|
Matthew Vella
The inquiry into the alleged scandals at the heart of the Foundation for Tomorrow’s Schools, the Education Ministry’s arm responsible for the construction and upkeep of Malta’s schools, is now in the hands of the Criminal Investigation Department.
It has now been confirmed that following the review of Magistrate Consuelo Scerri Herrera’s inquest by Attorney General Silvio Camilleri, the matter is now under criminal investigation, a sign that preliminary inquiries have shown the FTS’s indiscriminate award of direct orders may have indeed flouted procurement regulations.
Earlier this week, MaltaToday editor Saviour Balzan was summoned to the Police Headquarters in Floriana where he was questioned on the newspaper’s coverage of the direct orders scandal, in which a total of Lm400,000 was invoiced to the FTS between 2002 and 2003. A reported 30 per cent of all direct orders were issued to constituents from Education Minister Louis Galea’s electoral districts.
Police investigators enquired as to whether any information held by MaltaToday has yet to be published on the FTS scandal and whether any investigations are still being carried out by this newspaper. Investigators also asked about any connections between the recipients of direct orders and Minister Louis Galea.
The criminal investigations however confirm the suspicions which centred around the alleged dubious operations carried out at the FTS under the stewardship of a board of directors led by chairman Conrad Thake and chief executive Alfred Ferrante, whose contract was terminated in October shortly after MaltaToday first revealed the extent of orders issued without call for tenders. Thake and board member Mario Callus, an acolyte of Minister Louis Galea who had formerly been the president of the PN’s Siggiewi club, were later removed from the board of directors at the FTS.
Ferrante had been adamant not to reveal the list of direct orders when first queried by MaltaToday. Ferrante had assured this newspaper that the Foundation had been following procurement regulations: equipment and services exceeding the value of Lm10,000 could be effected with the authority of the Ministry of Finance.
The details were only made public shortly following a parliamentary question. One of the most remarkable of direct orders was that conferred to the chairman of the Building Industry Consultative Council, architect Robert Musumeci, also Mayor of Siggiewi, Louis Galea’s hometown. In March 2003, Musumeci’s invoice tallied Lm14,575, in the form of two direct orders valued at Lm2,500 and Lm12,075, for architectural services rendered to the FTS in March 2003. Musumeci had told this newspaper in October that he had only been paid Lm2,500 from the total amount, and the tariffs were charged according to those stipulated by the Chamber of Architects.
Ferrante would later claim he had been a scapegoat when his contract was terminated just one week following the presentation of the list of direct orders in Parliament, back in October 2003. Ferrante had been on a definite contract of three years since February 2002 on a salary of Lm12,000. He denied having been the author of any “abusive” direct orders or quotations.
With him came the transfer of three project managers at the FTS back to the Education Division – Carmelo Sciberras, Joe Grima and George Camilleri. It was later revealed that substantial amounts of direct orders had been awarded to constituents of Louis Galea’s.
Board member Mario Callus was subsequently appointed executive director following Ferrante’s sacking, but was removed from the board along with Conrad Thake in April 2004.
According to the Labour weekly KullHadd, Callus is registered as a part-time farmer, just like Minister Louis Galea. A PN representative on the electoral commission and also a member of the University Council, Callus is not new to controversy: he had been a recipient of Lm13.50 daily for two years for renting out dumpers to the Auxiliary Workers Training scheme, whose financial operations and alleged indiscriminate issuing of direct orders had gone under investigation by the Permanent Commission Against Corruption. The AWTS had been established by Minister Louis Galea back in 1989.
Following MaltaToday’s reports into the FTS scandal, Magistrate Consuelo Scerri Herrera launched an inquest into the Foundation’s operations, on request of Labour spokesperson for education Carmelo Abela. Abela supplied Scerri Herrera with the list of 483 direct orders which were awarded in just 16 months between January 2002 and April 2003, totalling Lm401,886.
According to KullHadd, when the inquest had been launched by Scerri Herrera in 2003, former Attorney General Anthony Borg Barthet had written to the Court declaring his opinion that the Magistrate’s Court had no competence on such investigations given that the inquest was related to financial law, and had to be conduced by the Attorney General.
matthew@newsworksltd.com
|
