As Treasurer of the Malta Community Chest Fund for the last four years of President George Abela’s tenure of office (2009 to 2014) I must write to correct certain inaccuracies in the reported statements made by President Marie-Louise Coleiro Preca in her press conference regarding the employees of the Kitchen Garden.

Her Excellency refers to regularising collective agreements going back to 2002.

Apart from the fact that this casts aspersions on the work of several of her predecessors, the Kitchen Garden was opened in 2011 and therefore any reference to previous years is out of context and perhaps inadvisable.

I can confirm that all Kitchen Garden staff employed up to April 4, 2014 (the day President Abela relinquished office) had a contract of service specifying detailed terms and conditions and signed by myself on behalf of the employer and by each individual employee.

Incidentally, at our request, these contracts of service had been vetted and approved by the Department of Industrial and Employment Relations prior to being implemented.

I can also confirm that all employees were registered with the Employment and Training Corporation, and a copy of their registration form was kept in their individual files together with a copy of their contract and the Inland Revenue Tax Deduction Form. These files were left available at San Anton Palace and can be referred to for verification of these facts, which facts can also be verified with, and confirmed by, the afore-mentioned authorities.

All payments made to the Kitchen Garden staff were subjected to deduction of tax under the FSS system and to National Insurance Contributions, and remitted monthly to the Inland Revenue Department. This can be confirmed by KPMG, the independent auditors of the Kitchen Garden and the Malta Community Chest Fund accounts.

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.