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| TOP NEWS | Sunday, 12 August 2007 MMA official bluffed with junior to corrupt him The Malta Maritime Authority (MMA) senior official facing corruption charges in the cash for mariners’ licences bribery scandal, John Farrugia, has admitted with police that he had bluffed with his junior by reassuring him that he knew a ministry official who would cover up their frauds in his bid to convince him to close an eye to the forged certificates.
Last week, MaltaToday quoted MMA clerk Ivan Muscat, 30, who under police interrogation had referred to his manager’s claim that he “knew someone in the ministry who could cover up for us”. New information leaked to this newspaper shows that Farrugia in fact confessed to police interrogators that he had actually said so, although he had no such contacts with the ministry. The confession led investigators to discard the hypothesis that a ministry official was also involved in the scandal early in the investigations. The police had interrogated Farrugia in mid-June – before Muscat – when the former had admitted he had invented his ministry contact when faced by Muscat’s scepticism to persuade his junior to become an accomplice with him. In his interrogation at the police depot the day after his arrest on 13 June, Muscat admitted to investigators that Farrugia had told him there were fake navigators’ course certificates presented for the issuing of licences, but added that he should not to worry as “someone in the ministry” would cover them. Police sources said in fact Farrugia’s reference to a ministry contact was discarded immediately upon his own admission that it was all made up to convince Muscat. In his statement, Muscat, 30, recounted how between two and three years ago he had realised there were suspicious certificates that were supposedly issued by MCAST. When he had approached his manager about it, Farrugia had at first told Muscat there was nothing wrong. “I remained sceptical,” Muscat told the police, until Farrugia, 60, approached him later admitting they were not genuine certificates, asking him “to close an eye” and promising that “the story would stop there”. “But it didn’t stop there,” Muscat added. “I started receiving much more of them (forged certificates) and I started feeling afraid because I was visible, there was my signature.” It was at this point that Muscat alleged his superior invoked an unnamed ministry official – presumably from the Competitiveness Ministry that is in charge of MMA – who, Farrugia later admitted under police interrogation, did not exist. “I spoke to him again and he told me not to be afraid because he knew someone in the ministry who could cover up for us,” Muscat said. The police have already arraigned Farrugia and Muscat accusing them of forming a society with a criminal intent through the falsification of MCAST documents, punishable by four years’ imprisonment or more. They were also charged with accepting bribes for personal profits and with having offered advantages to those who bribed them. The two authority officials will stand accused in front of Magistrate Audrey Demicoli on 21 August. According to prosecuting Inspector Ian Joseph Abdilla, around 440 individuals interrogated admitted to having paid bribes to get the mariners’ licence. Police sources say kickbacks ranged from Lm75 to around Lm250, increasing along the years since the MCAST mariners’ licence exam was introduced in 2001.
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NEWS | Sunday, 12 August 2007 PN support in Gozo in free-fall Bortex fires Maltese, hires Chinese Forget the bedpans, let’s talk travel plans… ‘Our pharmacy licences are now safe and more valuable than ever’ AFM calls off search for missing migrants Musicians give hope to immigrants Mangion stands by Pender Place sale Mangion stands by Pender Place sale European gays appoint Maltese activist as policy officer Ostreopsis not an alien species Rockers, relax – cult programme will be back MMA official bluffed with junior to corrupt him Mistake paves way for Marsa hazardous waste incinerator PBS schedule ‘turned into auction’ UTV fracas: Former director to sue priest for libel To Gozo, and beyond Rector wants a ‘Gozitan Lourdes’ in Ta’ Pinu The road to Smart City – over 600m of tarmac through arable land |