Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/898252
maltatoday WEDNESDAY 8 NOVEMBER 2017 News 5 Call for the Post of IAID Senior Auditor in the Internal Audit and Investigations Department within the Cabinet Office, Office of the Prime Minister The Director General (IAID) invites applications for the post of IAID Senior Auditor in the Internal Audit and Investigations Department within the Cabinet Office, Office of the Prime Minister. Further details are available on the Government Gazette of Friday 3 November, 2017. Applications as detailed in the afore-mentioned edition of the Government Gazette, are to be received by the Director General (IAID), Internal Audit and Investigations Department, Lower Ground Floor, Valletta Buildings, South Street, Valletta VLT 1103 or submitted through the Online Government Recruitment Portal on http://recruitment.gov.mt, by not later than noon of Friday, 17 November, 2017. Office of the Prime Minister 21237737 info.iaid@gov.mt CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 Power- ful men all over the world have also been exposed, and the phe- nomenon has swept into the po- litical arena. The 'Westminster sleaze scandal' led to the resig- nation of the UK defence sec- retary, Sir Michael Fallon and Tory Whip Charles Pincher, the suspension of Charlie Elphicke and the launch of inquiries into other government officials. In Malta, earlier this week, a former chief nurse at Mater Dei Hospital faced charges over sexually explicit messages sent to one of his subordinates in 2015. Equality Commissioner Re- nee Laiviera, of the National Commission for the Promotion of Equality (NCPE), said that Maltese people do not often re- port sexual harassment at the workplace. She said that only a total of four complaints related to sexu- al harassment at the workplace were placed between 2013 and 2016, while a fifth was dropped soon after being filed. Those four complaints were filed by women. In a survey published in 2014 by the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights, it was evident that 32% of participants across the EU28 experienced sexual harassment from some- body within their employment context such as a colleague, su- pervisor or a client. "In Malta one in every five women respondents had expe- rienced sexual harassment in the 12 months before the inter- view," Laiviera said. The survey found that 35% of participants kept the incident to themselves, while only 4% talked to an employer at their workplace and another 4% re- ported it to the police. Lepre said that people only report a problem when there is an escalation, or when it caus- es them a lot of anxiety, to the point that they can no longer function properly in their pro- fessional environment. "Usually, victims are not after punishment or compensation, but just want to be able to go to work without having to face fear or anxiety," she said. Contrary to common belief, sexual harassment is not only experienced by women. Men too, fall victims to sexual har- assment but do not often com- plain. Laiviera said that gender ste- reotypes on the roles and be- haviours ascribed to women and men may contribute to under-reporting of sexual har- assment, particularly by men. "Such stereotypes may am- plify feelings of embarrass- ment, beliefs that men are not victims of sexual harassment, and respective victimisation," she said. Laiviera and Lepre agreed that sexual harassment could happen within any work envi- ronment. Workers feel more comfortable sharing their ex- periences in an environment with a clear policy and adequate procedures against this kind of harassment in the workplace. "From an employers' perspec- tive, more could be done in terms of communicating their policies to staff, monitoring such policies and providing ad- equate remedies," Lepre said. "I feel that not enough is be- ing done in terms of law en- forcement - deterrents need to be applied in order to send the message that this kind of be- haviour is indeed unacceptable and that there will be conse- quences." The NCPE has carried out various initiatives to address gender discrimination and sexual harassment at the work- place. They award the Equal- ity Mark Certification to com- panies that safeguard gender equality at the workplace and take measures to prevent sex- ual harassment through their equality and sexual harassment policies and their equality rep- resentative. At present there are 80 com- panies with over 21,300 workers who have received this award. NCPE highly encourages vic- tims of sexual harassment to report their cases to the rel- evant authorities, including to NCPE itself, in order to seek redress and to further safe- guard their rights. NCPE's Complaints Form can be downloaded from its website – www.equality.gov.mt Male victims of sexual harassment complain less often than females MATTHEW VELLA A criminal investigation into the directors of the Mal- tese pension scheme Falcon Funds, has been closed by Swedish investigators. Police prosecutor Arne Fors of Stockholm police, said the Economic Crimes Authority had freed Falcon's directors Tonio Fenech – the former Nationalist finance minister – Joseph Xuereb and Ian Zam- mit, from any suspect fraud offences. "What they are saying is that they have been misled about these investments. I must be able to show that there was a purpose for crime," Fors told the Swedish press. Falcon Funds offered Swed- ish pensioners a pension fund on the country's premium pension platform, but was lat- er kicked off by the pensions authority over suspicions of investments in illiquid assets and illegal transfers of savers' cash. Falcon Funds was taken under controllership, and its investment manager Tem- ple Asset Management fined €612,000 for 23 breaches of investment rules. Falcon's di- rectors were given an MFSA reprimand and were prohib- ited from accepting any new appointments in entities or for activities licensed by the MF- SA for a period of two years. Arne Fors told the Swedish press that while the MFSA's actions might have been in- formed by Falcon's gross negligence, "I must be able to show that there has been a purpose for crime." But the Swedish investiga- tion remains ongoing with some 15 suspects still being investigated, while the Swed- ish pensions authority says it is keeping the door open for legal proceedings against the Maltese. The police has also failed to track any of the money sus- pected of having been dis- persed across the globe. The Swedish pensions au- thority had claimed Falcon was unable to pay back €247 million in savings because of 'major investment fraud'. The MFSA in October declared that the scheme "failed to act honestly, fairly and with integ- rity in the best interests of its investors." The MFSA also said Fal- con Funds did not obtain a reliable valuation of "illiquid securities", which included questionable investments that Temple Asset Management made to benefit a mysterious Swedish trader – Emil Amir Ingmanson. Ingmanson is suspected of having been planning to take over Temple's role as invest- ment manager for Falcon Funds, presenting a major conflict of interest. Temple, run by John Farrell, was the investment manager for the pension fund. Temple was said to have not cooper- ated with the MFSA in an open and honest manner, had numerous reporting failures, failed to formulate forecasts and analysis of illiquid assets, due diligence of investments, and did not ensure measures to avoid conflicts of interest. Falcon Funds' directors have taken up a battle in court, ac- cusing Temple Asset Manage- ment of having invested over €10 million of savers' cash in what turned out to be an 'ad- vance' to Emil Ingmanson and his London company. Swedish police drop investigation against Tonio Fenech, Falcon directors A fraud investigation into Maltese pension fund Falcon continues but prosecutor says they will not charge former PN minister Tonio Fenech and co- directors of the pension fund