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The Sannat council is in chaos as its secretary, Arthur Bajada, is threatening to sue his council’s own mayor, Carmel Camilleri, while the latter is making it clear he is about to resign unless the Malta Labour Party gives him unequivocal support in the long-standing local feud.
Bajada filed a judicial protest last Monday against Camilleri for saying he was facing “threats and conspiracies” fuelled by the secretary. The mayor also declared he was facing “direct pressures” from the MLP to approve the secretary’s performance bonus even though he felt Bajada did not deserve it.
Bajada also filed a judicial protest against MaltaToday for reporting the mayor’s declarations two weeks ago. The declarations were made publicly during a council meeting on 14 June and confirmed by other councillors present.
Camilleri had said he was “seriously considering what final decisions to take” as he could no longer work in the council after he lost trust in the council secretary.
The secretary was already at the centre of controversy last January when he was suspected of passing on misleading information about a councillor’s comments regarding a Gozitan company that was involved in illegal dumping in Sannat, after which the councillor in question, Emmanuel Terribile, received threatening phone calls.
Although Bajada had denied he had made phone calls from the council office on the night of 7 January, telephone calls were registered by Maltacom on the council’s number after office hours, including to Bajada’s own house.
The secretary has also refused to refund Lm195 which he had taken from the council’s coffers as “qualification allowance” despite an urgent motion passed by the council urging him to return the money which he did not qualify for.
When contacted two weeks ago, Bajada refused to comment and only said that he did not know about the mayor’s declaration about him, even though this was made in his presence.
Last Friday, he said: “I don’t have anything to tell you. I’ll speak where I have to speak.”
Meanwhile, the president of Sannat Lions FC said his club had not discussed fielding candidates for next year’s local election.
“In the past there were candidates contesting in the name of the club who were also elected, but they did this only for the good of the village and not to confront anyone,” Teddy Bajada said.
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