UPDATED: European Commission seeks refund from YMCA Valletta

The European Commission has launched judicial proceedings in Malta against YMCA Valletta for the refund of funds granted to this organisation for two charitable purposes.

The EC told the First Hall of the Civil Court that by means of a judgment delivered last July, YMCA had been ordered to refund a total of €17,498.67. The foreign judgment was declared to be enforceable in Malta by the Attorney General's Office.

In a judicial letter filed against the YMCA Valletta, the EC told the court that in 2001, YMCA had applied for two subsidies in order to set up two projects, namely "Violence & Under Privileged Young People" and "Supporting the Homeless". Among the conditions for these subsidies was that the beneficiary had to provide the EC with a final report on the projects.

The YMCA had obtained €13,539 in February 2001 and €6,672 in January 2002. In May 2003 and in January and May 2004 the EC had requested clarifications about the final reports submitted by the YMCA, but these had not been forthcoming. In August 2004 the EC decided that certain expenses claimed by the YMCA were ineligible.

As a result, the final subsidy allocated to the YMCA was of €1,169 for one project and €4,080 for the second project. The EC then informed the YMCA that it would be requesting a refund of some of the subsidies originally granted, but the YMCA had failed to effect payment.

The EC had then decided against the YMCA last July, and ordered the YMCA to refund a total of €17,498.67 from these subsidies together with legal interest. By means of a judicial letter filed today in the First Hall of the Civil Court, the EC called upon the YMCA to effect the refund in terms of last July's ruling.

The YMCA in a statement said it was surprised by the EC action.

It said the projects referred to by the EU were a volunteer placement with YMCA Valletta from a European country and an international conference for young people to be held in Malta discussing vViolence and underprivileged young people.

"Back in 2001 EU projects in Malta were a new thing and YMCA Valletta was asked by the relevant Maltese authorities to take part in these programmes through its volunteer base as they are a great opportunity. To this effect YMCA Valletta volunteers had formulated project proposals for European volunteers to come to Malta and help out at the YMCA and thus participate in YMCA social programmes. Another initiative was the conference mentioned above," YMCA said.

"Most of the programmes went ahead smoothly but apparently with these particular projects and grants the volunteers taking care of these areas were faced with great challenges considering the aftermath of September 11^th where several people were understandably scared from taking flights and travelling abroad.

"Nonetheless the activities did take place albeit with some changes and adaptations considering the period in question.

"After the projects were completed, the volunteers in charge wrote and sent the relevant documentation back to the EU office and this is where once more the bureaucratic machine of the EU weighed heavily on the small operation of an NGO like YMCA Valletta. To name just an example, the initial reports sent to the EU office under registered mail were lost or misplaced by the EU office and the second set of reports sent were not accepted because they were not in duplicate copies.

"Along the following months that passed we sent emails and even made phone calls to the relevant EU office and people both abroad and in Malta to try and resolve the matter. Unfortunately not much progress was made but finally we had offered the EU to officially audit the said projects and in a fax sent on the 27^th September 2005 we had formally authorized them to do so. This was a clear example from YMCA’s end that we had nothing to hide and were consistent in our openness and transparency on these issues. Unfortunately although the EU had written back and said that they were going to contact us to have the audit take place, this never materialized from their end" the YMCA said.