Ex-Freeport manager says he was gagged by chairman

A former manager at the Malta Freeport Authority yesterday filed a constitutional case against his employer, claiming a breach of human rights and complaining that he was discriminated against and threatened.

Nicholas Cutajar said that, by right, in 2006 he was meant to have been promoted to senior manager because he was next in line to get the promotion. However, out of nowhere, a colleague, Ernest Tonna, reported him for something Mr Cutajar insisted was not true.

Mr Tonna invented a story and told his superiors that Mr Cutajar had used false documents to try and store dangerous chemicals, which could have landed the Freeport into a lot of trouble, Mr Cutajar said.

Internal investigations were carried out and the allegations were proved false, at which point Mr Cutajar said he had asked the police to proceed against Mr Tonna for slander. He also initiated a civil case for damages against Mr Tonna.

As the police started investigating, the chairman of the authority, Mark Portelli, summoned him to his office and, “amid threats”, pressed him to drop the cases against Mr Tonna.

Mr Cutajar said that when refused to back down, Mr Portelli initiated disciplinary proceedings against him. The chairman, without a call for applications, also appointed Mr Tonna as senior manager so that Mr Cutajar became his subordinate.

Mr Cutajar said that, in the circumstances, he had no option but to withdraw his police complaint and the civil suit against Mr Tonna.

Mr Cutajar said that in the years up to his retirement, last November, he continued to be subjected to injustices and victimisation.

He said that whereas other retiring employees received the termination bonus unconditionally, he was told that to receive it he would have to sign a declaration that he would not make any further demands on the Freeport.

Mr Cutajar said he refused to give in, losing thousands of euros which other workers had been given as their termination bonus and other payments.

In the application, Mr Cutajar said the manner in which he was treated was tantamount to criminal behaviour and violated his human rights.

He asked the court to declare that his fundamental rights had been breached and to order the Malta Freeport Authority to appoint him as senior manager with effect from July 1, 2006, pay him what he had been due since, grant him his termination bonus and order the chairman to offer him compensation for the violation of his rights.

Lawyer Tonio Azzopardi signed the application.