Updated 8.14pm
The police are waiting for the Attorney General’s advice on how to proceed in their investigations into corruption claims related to the building of a Gozo school extension.
The allegations surfaced at a meeting called by Education Minister Evarist Bartolo in the summer of 2015. At the meeting, a high official of the Foundation for Tomorrow’s Schools, which is responsible for building projects in public schools said that Gozitan contractor Giovann Vella had alleged that FTS official Edward Caruana had asked him for €30,000 bribe in order to release outstanding payments in relation to extension works on the Sixth Form in Victoria.
Mr Caruana denied the claims and, after he filed a defamation report, the police initiated court procedures against Mr Vella accusing him of tarnishing Mr Caruana’s reputation.
WATCH: I have no more trust in Caruana, says Evarist Bartolo
At the time, the ministry had not communicated the corruption allegations to the police. When the defamation case was being heard, Joseph Caruana, the Education Ministry’s permanent secretary and Edward Caruana’s brother, said he did not feel the need to report the corruption claims to the police because defamation procedures were already in place.
When asked, the police had confirmed they had never investigated the corruption claims because the Education Ministry never reported the matter. However, they said they were taking note of what was being said in court and “were taking appropriate action”.
When asked last week whether the probe on the Gozo bribery allegations had been concluded, the police said they did. “We are currently awaiting the Attorney General’s advice on the matter,” a spokesman said.
When the police conclude an investigation, they usually ask the Attorney General whether criminal procedures can be taken in court.
Sources close to the police pointed out that the investigations into the Gozo corruption claims are separate from new investigations being carried following fresh claims against Mr Caruana.
Last summer, the FTS’s chief executive, Philip Rizzo, claimed that Mr Caruana had allegedly forged a number of documents and was involved in the embezzlement of public funds at the government agency. Following an internal investigation, Mr Bartolo ordered that the police should be called in as Mr Rizzo’s claims had prima facie been confirmed.
Mr Bartolo, under whose stewardship Mr Caruana had been recruited on a person-of-trust basis, refuted any political responsibility for his person of trust as he immediately ordered Mr Caruana’s transfer from the FTS once he got wind of the corruption claims.
Apart from the police probe on these allegations, the government’s Internal Audit and Investigation Department is also looking into the matter. No arraignments have been made yet.
'Bartolo is just like Konrad Mizzi' - PN
In a statement, the Nationalist Party said the Education Minister had to assume responsibility for his decisions.
"When allegations about corruption in Gozo first surfaced, Evarist Bartolo defended his person of trust," the PN said, adding that the minister had "also hidden away the facts" in a second, more recent case.
"Evarist Bartolo is no different from Konrad Mizzi. Both ministers are tainted with allegations of corruption." The PN statement ended by again turning Mr Bartolo's words on himself. "This just goes to confirm that in our country there are laws for gods and other laws for animals."
'Opposition is lying through its teeth' - Education Ministry
Minister Bartolo always ordered that allegations be passed on to the police to investigate, regardless of who they concerned or who was making them, the Education Ministry said this evening.
In claiming that the minister had "kept his mouth shut" or "hidden allegations of corruption", the Opposition was simply lying and throwing mud, the ministry said.
The tit-for-tat continued later in the evening, with the PN first saying that the minister had "conveniently" avoided talk about allegations of corruption involving one of his Gozitan canvassers, and the minister replying by reiterating that he had always reported allegations, "including those concerning Gozo".