Crucial testimony in the assault case against developer Sandro Chetcuti was yesterday dismissed as untruthful by the executive council of the Chamber for Small and Medium Enterprises – GRTU.

Anything I have to say, I will say in court

Mr Chetcuti is accused of assaulting GRTU director general Vince Farrugia in March 2010.

The GRTU yesterday issued a statement reacting to last week’s testimony by former GRTU member Sylvia Gauci who admitted to lying under oath in a previous court hearing.

Ms Gauci said that, unlike what she had testified earlier, she had not seen Mr Chetcuti assaulting Mr Farrugia.

She also said that, immediately after the alleged incident, the staff had gathered to decide what to tell the police in their statements.

Mr Chetcuti’s defence lawyers published a text message that Mr Farrugia had sent to Ms Gauci eight days after the alleged incident.

The SMS read: “Remember when you came in you saw him looking vicious and almost ready to butt my head with his. Your eye message which I read was ‘watch it’ and your eyes showed terror.

“That’s what I’ll say. And as he hit me you heard him say repeatedly ‘noqtlok, noqtlok’ (I’ll kill you, I’ll kill you). That’s the truth. I wake up in the night hearing those words in his hoarse voice loud in my ears. We must all hammer this point.”

When asked how the council could say that Ms Gauci’s testimony was untruthful in the light of this text message, Mr Farrugia said yesterday that he was in Brussels and had not attended the council meeting.

“Anything I have to say, I will say in court,” he said.

The council recalled that the police had charged Mr Chetcuti the day after the assault after taking statements within an hour of the incident from all those present in the GRTU offices. Police had arrived within minutes of the incident and collected their evidence immediately.

“The council is satisfied that there was no influence in the evidence collected... The people present in the offices on March 11, including witness Sylvia Gauci, gave their statements to the police immediately after the assault and these are sufficient evidence to confirm what took place.”

The GRTU council categorically denied that any meeting had been held where instructions were given over how anyone should testify.

It also denied that instructions had been issued to Ms Gauci and reserved the right to take action.

Ms Gauci, the council said, was never an employee of the GRTU. She was an elected member of the council until she became executive secretary of the MCESD and, therefore, never fell under the influence of Mr Farrugia.

Asked whether the GRTU was calling Ms Gauci a liar, GRTU president Paul Abela said: “We are saying the facts as they happened... What she said definitely did not happen.”

Asked whether the council planned to take legal action, Mr Abela said: “We’re considering all options.”

Asked why the statement was issued a week later, Mr Abela said the council had to meet before issuing a statement.

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