The police are investigating allegations of sexual misconduct at the Malta College of Arts, Science and Technology.
An internal inquiry is also under way on the same claims and regarding others of an administrative nature. The allegations are about lecturers in a programme at the college for students with learning difficulties. It is not clear if the students may also have been involved.
Mcast sources said that a number of lecturers had been interrogated by the police.
The Sunday Times of Malta is informed that the misconduct is claimed to have occurred before the last general election in 2017.
Following complaints filed by the parents of students, an internal report was drawn up by the college and passed on to the then administrators and to the Education Ministry.
However, a formal inquiry was only opened a month ago and an official report submitted to the police at the same time, after new claims were made by a senior member of the college’s administration following changes at the top echelons of Mcast.
Last June, college president Silvio De Bono was replaced by Frank Schembri, while principal Stephen Cachia was replaced by James Calleja, a former permanent secretary at the Education Ministry. The Times of Malta last week reported that a senior member of the college was asked to go on forced leave at the start of the Mcast inquiry.
A number of accusations have been made against this official related to discrimination in granting promotions, politically motivated decisions and other omissions of an administrative nature. The claims were made by a colleague who works in the same department.
However, a preliminary internal investigation into these claims by the new administrators of the college uncovered the possibility of more serious omissions having been committed by other members of the college administration. These included a lack of follow-up and action on the initial reports of sexual misconduct.
When contacted, former Mcast chairman Silvio De Bono admitted that the allegations had been made but insisted that action had been taken.
“At the time, an inquiry was held and its recommendations were handed to the CEO [Stephen Cachia], who implemented what was recommended,” Mr De Bono said, without giving details about the findings.
Asked if he had informed Education Minister Evarist Bartolo about the findings, Dr De Bono said that the report had also been passed on to the ministry.
In a brief statement last month, the Education Ministry announced that it had appointed a board of inquiry to look into the allegations it had received concerning “administrative and operational aspects” of Mcast.
The ministry also said that it had referred to the police certain allegations “of a criminal nature” made “by a senior member of staff”.
Asked whether the allegations included claims of a sexual nature, a spokeswoman for Minister Evarist Bartolo said that the ministry had nothing to add to its statement.
Paul Bonello, who is a financial consultant, has been appointed by Mr Bartolo to head the inquiry.
A few years ago, Mr Bonello conducted another inquiry under Minister Bartolo’s watch.
In that case, Mr Bonello established that there was prima facie evidence that the minister’s former chief canvasser, Edward Caruana, was abusing public funds at the Foundation for Tomorrow’s Schools.
Eventually, the canvasser was arraigned in court and accused of corruption.
Philip Rizzo, then chairman of the FTS, resigned, accusing Mr Bartolo of “spending months trying to dissuade him from reporting his canvasser to the police”.
The minister denied the claim but said he had wanted to wait for “a smoking gun” before passing the information on to the police.