Nationalist MP among eight facing charges over Seabank worker’s death

Opposition MP Francis Zammit Dimech is among eight people facing charges of involuntary homicide of a Latvian man who died during the construction of a hotel in Mellieha in 2012.

The former tourism minister is among those charged with the involuntary death of the construction worker, in his capacity as a former director of Seabank Hotel and Catering Limited.

In comments to MaltaToday, Zammit Dimech said that he only got to know about the charges through the media and had not yet received a notice to appear in court.

While saying that he would be “the last person on earth” to compromise the investigations and legal procedures, Zammit Dimech said he has been charged in his capacity as a non-executive director.

“I sat on the board of directors of a company which engaged a contractor on a design and build contract and unfortunately a man lost his life in tragic circumstances during the construction. Now the court must decide the level of responsibility of the people involved.”

Zammit Dimech has been charged alongside Seabank Hotel owner Silvio Debono, CEO Arthur Gauci, B&B Construction owner Angelo Bartolo, B&B Holdings and Investments general manager Etienne Bartolo, structural engineer Pierre Farrugia, architect Robert Sant and Rueben Gatt.

Curiously, in the police’s charge sheet the opposition MP was listed as Francis Zammit, duping The Sunday Times into not revealing that it was actually Zammit Dimech, when last week it reported the names of those charged by the police.

The MP is no longer a director and legal representative of Seabank Hotel and Catering Ltd after resigning his post upon being appointed foreign affairs minister in January 2013. He had been appointed director two years earlier.

Pointing out that he was not directly linked to the Latvian man’s death, Zammit Dimech said “nobody on the board of directors was directly responsible for what was happening on the construction site.”

Moreover, the St Julian’s MP said that the charges do not impinge on his parliamentary role and he has no intention of giving up his seat. Zammit Dimech said that it is now up to court to “objectively” decide on the “nexus,” or link, and the level of responsibility between those charged and the tragic events which caused the man’s death.

27-year old Maksims Artamonovs was the only victim of the tragic incident in which he was crushed beneath a mound of rubble. The Latvian man’s body was recovered 24 hours after the collapse following an 18-hour search guided by sniffer dogs. He was dismantling scaffolding in a newly built car park beneath a wooden dome-like structure, which was to become a nightclub.

Artamonovs – who was employed by B&B Construction – was his family’s sole breadwinner, supporting his mother, sister and her young daughter, who all lived in Latvia where he was ultimately buried.

The magisterial inquiry into the incident had taken more than a year to be concluded and so far has not yet been published. The case has been assigned to Magistrate Doreen Clarke and the eight man charged with involuntary murder are expected to appear in court in October.