Sunday, 8th November 2009 - 17:27CET
Finance minister denies 'favours' claim
Finance Minister Tonio Fenech this afternoon strongly denied claims made in the newspaper MaltaToday and repeated by Opposition leader Joseph Muscat regarding work done in his house by a private contractor.
Mr Fenech in a statement issued with his wife, said they had paid for the work carried out at their residence by a contractor after the work was certified by an architect. The payments were confirmed by a fiscal receipt. After the contractor cashed his cheque, he wrote through his legal adviser, Toni Abela, who is also the PL deputy leader, demanding more payment than certified by the architect.
Mr and Mrs Fenech said they had never ever linked work at their residence with any other matters, as had been claimed in the newspaper and repeated by Dr Muscat.
They reserved the right to take legal action.
Mr Fenech said that while Dr Muscat had said the media should not engage in character assassination, he was now involving himself in dirty commercial-political manoeuvres.
The newspaper said a contractor was claiming that he had been sub-contracted to work at the minister's house in return for his intervention to arrange for them to sell the former Jerma hotel. The sale did not take place, the main contractor ran into financial difficulties and the sub-contractor was now demanding payment directly from the minister.
The minister had told the newspaper that the allegations were 'a lie'.
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Comments
lol so what you're saying is that if i take you to court, i'm automatically right? do you even have an idea on how the legal system works?
are these national politicians ALWAYS right?! Are they enlightened by the holy spirit in some way?!? Does he always have the prime minister's blessing? can it be that it is the prime minister that needs to resign and not tonio?
May I suggest you watch/listen to different channels other than NET or those pseudo NET.
You still did not answer my question, why did it take st.. Tonio 3 years to act against the gambling establismnet sprouting all over the country illegally.?
You go on admiring the Zebbug Mayor while we wait for him to protest his innocence in court, if he ever decides to do so.
Why did it take Tonio 3 whole years to finally take a stand against betting shops.?
Action was taken in this case because of the public outcry and the church's concern. As regards the Zebbug mayor he promised to take action against the allegations, so it is only fair to reserve your thoughts until after.
Tonio has also promised to take action on his latest debuckle but did not resign unlike John Dalli who was made to resign, how about Dr Gonzi using the same measure with all his colleagues.
One must look at the value provided (works on site) and the actual receipt. If anyone wants to make an undeclared service he/she will not issue a fiscal receipt for such an undeclared service even if it is a 'gift'. As you need independent confirmation. It is rather difficult to negate these type of claims especially as some matters irrespective of the position you hold are really private matters and not public consumption.
Not picking a bone with Mr Vassallo just a discussion to demonstrate that the Media is always in the uppermost position. In the first place there should have been a burden of proof before throwing this in the papers. I'm not saying on a level of the law but at least a reasonable level where one must be able to demonstrate that the 'favour' did happen. Otherwise it is a continuation of a sick exercise of just simply throwing mud at a person. Then we get an aud nauseum repetition of who said what. Throw enough of it and it sticks.
Incidentally Ivan, the case was not initially brought up by JM or labout papers but by Malta Today!
That is what his colleague John Dalli did in the past, of course at the PM's request, but Tonio should not wait for the PM to take action.
Lets not forget that for Tonio this is the second incident in less than a month.
How many such situations of these kind Tonio needs to even consider resigning.
Apparently, from what i saw in the news, Tonio Fenech published all the correspondence & receipts, clearly showing there was nothin "SCANDALOUS or SECRET", as ONE news claimed ( typical ).
I wonder where the new style of progressive politics & ethical journalism have gone....
(I camilleri, sliema).