VAT Commissioner says he will not resign

Patrick Pace

Apr 8th 2009, 07:49

Hope there names will be published and also the companies who tried not to give their share for VAT - biex naraw flus il-poplu fejn marru

A Sciberras

Apr 7th 2009, 22:44

The code of ethics if there is any in this country, is that he should resign, why trying to grip in a position where you no longer have any credibility. I am not saying he is wrong, but yet, you have not overseen the employees, so you have no control...

It is very normal to resign when you show that you are a man who takes responsibility for your action, or inaction. This happens everywhere. With all due respect to the Comm. of VAT, he is no longer credible to the eye of the public, so I bet the faster he leave, the less damage he will make to his own reputation. How can I if a businessman pay the VAT to the VAT dept if the dept is tarnished with fraud?

The Commissioner should resign immediately, and the Min of Finance should accept his resignation, and if his reasons are valid that he is not at fault, he is transferred to some other dept for which he has competence e.g. CIR, or TCU.

This way he keeps his job but would have acted honorably. Think about it commissioner!

Josef Borg

Apr 7th 2009, 22:02

Till now I have read about this case only in the Times. Could it be that the Times is the only free media and all the others are influenced by the government and the businessmen to put the case under the carpet?

Nigel Lawrence

Apr 7th 2009, 20:49

@J Farrugia--

"The Captain's head" is wanted, because the captain is unaware of what his ship is doing.

I Abela

Apr 7th 2009, 19:48

@ J Farrugia - Actually he has just ONE thing to do, ie. see that whatever needs to be done, is done, efficiently, and correctly. That is the job of a head. Everything else is done by the other staff. He failed miserably on this one so yes, he should have resigned as soon as the police uncovered the fraud (not when the investigation is completed). That is the ONE AND ONLY reason this country will never be a Smart Island and will never offer value for money to its citizens. Accountability is the key to progress. In our case, millions of euros in lost revenue, millions of euros in lost european funds, millions of euros lost in projects costs overruns, thousands of passwords stolen from government computers, thousands of patients awaiting operations, and the list never ends, WHY ?? because some people are incompetent for their job but will kill to retain their post. That's why !!

Charles Sammut

Apr 7th 2009, 19:47

If the commissioner is not accountable for what was happening under his nose all these years, who is to be held accountable?

From experience, I know that the VAT department is run by a computer and most of the people there are there to input data and don't have to use their brain. Which is probably just as well too.

G.Sammut

Apr 7th 2009, 18:50

@J Farrugia
Other things to do - like make sure this doesn't happen under his responsibility, which it did. He has duties, and responsibilities, and resignation is to do with the latter. How could we possibly trust that public officials are fulfilling their duties well, if they don't carry responsibility for when things go wrong. This is a public confidence issue - and I'm not sure how much of it there is around when it comes to public officials. Maybe the fact that no one is ever held responsible may be a good reason why. You claim it's ridiculous to want the captain's head for no good reason - I think it's ridiculous that this never happens - even when there are good reasons. tell me the last time you heard of a resignation (here in Malta)

J Farrugia

Apr 7th 2009, 16:48

Why should the Commissioner resign? Did he do anything wrong? No so .... He has a duty to carry out, let him do it.. This way of wanting the captain's head for no good reason is ridiculous. Why should a person doing his duty resign? Let those who are in the wrong be dismissed but not remove the Head of the Department. He has other things to do.

JF Vassallo Ebejer

Apr 7th 2009, 14:48

Yesterday, The Times reported that the Police investigation started some 3 months ago.

Therefore I would assume that the Police were asked to investigate more or less 3 months ago - BUT, the scam seems to have been going on for years, not months.

Will anyone be asked to assume the responsibility for the Department’s failure to notice that all was not well, for years….??

M Attard

Apr 7th 2009, 13:29

What's new..nobody but nobody ever resigns on this Island.

Nigel Lawrence

Apr 7th 2009, 13:01

'Course he wont resign. Resign (or it's equivalent) is neither in the Maltese dictionary, nor in it's culture.

Adrian Gouder

Apr 7th 2009, 12:36

Perhaps it is time to seriously consider investigating something simillar to the Whistle Blower Act?

Joe Cassar

Apr 7th 2009, 12:24

What precautions have been taken to prevent tampering with evidence and suborning of witnesses?

Are the authorities keeping in mind that some officials, even if not directly involved, still have an interest in hiding their incompetence and lack of control?

ceri whitley

Apr 7th 2009, 12:07

This incident reminds me of a sticker on the rear of a landrover I saw whilst on holiday in Malta..... it read -

"Don't steal from the Goverment - they hate competition"

D. A . Agius

Apr 7th 2009, 11:50

No senior officers involved... sounds fishy, but if the feet are doing something bad, how come the head does not get at least an itch?

Maybe it's another case of accountability which is severely lacking in many places. Amongst which, from personal experience, even within the Police.

Good luck, but honestly, before they tell me problems are solved, LOTS of accountability ideas needs to be placed in practice in many a department!

S. Calleja

Apr 7th 2009, 11:47

"...millions of euro were believed to have been lost as a result of fraudulent practices..."

And then one wonders why this country's infrastructure resembles more that of a third world country than that of a developed European country.

Probably these are the same people who made live miserable for hundreds of self-employed workers by punishing them for their smallest mistakes. I recall myself being threatened by VAT department staff to pay non-existent VAT due plus thousands of Euros in penalties due to a technical issue (a mistake on my invoices) when I was registered under Article 11 (VAT exempt). I ended up forking out everything from my earnings since they assured me I would lose any court action. Back then I felt betrayed by the state and confused whether I should even bother working, but reading this article now puts this situation under a different perspective. May justice be done.

eddie bonello

Apr 7th 2009, 10:41

From my point of view I hold the Vat Comissioner responsable for the Vat departament. So he has to carry the burden of what has happened. If it was not for the "businessman" who blew the whistle no Minister or Commissioner would have caught the wrongdoing which, as we are being told, has been going on for a long trime under the nose of these people. Shoulder your responsability and RESIGN

J.Sammut

Apr 7th 2009, 09:34

Calling the police. Not good enough! This thing happened right under your nose dear commissioner. It's good to call the police, but not good enough! The government is right to take no abuse. Neither should the public. It is to the public that government and public officials are accountable, and this abuses that accountability.
Very simply, how can we ever trust that the commissioner is competent enough for this not to happen ever again, if it already did. Why should we take a chance?