Enemalta denies Labour leader’s victimisation claim

Enemalta has denied the Labour leader’s claim that one of its employees was being victimised for being a whistleblower, but the Labour Party retaliated by criticising the corporation for issuing a statement on the government’s instructions.

Party leader Joseph Muscat on Sunday repeated an allegation made in other media that the “whistleblower” had exposed turnkey construction works done “as a favour” at Finance Minister Tonio Fenech’s house, an allegation the minister has strenuously denied.

In its press release, Enemalta said the man in question had refused an employment proposal offered to all his colleagues as part of a restructuring process and categorically denied Mr Muscat’s allegation of retribution against any of its workers.

It added that the employee was never transferred or moved and no such request was made by the minister or anyone on his behalf. There was an ongoing process aimed at improving efficiency where the corporation was planning to redeploy its credit control section into the structure of Arms Ltd.

“All employees who work within the credit section at Enemalta have been offered alternative roles within Enemalta while retaining the right to apply within Arms.”

Enemalta said all the positions offered were discussed with the General Workers’ Union and the majority of employees were looking forward to the new roles, which took into consideration their grade, pay and job description.

“The employee has refused such proposals,” Enemalta said.

It added that the employee was the owner of a private turnkey business, for which, according to the corporation’s regulations, Enemalta should have been asked to provide its consent. “Such consent was never requested and hence never granted.”

During his speech, Dr Muscat spoke about “manoeuvres” to get the man out of the way and said it was pointless for the government to speak about introducing a Whistleblower Act: “You have to lead by example.”

Last November, Labour’s media and Malta Today claimed a turnkey sub-contractor had carried out a number of jobs at Mr Fenech’s house in return for his intervention to help the main contractor sell the former Jerma Hotel in Marsascala.

The sale, according to the reports, did not take place and the main contractor ran into financial difficulties, with the sub-contractor demanding payment directly from the minister.

Mr Fenech denied these allegations, saying he had paid for the work after it was certified by an architect. He also instituted a libel suit over the news item.

Meanwhile, Labour yesterday attacked Enemalta’s credibility: “The leadership of Enemalta, which includes some of the best paid in the public sector, released a statement on the instructions of the government to continue the campaign against the person bold enough to be a whistleblower in the case of Minister Fenech.”

It added that Enemalta was trying to assure people that in this case there was no “transfer” involved but “redeployment”.

The Ministry of Finance yesterday requested a clarification on the report of Mr Muscat’s speech. In fact, the Opposition leader was erroneously quoted as claiming that the whistleblower had already been transferred.

“The Opposition Leader referred to restructuring but did not state that this employee was being shuttled from one department to another,” Mr Fenech’s spokesman said.