News • 09 FEBRUARY 2003

Cilia ends career following MaltaToday alleged sexual harrassment revelations

By Matthew Vella

MLP Secretary-General Jimmy Magro told MaltaToday said there had been no discussions between the MLP executive committee and Notary Joe Cilia, or any form of pressure from the MLP that influenced Dr Cilia’s decision not to contest the elections.

Mr Magro was speaking to MaltaToday after Dr Cilia, the former Parliamentary Secretary for Youth, Sport and Culture, decided he would not be contesting the next general election.

He ends his career as a Labour parliamentarian following a chequered history of sundry misdemeanours that reached their apex the 1 December 2002, when MaltaToday revealed details of a police statement implicating Cilia in an alleged sexual harassment case.

Dr Joe Cilia refused to speak to MaltaToday and slammed the phone on us when we tried to speak to him.

The announcement of Dr Cilia’s decision not to contest the next general elections came precisely two months following MaltaToday’s revelations of Cilia’s alleged implication in a case of sexual harassment.

Harking back to February 1999, Notary Cilia had allegedly been driving a Mazda car licensed DAS-654 when a woman reported she had been sexually harassed by a man driving the same car next to St Dorothy’s school in Zebbug.

The Mazda car had been lent to Dr Cilia by a friend. Cilia was questioned by Qormi Police Inspector Tony Cassar, and denied all accusations of having sexually harassed a woman. The car’s owner called Dr Cilia to come over to the police station.

Although Cilia was questioned by Tony Cassar, the case seemed to have been mysteriously stalled when three years later, on August 11, 2002, investigations were restarted following a statement given to Qormi Superintendent Paul Sammut by the car’s owner.

During the time when revelations were being made public, there was no reaction from the Malta Labour Party.

Shady politics

Notary Joe Cilia first contested the elections on the Malta Labour Party ticket in 1987. He was elected in 1992, and has since been returned to Parliament in 1996 and 1998. During the 1996-98 Labour administration, Dr Joe Cilia served as Parliamentary Secretary for Sports, Youth and Culture. In 1998, Dr Cilia was Opposition speaker for Youth.

Cilia’s chequered history as PS for Youth, Sport and Culture had been very much in the public eye when allegations of favouritism and shady dealings started surfacing in the media. He drew public scrutiny throughout the 1996 administration when he allegedly employed people exclusively from his electoral district at the National Swimming Pool and also entrusted acolytes and business partners with the running of the bar.

MaltaToday also revealed detailed accounts of how Cilia and his partner would form companies to receive government tenders and then split the profits between them.

Cilia was also the politician behind the transfer of government land to sports associations, however employing his legal partner as public notary, contravening government directions to engage the government notary for such contracts.

matthew@maltamag.com