Update 2 | Bail for former Gozo minister’s husband, accused of misapprorpriation of public funds

Anthony Debono, husband of former Gozo minister Giovanna Debono, to be arraigned in Gozo court this afternoon.

Anthony Debono going up the stairs to the Gozo courts in Victoria.
Anthony Debono going up the stairs to the Gozo courts in Victoria.
Anthony Debono charged in Gozo court over works-for-votes

Anthony Debono, 59, the husband of former Nationalist minister Giovanna Debono, was arraigned in a Gozo court on charges of having used the ministerial budget to commission private works for constituents.

Debono was accused of having misappropriated over €5,000 in public funds by virtue of his employment; of having profited, to the tune of over €5,000, from public monies and private contractors; used his official capacity as a civil servant, to his own private advantage, in dereliction of his public duty; rendered himself an accomplice in the falsification of public documents for the issuing of payments and goods; and abused of his public role and of public acts entrusted to him.

He was also accused of preventing a person from giving the necessary evidence to an authority, on the 27 April and the preceding days.

Debono pleaded not guilty to the charges.

Prosecuting inspectors asked the court of Magistrate Joanne Vella Cuschieri to apply the provisions of the Money Laundering Act, to freeze his assets.

Defence counsel Joe Giglio opposed the asset freeze, and asked that he be released from arrest. The magistrate said the asset freeze will be decided in another sitting.

Giglio said that during the time that he was being questioned by police, Debono made no attempt at speaking to witnesses. But prosecuting officers said that Debono had spoken to potential witnesses after he was notified by Maltese police to appear at the police HQ in Floriana.

Debono was granted bail, on condition that he signs in at the police station in Rabat, does not approach witnesses, does not breach the law, and that he does not take overseas trips without the court's permission. He was granted bail on a personal deposit of €1,000 and guarantee of €5,000.

Debono was escorted up the staircase of the Gozitan courts, in Victoria's Citadella, accompanied by police officers just before 2pm. He appeared unfazed as he made his way up to the courts. His wife, Giovanna Debono, appeared in court 20 minutes later, at 2:15pm, before the start of proceedings.

Debono, a civil servant employed in the projects division of the Gozo ministry during his wife’s long-held stewardship of the ministry since 1998, is alleged to have used public resources for private contractors, to carry out works for constituents at little or no expense.

Opposition leader Simon Busuttil is expected to address a press conference this afternoon in relation to the case.

The allegations were first published in MaltaToday when a whistleblower said he had been left out of pocket when the Nationalist Party was not re-elected, and that works he carried out were left unpaid.

The contractor, the first to avail himself of protection under the newly-enacted Whistleblowers Act, said he had asked Debono for the money, then spoke to officials of the PN – amongst them secretary-general Chris Said and party leader Simon Busuttil – demanding payment.

Three Gozitan contractors have since come forward to substantiate claims that they were asked to carry out construction work for private residences or businesses by the Ministry of Gozo.

The allegations suggest that Debono was running a works-for-votes operation, funded by government cash, for years on end.

His wife, the former Gozo minister, has denied being aware of the operation.

But political insiders will raise eyebrows at such denials – the small size of Gozo, the intimacy of voters and their MPs, has always been a driving factor of strong patronage links. Even Gozo minister Anton Refalo admitted to have been aware of the rumours.