GRTU in strong defence of Mario Debono

The GRTU has strongly defended its vice president, Mario Debono, who, along with another two directors of his company, faces charges in court over alleged illegal importation of medicines.

"Mario Debono has committed no crime in his capacity as GRTU officer," the GRTU said.

"GRTU believes that what happened to Mario Debono can happen to many others in this age of rapid email purchasing. It is not uncommon for traders, or indeed individuals to order one thing and then find that actually they received something else. It is not unknown that in a large consignment one may find goods that are not covered by the necessary documentation.

"The company of which Mario Debono and the brothers Tabone are directors believe that they have been tricked and that they committed no crime and indeed, as soon as they realised something was wrong, they themselves alerted the authorities rather than profiting from the mistake, and (they) took all action necessary to ensure that no harm was done to anybody.

"They were initially charged a fine for this mishap, which however the directors refused as they believed that they had committed no crime and they preferred to defend themselves in court. This is something that so many businessmen do. That's why the courts exist," the GRTU said.

Director-General Vince Farrugia said the GRTU had acted diligently to ensure that while the case was sub-judice Mr Debono would not act as Officer of GRTU, "but we have no intention of punishing Mario Debono to satisfy his detractors when he has been steadfastly loyal to GRTU and has consistently obtained by secret voting the support of the absolute majority of businesses in the pharmaceutical section”.