Paul Abela has defended his presidency of the retailers’ lobby group GRTU in the wake of allegations that he tampered with evidence in the Sandro Chetcuti case.
Members will have the opportunity to judge me in January when my seat on the council will be subject to election
Mr Abela would not comment on the ongoing case but insisted he had done nothing wrong throughout his presidency of the Chamber for Small and Medium Enterprises, GRTU, that warranted his resignation.
“I am an elected president and the members will have the opportunity to judge me in January when my seat on the council will be subject to an election,” he said.
Mr Chetcuti, an ex-GRTU member, is charged with assaulting the organisation’s director general Vince Farrugia in March 2010.
The court on Monday heard a prosecution witness change her version of events, saying she had lied under oath. The witness, Sylvia Gauci, admitted she had not seen the assault.
She alleged that Mr Farrugia, Mr Abela and GRTU officials Philip Fenech and Joe Attard had met other employees to decide what to tell the police in their official statements.
The testimony, which the defence backed up with text messages sent by Mr Farrugia, raised question marks on the credibility of the GRTU’s top officials.
But GRTU council members contacted yesterday by The Times were reluctant to comment on whether the officials’ positions in the organisation were tenable.
Patrick Cutajar, a council member, said he had visited Mr Farrugia in hospital and the bruises he saw were “real”.
“A man in his position would be desperate enough to do anything,” he said, acknowledging that lying was not the right thing to do.
“I have my views, which I will express in the council and not in public,” Mr Cutajar said when asked whether the officials ought to resign.
Another council member, Josette Vella, said she respected Mr Farrugia’s unstinting efforts to work for the self-employed.
“Despite being a Nationalist MEP candidate, he has not shied away from rebuking the Government when needed,” she said.
When asked whether Mr Farrugia should resign his post, Ms Vella said what happened was “a private affair” that had nothing to do with his position as director general.
She said it was wrong for Mr Chetcuti to use physical violence and also for Mr Farrugia to exaggerate matters.
She hoped that a solution would be found.
Mosta retailer and councillor Joseph Zerafa said he wanted to speak to Mr Abela, Mr Fenech and Mr Farrugia to get their side of the story before reaching his own conclusion.
“All I have today is two different versions given by one witness and I don’t know which the correct version is,” he said, reacting to Ms Gauci’s court testimony yesterday.
Council members Salvu Vella and Maurice Borg declined to comment, insisting they had not followed the proceedings and had not been at the GRTU building in Valletta for quite some time.
Petrol station owner Sergio Camilleri answered his phone and put it down immediately when asked about the repercussions of the case. He did not return a subsequent call.
Another council member, Michael Galea, was abroad, while other members could not be contacted.
ksansone@timesofmalta.com