Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/990836
NEWS maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 6 JUNE 2018 MATTHEW VELLA NATIONALIST MP Beppe Fenech Adami denied having committed any- thing wrong by recommending a con- stituent for a job at the national waste agency Wasteserv during the time when the Nationalist Party was in gov- ernment. Beppe Fenech Adami was being questioned inside the public accounts committee over emails he sent to Was- teserv officials, requesting a job place- ment for someone who had got in touch with him. The emails date back to before the 2013 election, when the Nationalist Party was then in power. "I have never had any power to put people in any job… I could only help people. It was all regular," Fenech Ad- ami said, fending off questions from Labour MP Robert Abela. But the grilling produced nothing new beyond what was published origi- nally in MaltaToday, as Labour MPs laboured the point that Nationalist MPs had been actively seeking favours for constituents. Fenech Adami, who stepped down as PAC chairman temporarily so as to be able to testify, said that after the emails were published in MaltaToday, the person in question had called him to tell him she was never contacted by the waste agency for a job. Emails published by MaltaToday dat- ing from 2009 right up to election eve on 21 February 2013, shed details on the daily efforts of ministers, govern- ment MPs, civil servants, party candi- dates and directors of national waste agency Wasteserv to favour voters for job postings with direct placements. Emails from June 2010 show the re- sources ministry's secretariat actually forwarding a list of 18 candidates to be interviewed for the post of waste sort- ers at the Sant Antnin plant. Not only does the ministerial secre- tariat take an interest in job inter- views: in December 2010, Beppe Fene- ch Adami, then a newly-elected MP, also petitions Ray Bezzina, the minis- ter's aide, to include other candidates for job placements. He uses his personal email, not his parliament server email. "Days ago you told me that Wasteserv needed people for secretarial posts," he tells CEO Vincent Magri, requesting him to call in a recommended applicant for the post. Fenech Adami was intent in turning the tables against Labour MP Robert Abela, by reminding him that it was the Labour government that employed over 129 waste sorters in the run-up to the June 2017 election. "It's an MP's job to carry out this function," Fenech Adami said, refer- ring to his role as an MP interlocuting for constituents. "My job was that… a person had been chosen to work at Wasteserv, someone else felt this person should not get this job because of his personal transporta- tion problem… I informed Wasteserv telling them he had no such problem," Fenech Adami said. "I did the right thing." Fenech Adami said it was CEO Vin- cent Magri who took final decisions on recruitment at the waste agency. Fenech Adami said he could not re- call having recommended anybody else other than the two workers he had suggested, although Labour MPs said it was unlikely that he had only suggested two workers in four days of email correspondence. Fenech Adami accused Robert Ab- ela of being hypocritical in the way he described the role of parliamentary as- sistants – of which he was one – as a way of enriching oneself when Abela himself receives various consultancies from the Labour government, apart from his retainer at the Planning Au- thority. Labour MPs grill Fenech Adami over Wasteserv recommendations MASSIMO COSTA A 33-year-old man from Niger was jailed for a year and fined €4,000 after he was found guilty of having disobeyed police or- ders, resisted arrest and injured two police officers. Abubakar Ibrahim Jabril had been accused of attacking the police officers on 5 April, 2016, at the Tiger Bar in Marsa, when police from the immigration di- vision had stopped him because he resembled somebody they had been searching for. The police had tried to arrest him, but he resisted, injuring them and biting one of them. Jabril said he had resisted ar- rest because his hair had been pulled, and maintained he had unintentionally bitten one of the officers because the officer's hand was thrust into his mouth. He had also been accused of threatening the officers, insult- ing them, slightly injuring one of them and disturbing the public peace. However, due to the fact that the prosecution had failed to arraign Jabril within the two- year period prescribed by law, the court was unable to find him guilty of these charges. After the alleged crimes were committed, Jabril had been wanted for arraignment, but, due to a communication mis- hap, the police had not realised that he was in prison at the time, serving a sentence for an unre- lated case. Noting this, the court said such a short-coming was "very serious". The court emphasised the "ze- ro tolerance" towards violence on police. In its judgement, the court, presided by Magistrate Joseph Mifsud, said that it was reiter- ating that the police had to be protected while undertaking their duties. "Nobody can be accused, for whatever reason, of threaten- ing the police or injuring them in some way," the court said. "A police order should be obeyed immediately, and the police should be respected al- ways and everywhere," it em- phasised, "The court is noting that the instances of police or- der disobedience – and, worse still, physical attacks, including those resulting in serious injury – are increasing in our society." The court underscored that it didn't want members of the Po- lice Corps to be demoralised be- cause of this, since they don't al- ways find the support they need while doing their work, and sometimes are judged by society for doing their duty. There were also times when people complained, using "pseu- do-legal articles" against legiti- mate orders of the police, the court said. "The court makes it clear that anyone who abuses his power, including those in uniform, have to answer for their actions," it stressed. "But police officers and their families are not excluded from having their rights protected, including as provided by the Eu- ropean Convention for Human Rights," the court added. Man jailed for injuring police officers – court says violence against police inexcusable In its judgement, the court said that it was reiterating that the police had to be protected while undertaking their duties Fenech Adami said it was CEO Vincent Magri who took final decisions on recruitment at the waste agency