Daughter’s use of council laptop lands mayor in court

The mayor of Żebbuġ in Gozo, Charles Saliba has resigned from the Nationalist Party to be able to better defend himself against charges of misappropriating the council’s laptop... by letting his daughter to use it to access her Facebook account.

Mr Saliba has been summoned to appear before a magistrate at the Gozo Courts to faces charges of misappropriating the council’s laptop and misusing public funds.

According to charges filed by the police, the alleged wrongdoing took place between May 2008 and January this year.

When asked, Nationalist Party information director Frank Psaila confirmed the receipt of Mr Saliba’s resignation letter and that he would remain on the Żebbuġ council as an independent mayor. He has been mayor since 2004.

In his resignation letter, Ms Saliba explained he wanted to be in a better position to defend his innocence without in any way prejudicing the party.

Sources close to the police said that when he was being questioned, Mr Saliba maintained that the laptop, purchased following approval at a council meeting in December 2007, was sometimes used by his daughter when her laptop would not be readily available.

He told the police he sometimes took the Dell laptop, purchased in May 2008 for €920, at home to be able to do council-related work, mainly replying to e-mails and dealing with council jobs. He said his personal computer at home was old and slow.

Mr Saliba, who works for Transport Malta’s Gozo office, said that although his children, a boy and a girl, had their own computers, his daughter sometimes used his if it happened to be switched on in his study. He also told the police he did not take his laptop home with him every day.

He also gave details of an incident in July last year when an internet modem at his summer residence fell off a shelf onto the laptop, damaging its monitor. The council forked out €200 to have the monitor replaced.

Also questioned by the police, Mr Saliba’s daughter is known to have explained that she only used her father’s laptop when she did not have access to hers. She insisted she would only use her father’s laptop to access her Facebook account for an average of 10 minutes.

Mr Saliba is expected to appear before the Magistrates’ Court in Gozo on September 16 to answer to the charges brought against him.

In his letter to the PN, Mr Saliba said he believed he had not done anything illegal by taking the council laptop home with him to carry on with council-related work.

The president of the Nationalist Party executive, Pierre Portelli, replied to Mr Saliba’s resignation letter, thanking him for his years of service to the party.

Mr Portelli said the PN expected high moral and ethical standards from people elected on its ticket and so appreciated Mr Saliba’s decision to suspend himself from the party to defend himself without prejudicing the party.

When contacted, Mr Saliba declined to comment.