I was paying, like, old ones," AB replied. "I can confirm that no pay- ments were made at the end of March in the Local Enforce- ment System (LESA) contraven- tion system," submitted Filletti. The court asked whether she could be mistaken and that the money was not meant to pay a fine. "I remember going several times to Sliema local coun- cil to pay fines for spouse of Hasheminejad... at least four or five times." AB not registered as employee Representatives of the Depart- ment of Industrial and Employ- ment relations, and Finco Trust, the company to which payrolls were outsourced, testified that the woman was not registered as an employee. DIER representative Paul Costa from the terminations section said AB had sent the department a letter and later swore an affidavit where she said she had worked for Pila- tus between 15 January and 29 March, 2016. He had exchanged correspondence with the bank and received a letter in April saying that she had been paid in full and was never an employee of the company. The court or- dered the correspondence be exhibited in the acts of the case. Joseph Saliba, representative of JobsPlus, the national em- ployment agency, who had been sitting in the courtroom during her testimony, exhibited AB's employment history. There was no mention of Pilatus bank. "Every employment should be registered on the first day with JobsPlus. If it was not registered in Malta we wouldn't know of it. Every service against payment is employment." Saliba said it was the employ- er's responsibility to register the employees, he said. Saliba was unable to confirm whether AB had contacted his department and was ordered to do this. The Finco Trust employee who used to handle Pilatus Bank's payroll testified that his only contact with AB was in April 2016 when she wrote to him asking for the payslip and money due to her. "Ghanbari contacted me that day because he had been copied in the email and had called me to say that I only have permission to deal with payroll and to 'leave the dis- cussions and problems to us'." He had never seen AB's name on the payroll, he said. Filletti cross-examined. "You never issued a payslip for AB and never heard of her. Do we agree that this was because the bank asked to deal with employees directly precisely because a payslip belonging to one employee had ended up in someone else's hands?" "That was a mistake I made and I have it on my con- science," the witness said. "I misunderstood the name of a person over the phone and sent it to the wrong person." It was possibly one of the reasons why the bank dealt with employees directly it- self, he replied. The case continues in June. Employees of Pilatus Bank entering their place of work during the site access carried out by an inquiry magistrate Malta logistics centre He added that he was very impressed by negotiations with Muscat, which he described as very practical. European matters In addition to bilateral talks, Muscat said that the two lead- ers had discussed matters relating to the presidency of the European Council, where he reiterated Malta's support for the Europeanisation of Ukraine. Muscat added that he was happy to have managed to push through a number of Ukraine-related dossiers dur- ing the presidency, including the Ukrainian Visa liberalisa- tion programme. "Our support for an undivid- ed Ukraine and its territorial integrity is obvious," Muscat said. "Europe is united on this front and will continue with this support for the Ukraine." Moreover, Muscat said it was his hope the Maltese presiden- cy could make further progress and close other dossiers on Ukraine. Poroshenko thanked the Mal- tese President, Prime Minister and Parliament for their "re- liable support", and said that over the two years more had been done between the two countries than ever before, in- cluding the signing of a treaty on the avoidance of double taxation. He said this would improve business relations be- tween Malta and the Ukraine. He also thanked Muscat for a "very efficient presidency", insisting that, with an agree- ment having been reached on visa-free travel, it had already delivered. "Tomorrow I will sign docu- ments for visa free travel," he said. "This is our joint achieve- ment. Thank you very much because it is very important for my 45 million citizens."