'Simon Busuttil asked why I carried out works when PN was going to lose election anyway’ - Gozoworks Whistleblower

Whistleblower reveals 70 false invoices, says Debono paid him €20,000 in cash

Whistleblower Joseph Cauchi 'Is-Sansun' testified in court for te first time in the compilation of evidence against Anthony Debono, the former Gozo Minister's husband. Photo: Ray Attard
Whistleblower Joseph Cauchi 'Is-Sansun' testified in court for te first time in the compilation of evidence against Anthony Debono, the former Gozo Minister's husband. Photo: Ray Attard

Opposition leader Simon Busuttil would have been already aware that election defeat was a foregone conclusion in early 2013: in court yesterday, whistleblower Joseph Cauchi told the court that when he met Busuttil to report to him that Anthony Debono had not paid him for works he carried out at his request, the newly-elected PN leader reportedly asked him why he did not stop the works when it appeared that the Nationalists were not about to be re-elected.

Gozitan contractor Joseph Cauchi, known as is-Sansun, was describing a meeting about unpaid invoices he had held with Busuttil about the now notorious works-for-votes arrangement in Gozo.

Cauchi was testifying as the prosecution’s star witness in the compilation of evidence against Anthony Debono – husband of former Gozo minister Giovanna Debono – for misappropriation of public funds, among some 13 charges.

Cauchi said he was owed some €70,000 for works he carried out for the Gozo ministry’s Construction and Maintenance Unit (CMU), then headed by Anthony Debono. But when he tried to recover the money owed to him, the ministry’s director of works, Joseph Portelli, said he could not pay him for the works.

He later emailed Simon Busuttil, who met him together with PN whip David Agius, promising him to “investigate and get back” to him.

This was in spite of Agius having said he would sack mayors found to have engaged in corruption, Cauchi pointed out to the court. “When I met him, Simon Busuttil asked me why I had kept on doing the works, and he said ‘don’t you know we aren’t going to be elected’?”

Cauchi, who is protected from prosecution under the Whistleblower Act, told Magistrate Neville Camilleri that he had been paid €44,000 and was still owed €34,595 for the works which he carried out on various construction projects in Gozo – allegedly at Debono’s behest.

He said that on 8 February, 2014, Debono went to his house and gave him €10,000 in cash. “Don’t reveal I gave you this money, as I owe money to other people,” Debono allegedly told him. Then on 29 December, Debono paid him another €10,000 in cash. He told him that he was paying him from his own money.

Most of yesterday’s sitting was taken up by the prosecution going through each and every alleged job performed for Debono, asking Cauchi for dates, details of the works carried out, who commissioned the works, who took Cauchi to the site and who had supplied the concrete.

Reading from his worksheet for the period 2004 to 2013, Cauchi gave examples of various construction and landscaping works. Debono would come to his house once a year, in February. “If you look at my payments documents you will find all the dates on which I was paid. I could not send invoices because I didn’t have a contract,” explained the contractor.

He said Debono would visit him annually, bringing with him the necessary documentation to allow Cauchi to fill in the invoices. He identified his handwriting on an invoice which he was shown by the prosecution. “16 hours at Lm6 at ta’ Kunjat limits of Zebbug road. These are hours which we invented to deduct from the balance,” Cauchi said. “This morning I found one [job] which we had done for the heliport, where we had worked 22 hours and invoiced for 25.”

Equivocal answers such as these featured heavily in the testimony and cross-examination of Cauchi. 

The prosecution showed the witness every single invoice and questioned him about it. Whilst very time-consuming and tedious for all involved, this approach made some headway as several instances of over-charging or inexistent works were identified by the witness, as a result.

Cauchi said he would make formal invoices and hand them to Anthony Debono. Debono would then pass it on for payment and Cauchi would receive a cheque in the mail, after which Cauchi would issue a fiscal receipt.

Cauchi said that he once met Debono and Gharb mayor David Apap Agius to enlarge the local football ground. Cauchi said he had been asked to perform several works commissioned by David Apap Agius and for which Debono supplied the concrete. But he later received a letter from Apap Agius’s lawyer saying that while he had carried out the works, his client denied asking him to perform them. He said that to this day he still had not been paid for that job.

He said he couldn’t invoice Debono as there was no tender involved. Inspector Abdilla asked why he didn’t then use the invoicing method used for the other works. “Toni and David fought over politics,” Cauchi said, adding that Debono made it clear to him that he could no longer obtain payment from Apap Agius.

Cauchi said he carried out works for Sammy Camilleri, known as tal-Geziz, a friend of Anthony Debono. “I helped him in many things, like fixing his fields, or arranging for a generator room in his quarry.”

He said Camilleri would often call up Cauchi directly, in the knowledge that Debono would not refuse. Cauchi said he carried out excavation works in the quarry from 2005 till 2011. Asked why he expected to be paid by Debono, when jobs were commissioned by Camilleri, he answered that Sammy Camilleri would “expect everything to be done by Debono”.

“We had dug a trench for the drainage pipes. I know they were government pipes as they use a different type of pipe. Debono brought them. I found them to be there already. He was not content with having them done, he wanted to take over.”

Debono’s lawer, Joe Giglio cross-examined the witness.

“Did you tell David Apap Agius about the pending works? Did this conversation about works for votes take place during the meeting with Busuttil?” he asked.

“I don’t think I did,” Cauchi eventually replied, adding that he limited himself to saying that the works were made for the private sector.

Giglio pressed him: “So did you tell the Opposition leader that the works were being performed for the private sector? Yes or no?”

“I think so,” replied Cauchi.

Defence raises conflict of interest

Giglio then told the Court that he was challenging the right of the Attorney General to decide on whether the case can go ahead, arguing that the AG had a conflict of interest.

Giglio said the defence would not be contesting the prima facie evidence, but that since the Attorney General had granted whistleblower protection to Cauchi, he should not be the one to decide whether the case should proceed.

He reserved the right to take all necessary steps on this conflict. The court invited the Attorney General to reply to the claims within 48 hours.