Second whistleblower comes forward, had complained to Nationalist whip

The Gozitan contractor who revealed that former Gozo minister Giovanna Debono’s husband Anthony had used the ministerial budget to bankroll private jobs for constituents, is to be formally recognised as a whisteblower according to the recently enacted Whistleblowers’ Act.

MaltaToday can confirm that another Gozitan contractor has come forward offering to substantiate similar claims about free private construction works paid for by the

The Gozitan contractors, whose names are being withheld from publication for fear of retaliation, will have to be formally and legally recognised as whistleblowers after a painstaking procedure to guarantee that they are immune from prosecution if they fully substantiate their allegations. 

MaltaToday is revealing pictures of works carried out in Gozo, and extracts of an email sent to Nationalist whip David Agius by the first contractor.

In his email the Gozitan whisteblower lists three important jobs he carried out and was not paid for in the village of Gharb for the mayor, before the 2013 election.

“I have excavated and made the concrete base of a football ground in the school of Gharb,” he told Agius. Agius this week denied that he knew of the works, which were being financed by the ministry.

“To make him more popular with the village people of Gharb I have built him a platform over the entrance of the valley,” he reported to Agius.

David Agius wrote in an email dated 22 November, 2013 that he would investigate and revert.  He never again made contact.

The Gozitan contractor, who is in his fifties, is the first recognised whistleblower since the Whistleblowers’ Act came into being. 

His story, which was revealed in MaltaToday, relates to works he carried out for then Minister Giovanna Debono’s husband.

MaltaToday had reported that the costs for the works were being financed by the Gozo ministry.

The contractor was not paid for his works in spite of being told to invoice for other projects which fell under the remit of the Ministry of Gozo.

In one of his emails to David Agius who is also responsible for local councils, the contractor tells him: “I am a very unhappy person… it seems that it is my fault that 37,000 voted Labour. I did a lot of work for Gozo and for both ministers Tabone and Debono and till now I am not paid for the works I did including the local council of Gharb.”