Debono told Gozo contractor to issue false invoices for payments

A Gozo court heard a contractor explain how Anthony Debono, the husband of former Gozo minister Giovanna Debono, had directed him to issue false invoices to avoid suspicion over private works for Gozitan voters paid out of the ministry budget.

This was revealed during the compilation of evidence against Anthony Debono, 59, who was last week 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.

The charges forced the resignation of his wife from the Nationalist Party. She has held on to her seat in parliament, where she is now an independent MP.

At the end of the five-hour hearing, court ordered the temporary freeze of Debono's assets upon the prosecution’s request. Court said his assets would be frozen until a final decision is taken at a later stage.

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 – among 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 for Gozo.

According to the allegations Debono was running a works-for-votes operation, funded by government cash, for years on end.

Police Inspector Ian Abdilla told Magistrate Neville Camilleri how, during a meeting held on 9 March with the Gozo ministry’s permanent secretary and other ministry officials, investigating police officers were told that Joseph Cauchi, nicknamed ‘is-Sansun’ had claimed to have carried out works at Anthony Debono’s behest.

Debono was a civil servant in the Gozo ministry, who headed the projects division.

No calls for tender had been published for these works, which the contractor claimed were carried out in private residences – giving rise to the works-for-votes ruse allegedly devised by Anthony Debono.

The inspector explained that Cauchi had received authorisation for the works by means of an invoice issued by Debono – as opposed to the normal procedure of having invoices issued by Joseph Portelli, head of the Works Department.

The contractor had told the police that he had started carrying out works for the Gozo ministry up to 25 years ago.

Cauchi would offer contracts allowing the ministry to use his construction machinery and vehicles for a stipulated amount of time, as required. In addition, during the six-year period between 2006 and 2012, Cauchi continued to provide this service, in spite of the fact that no such contracts were issued, instead receiving payment through alternative arrangements.

The police were informed by the whistleblower that Anthony Debono had commissioned the building of rooms in a quarry belonging to Sammy Camilleri, costing approximately €9,000, laying of concrete for a five-aside ground in Gharb for the local council, as well as constructing a concrete platform at a cost of €13,000.

Other jobs authorised by Debono included works in a restaurant, including the wine cellar of a restaurant, works on the road leading to the Fontana fireworks factory and building several walls in Gharb.

Cauchi had told police that, due to the fact that the works were not covered  by tender, he would not invoice directly but would be instructed on how to invoice by Debono. He said that, by way of example, were he to lay concrete in the construction of a road and the job would be worth €500, Debono would ask him to issue the invoice citing excavation works in surrounding roads, aggregating to almost the same total.

After the 2013 general election, Cauchi had raised the issue of non-payment with Joseph Portelli, head of the Works Department, but Portelli refused to settle the outstanding bills.

Cauchi claimed that, on two occasions, Debono had handed him €10,000 in cash, however a balance of €30,000 remained outstanding.

Several other documents were presented in court, including false invoices – the majority of which were undated but included the number of hours for which the contractor’s vehicles were supposedly used. Some of the vehicles specified were not even in use at the time.

Inspector Abdilla told the court that the police had seized several receipts for the fictitious works from the Gozo Ministry in the course of their investigations, including some signed by Debono. The police described them as “the mirror image of the 23 remittance advices” which the contractor had presented.

The police, together with Cauchi, had visited the places where the works had been carried out, after which the contractor made a statement explaining the background to the works which he had carried out at each.