GRTU president accuses Sandro Chetcuti of 'unethical business dealings'

A scathing attack by the Chamber of SMEs (GRTU) president Paul Abela has accused the new Malta Developers’ Association (MDA) and its vice-president Sandro Chetcuti of having “benefitted from the greatest money laundering exercise of hundreds of millions of tax-evaded monies.”

The diatribe, penned in the GRTU’s newsletter, accuses Chetcuti – who faces charges of attempted murder after assaulting GRTU director Vince Farrugia – of having “basked under the tax amnesty awarded by minister Tonio Fenech.”

Chetcuti was last week appointed vice-president of the MDA, whose president is the former Nationalist minister Michael Falzon. Its 60 members include construction magnate Charles Polidano ‘ic-Caqnu’.

Chetcuti is effectively described  by Abela as a multi-millionaire who benefited from the government’s tax amnesties, and who was kicked out due to his unethical business record.

Chetcuti, 38, was accused of the attempted murder of Vince Farrugia when he assaulted him in the GRTU offices on 11 March, 2010. According to Abela, Farrugia was instructed by the GRTU council to tell Chetcuti that “his record of unethical business dealings” made his position as a GRTU vice-president untenable.

Abela, describing himself as a “lifelong member of the PN”, also writes that he will be requesting the party to “dismiss Michael Falzon from the party” for  “cheekily covering up for [Chetcuti] and accepting him as deputy.”

Asked for his reaction, Chetcuti told MaltaToday he is seeking legal counsel over the “false allegations in [his] regard.”

“These words are not coming from the heart of my friend Paul Abela,” Chetcuti said. “I’m confident the truth will be revealed. I will continue to respect everyone’s opinion. As to the comments about my pending court case, I choose to voice my opinion after the case is decided.”

Michael Falzon described the article as an unwarranted “vitriolic personal attack… senseless and ludicrous.”

“I don’t know how my membership in the Nationalist Party comes into it. As far as I know irking Paul Abela is not tantamount to betraying the party’s principles. What is more weird is that this comes from a man who recently twice attacked the Prime Minister publicly because the PM had not consented to a proposal made by his consortium to speculate on public land by building residences in the White Rocks site!”

Contacted by MaltaToday, Vince Farrugia said that Chetcuti had joined GRTU with the aim of lobbying finance minister for a tax amnesty. “The MDA does not represent people like GRTU members who buy land and develop it. The MDA represents speculators who hoard property until it is time to sell it off.”

Chetcuti had lobbied with government for an amnesty on some €233 million in undeclared income, that had been booked as ‘shareholder loans’. Government had been requested to extend its tax amnesty for company shareholders who had re-invested undeclared income back into their own firms, but the request was not accepted in the end.