Gozo Minister Anton Refalo was aware that the CEO of the Gozo Sports Board, Elvin Grech, had a criminal case against him when he was appointed to head the new entity.

Times of Malta has learnt that Mr Grech sought legal advice from Dr Refalo before going in for police questioning.

Mr Grech was in March 2013 found guilty of deliberately making use of a false document six years earlier, when he was general secretary of the Gozo Football Association, to justify the illegal placing of floodlights at the Xewkija stadium. He appealed but a court last April confirmed his suspended sentence.

The sports board was set up on the Labour government’s initiative to carry out its sports policy for Gozo. Mr Grech was recently appointed to act as its CEO.

Dr Refalo has distanced himself from Mr Grech and has refused to answer questions on whether he was aware of his case before the appointment was made.

However, according to the court judgment last year, Mr Grech and another employee of the GFA went to Dr Refalo together to seek legal advice.

The ministry denies any connection with the appointment of the board

Philip Pisani, the other employee interrogated by police on suspicion of falsifying a signature, initially testified that Dr Refalo had told them what to tell the police and to give them a different version of what had actually happened. However, Mr Pisani later retracted his declaration saying Dr Refalo had not told them anything.

Asked again yesterday to state whether he was aware of the criminal case against Mr Grech when he was appointed CEO of the sports board, a spokesman for the Gozo Minister reiterated that the Gozo Sports Board was an autonomous sports organisation and had nothing to do with the ministry.

Sources had told Times of Malta that Mr Grech was recommended as CEO by the Gozo Ministry. He receives a salary of €40,000.

However, when asked specifically whether he had selected Mr Grech, Dr Refalo declined to reply.

The ministry denies any connection with the appointment of the board, which receives funds from the government and operates from the Gozo Sport Complex, a government building.

Contacted yesterday, a member of the board confirmed that he had been appointed by the Gozo Ministry.

Apart from Mr Grech, the five-man board also includes George Cini, a member of Dr Refalo’s private secretariat.

Times of Malta is also informed that pressure is mounting on Mr Grech to relinquish his public positions in view of the guilty verdict. However, he is resisting these calls and insisting instead on a vote of confidence from the GFA.

A member of the executive committee of the GFA confirmed that Mr Grech had never informed the executive committee or the council of his conviction.

Judgment

Excerpt from court proceedings in which Elvin Grech was convicted of using a letter bearing the false signature of engineer Ronald Vella to justify the illegal placement of two floodlights outside Xewkija ground:

“The witness [Philip Pisani] contends that, when he and [Elvin] Grech went to see Dr [Anton] Refalo, the lawyer told him to give the police another version and say that he had met Mr Vella and asked him to go and see the letter that he had left for him on his desk. Then he left.

“During cross-examination, he [Pisani] dismissed what he had said earlier about what Dr Refalo told him.

“In fact, he [Pisani] displayed much uncertainty when he came to describe what exactly was said during the meeting with the lawyers, and after changing version on numerous occasions, he finally said that he had said nothing to the lawyers and that he had left everything in Grech’s hands.”