I never pressured anyone - Mugliett

Roads Minister Jesmond Mugliett yesterday denied ever pressuring anyone for the ADT not to dismiss two driving examiners convicted of bribery.

Speaking in Parliament on an opposition no-confidence motion in him, Mr Mugliett said his track record, and that of the ADT, was one of action to prevent and counter abuse, independently of whoever was involved.

Mr Mugliett stressed that these two employees joined the ADT as driving examiners before he became minister responsible for the authority.

He had never protected anyone and it was not he who sought a presidential pardon on their behalf after their bribery conviction. Nor had he ever shown a predisposition for these workers not to be dismissed. Indeed the government had appealed the court sentence against those workers because it was not seen as being harsh enough.

At no time had he pressured the CEO over this case, and the CEO's resignation had nothing to do with it.

Mr Mugliett said he had never lied to the House and he had explained that his reference to a collective decision referred to discussions he had had with the CEO and the authority's legal adviser, who were the two persons having executive roles. The board was not involved.

Furthermore, Mr Mugliett said, the ADT's lawyer was not a canvasser of his, as the opposition had said. He was a PN candidate on his own district and they, therefore, were competitors.

In his speech, Mr Mugliett said he wanted to list action taken by the ministry and the ADT over the past few years which underlined their commitment to fight abuse.

In March 2004, he had continued a process started by his predecessor to introduce a more efficient structure in the licensing department.

Following allegations of corruption, detailed investigations were conducted by the ADT and the police and five examiners were arraigned, including the two who were convicted. Clearly, therefore, no one was protected.

After these people were arraigned and suspended, a clean sweep of the licensing unit was made, new examiners were engaged, and procedures were further strengthened, including through internal audits.

The VRT system was also improved to avoid abuse, including harsher penalties and having the garages on-line. Since 2000, 16 disciplinary cases involving VRT garages had been passed on to the police. No one was protected.

There had also been a crackdown on abuse in the use of foreign number plates, whose users avoided taxes. Since last October, the drivers of 927 vehicles were ordered to regularise their position and 198 cars were clamped or towed for the same reason.

There was also tougher control on the abuse of fuel used in buses. There were 14 instances since 2004 where public transport drivers lost their tag, for various reasons, and no one was protected.

A prominent Nationalist taxi driver from his own district had suffered disciplinary action over his behaviour at the cruise liner terminal, despite the driver's warnings that he (Mr Mugliett) would lose votes.

Referring to the case involving the two examiners and a precedent, Mr Mugliett said that last year an employee was convicted of tampering with a VRT certificate. He was given a general interdiction and the ADT wanted to dismiss him. But once the interdiction was reduced, the PSC ordered that he should be retained in employment and moved to another section.

Mr Mugliett said that with regard to these two employees, they were first suspended on half pay and in February, the ADT decided they should be dismissed. A few days later one of their lawyers requested a presidential pardon and this lawyer wrote to the CEO informing him about it.

Mr Mugliett said he had drawn the CEO's attention to the precedent and a decision was taken to put off a dismissal until the issue of the presidential pardon was settled. This was not a predisposition for the workers to be retained. No pressure was made on the chief executive officer and it was not true that the CEO had resigned over this case.

The CEO discussed the lawyer's request with the ADT's legal counsel and then wrote to the workers telling them they would remain suspended on half pay. But the decision to dismiss them was never withdrawn.

Once the request for a presidential pardon was archived, the ADT board confirmed the decision to dismiss the workers.

Mr Mugliett said the fight against abuse remained at the top of his agenda and that of the ADT.