A court in Gozo is this morning continuing to hear evidence in the case instituted against Anthony Debono, the former Gozo minister's husband in the 'works for votes' case.

Mr Debono, himself a ministry official, faces 13 charges including misuse of public funds. The central allegation, by whistleblower Joe Cauchi, is that he commissioned works in private properties.

The first witness to take the stand was Christian Zammit, Chief of Staff at the Gozo Ministry.

He said on October 17, 2014, he was approached by the Permanent Secretary John Borg to meet the Joe Cauchi who had made various allegation regarding the accused, who used to head the Construction and Maintenance Department.

Mr Borg, adviser Grezzju Mercieca and two other ministry colleagues were present including the communications coordinator. 

The claims by the whistleblower were he had some €50,000 in unpaid bills for works, of which 75 per cent were carried out in private properties. He then used to get paid through invoices for works in valleys and rural areas. Mr Cauchi had brought with him a file but took it away with him.

Mr Borg said they took the case seriously but cautiously and the case was then followed by the Permanent Secretary who eventually approached the Whistleblower Office in Malta to seek advice.

Subsequently he met Mr Cauchi again. The whistleblower had told him he was afraid of “they might set fire to everything I own” (li jaharquli kollox).

Marthese Attard, Communications Coordinator at the Gozo Ministry also testified that said Mr Cauchi had said he was owed some €50,000 for works in private properties, carried out on the instructions of the accused Anthony Debono.  

Amy Gauci, coordinator at the Gozo Ministry secretariat, confirmed the earlier versions given by the ministry staff. Questioned by defence lawyer Joe Giglio, she said the meeting had taken about an hour. She said the some of the works involved country paths, the Gharb football ground and some garages.

George Pace, clerk at the Construction and Maintenance Department said Mr Debono used to hand him invoices certified by the works supervisor for various works, and eventually these used to be sent to treasury department in Gozo.  

Mr Pace said he knew the whistleblower as he was one of the contractors supplying the ministry with construction machinery through period contracts.

Asked by the court if he had ever been given invoices for other works, he said he could not remember. However, no ledger used to be kept for the use of the machinery hired from Mr Cauchi, and so he either used to verify with the accused or directly with the treasury department. 

Mr Pace said he never queried invoices and never went on site as this was not within his remit.

Defence lawyer Joe Giglio pointed out that from these ledgers it transpired that in 1993 a lot of works were carried out at the Sannat and Kercem football grounds, in 1994 at Xewkija and Qala. He said these examples proved that the maintenance of football grounds, was in the remit of the CMU [The accused is being accused of carrying out works at the Gharb football ground and various country roads].

The defence said they were even employees whose job was to look after the netting of all grounds and playgrounds.

This was corroborated by the witness who said the department carried out works for various NGOs, and even the two theatres in Victoria. Mr Pace also noted that there was a particular fund dedicated to improve farm access roads and sports facilities

Mr Pace confirmed that some works used to be carried out to alleviate flooding in agricultural areas. He added that due to his involvement in various NGOs, he used to give advice about the support which CMU could give them.

Dr Giglio referred to an annual report published by the Gozo ministry which confirmed such works were in its remit. The witness corroborated the contents of this reports, saying there were a number of PQs had even been made on this subject.

Asked by Dr Giglio, if he saw anything suspicious or abnormal in the documents exhibited in court, he said “Rest assured that if this was the case I would have flagged it.”

Marianne Pace, senior principal at the Projects and Development Department  said the accounts department issued the payment vouchers after receiving invoices. They also verified that all document have the required signatures, including that of the director in cases involving payments exceeding €500.

She said the payment vouchers would then be sent to the treasury department for the payment to be affected. The supplier was is then obliged to send the fiscal receipt after receiving the cheque. The witness said she was never approached by the whistleblower over any pending bills.

The hearing resumes on October 7.

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