A former vice president of the GRTU yesterday claimed he was told to shut up by its director general Vince Farrugia when he questioned the transparency of the chamber’s finances.
He encountered a lot of resistance and pressure from both of them not to get involved
Speaking from the witness stand, Mark Saliba said that as the vice president of finance for the Chamber of Small and Medium Enterprises – GRTU, in other words the treasurer, he repeatedly asked to review the accounts and to be given details on the chamber’s finances. But he was ignored by Mr Farrugia.
It got to such a point that he even tendered his resignation, which Mr Farrugia refused to accept saying that things would change. But they didn’t, Mr Saliba said.
Mr Saliba was testifying in the case against Sandro Chetcuti, 38, a former member of the chamber who stands charged with seriously injuring Mr Farrugia in an argument in 2011 at the director general’s office in Valletta.
The former treasurer, a witness produced by the defence, recalled a meeting he had with Mr Farrugia and the chamber’s president Paul Abela, in which he asked questions about the GRTU’s finances.
He encountered a lot of resistance and pressure from both of them not to get involved, he said.
When he suggested to them that an auditor should attend a council meeting so that members could ask questions, Mr Farrugia started to shout, pointing his finger close to his face and banging on the table, before leaving the meeting. Mr Farrugia told him to shut up as it was nothing to do with him, Mr Saliba said.
Another former GRTU vice president, Joseph Tabone, said he was representing the chamber on the Trade Fairs Corporation when it was closed down.
He said that under an agreement between the corporation’s shareholding companies, the “millions in cash and millions worth of property” were meant to have been distributed to charities. However, a decision was taken later to split the money among the shareholding companies instead.
He had felt that as a developer, Mr Chetcuti, who had wanted the money to go to charity, should be part of the board overseeing the distribution of the wealth, to make sure that everything was above aboard.
He added that some people were expressing serious doubts about where the money from the corporation was going.
Another witness was the former government minister and now president of the Developers’ Association, Michael Falzon.
Mr Falzon recalled that on the day of the fight at the GRTU, he had bumped into Mr Chetcuti in court and the accused told him he had been summoned to Mr Farrugia’s office.
He later received a call from Mr Chetcuti saying he had lost his temper and hit Mr Farrugia.
A few months later he was at the Phoenicia Hotel in Valletta for a presentation of the developers’ association when in walked Mr Farrugia.
The GRTU director general went up to Mr Chetcuti and began poking him in the chest, Mr Falzon said.
In fact he had to split them up, fearing another fight.
He said the manner in which Mr Farrugia treated Mr Chetcuti matched the way the accused had previously described the way he was provoked and treated by Mr Farrugia in the moments before the flare-up.