Updated - See Simon Busuttil's reaction below: Gozo whistleblower Joseph Cauchi, who has since won numerous contracts for works in government schools, pleaded for the return of the supervisor from the Foundation for Tomorrow’s Schools who had just been relieved of his duties over suspicions of corruption in tenders.
“Please send us back Edward Caruana,” Mr Cauchi wrote in a heartfelt e-mail to Education Minister Evarist Bartolo last May, in which he also thanked the minister and his team for all the money he has made.
“He is the person you need here who gets things going,” added Mr Cauchi, a contractor.
Early in this administration, Mr Cauchi was awarded the status of whistleblower for providing evidence of alleged wrongdoing by the husband of former Gozo minister Giovanni Debono. The case is still in court.
The person he refers to in the e-mail is Mr Bartolo’s former canvasser, who was given a €50,000-a-year job at the government foundation as the minister’s person of trust. He supervised school works in Gozo before he was relieved of his duties in April and a few months later placed under police investigation.
This newspaper is informed that, following the Attorney General’s approval of the request for Mr Cauchi to turn State witness against Mr Debono, his company Gozo Renovations won numerous government contracts. These included about half a million euros worth of jobs through the FTS.
The contractor also featured in a list of payments allegedly hand delivered by Mr Caruana to contractors, which went against FTS procedure.
According to the list, published by this newspaper a few weeks ago, Mr Caruana passed on cheques to Mr Cauchi for a total value of €247,578.
Mr Cauchi’s e-mail, seen by The Sunday Times of Malta, was sent to Mr Bartolo’s private hotmail account .
“I would like to thank you and your team at the FTS as during the past years I have worked and earned a lot of money thanks to you,” Mr Cauchi wrote.
During the past years I have worked and earned a lot of money thanks to you
“However, I would like to tell you that in my opinion, what happened in the last weeks is very bad for the future of the schools and of our [Labour] party.
“Please send us back Edward Caruana because the management we now have is putting spokes in the wheels,” he wrote, adding that this would result in many stories being used by the PN against the minister.
“If you don’t want problems send Edward back to Gozo as he is the person you need here to get things going.
“Thank you for the work you give us,” Mr Cauchi concluded.
Research conducted by this newspaper shows that, after Mr Cauchi was offered State protection to provide evidence against Ms Debono’s husband, he won numerous jobs from the FTS.
Between 2014 and May 2016, he was awarded 11 tenders for works in a number of government schools in Gozo, valued at €450,000 in all.
He also won a number of direct orders from the Gozo Ministry, this newspaper is informed.
The Sunday Times of Malta asked for a list of public contracts awarded to Mr Cauchi since 2014 but the request was turned down by the Gozo Ministry.
His e-mail was sent in May soon after a decision was taken by former FTS CEO Philip Rizzo to relieve Mr Caruana of his duties supervising works in Gozo schools, following corruption allegations made about Mr Caruana.
Mr Rizzo had informed the minister of the allegations in April.
He later resigned from the foundation over what he claimed were Mr Bartolo’s efforts to dissuade him from reporting the wrongdoing.
Mr Bartolo initially denied this claim but later admitted that he had wanted to wait for a smoking gun.
Mr Caruana was eventually reported to the police, who are investigating him over allegations of fraud and corruption in FTS tenders.
After the police were called in,the minister disowned his canvasser and ordered his removal from the FTS. Mr Caruana then suspended himself from work on full pay until the police conclude their investigation.
He has not yet been charged in court, pending the outcome.
Busuttil: Whistleblower was 'bought'
Opposition leader Simon Busuttil, speaking this morning, said the Sunday Times report (above) was yet another scandal which showed how the government bribed a contractor to turn whistleblower in an attempt to destroy Giovanna Debono and her husband and harm the Nationalist Party.
It was shocking, he said, that one of the contractors who had received cheques from Edward Caruana, was Joseph Cauchi, who had made the supposed claims on the supposed wrongdoing by Giovanna Debono's husband.
Even more shocking was how after making those supposed claims, Mr Cauchi was rewarded with €500,000 in contracts.
Clearly, Dr Busuttil said, the contractor was 'bought' to destroy a family, to destroy Giovanna Debono’s husband and the former minister, and try to harm the PN
"These are people without scruples. They bought the whistleblower, they protected him from court action and rewarded him with half a million in contracts.
Under this government everyone has a price and for this Judas, it was half a million in contracts," Dr Busuttil said.
Once this contractor after making his supposed allegations was given half a million in contracts, how serious were the supposed allegations against Mrs Debono's husband, and how serious was the government in protecting him, Dr Busuttil asked.