Employees at the Freeport charged with a serious offence are placed on vacation leave which then converts to special leave without pay while they are under preventative arrest, a court heard this afternoon.

This was according to a collective agreement condition revealed in court by Human Resources Manager Mark Vella during the hearing against three employees who stand charged with stealing a container full of cigarettes.

One of the defence lawyers, Veronique Dalli, said that this affected her client, Michael Sciberras, 39, from Valletta, an assistant Freeport security officer. She said he was not under preventative arrest any longer and found himself without a salary despite being innocent until proven otherwise.

The other defence lawyers, Giannella de Marco and Paul Lia also expressed their shock.

The other accused are Rokku (Rocky) Agius, 53, of Żebbuġ, a stevedore, and Billy Grech, 44, of Żejtun, a senior Customs officer. They had been in custody for three weeks until Monday following the discovery that 450 boxes, each containing 10,000 cigarettes, were stolen from the Freeport last month. The value was put at €1 million including VAT and excise duty.

During the sitting, which started two-and-half hours late, the defence lawyers lamented at how such an occurrence upset their timetables when it came to other cases and seeing clients in the afternoon. The case eventually got underway at 3.45pm and carried on to just after 6pm.

Magistrate Aaron Bugeja admitted that they were justified in their criticism.

Testifying, the director of enforcement at customs, Anthony Busuttil said that that the value of the cigarettes was €130,500 and not €47,000 as had been declared by the shipper.

The value was established by a predetermined set of calculations.

He said that counterfeit cigarettes do not leave the Freeport as this was considered a “third country” in the eyes of the law and destroyed following a court order. 

No excise duty or VAT is paid on cigarettes in transhipment.

The case continues.