The police are expected to take steps against Edward Caruana – a person of trust of Education Minister Evarist Bartolo – as internal investigations conducted by the ministry point towards abuses in direct contracts given by the Foundation for Tomorrow Schools (FTS).

Mr Bartolo yesterday confirmed that the conclusions of internal investigations were immediately sent to the police to take the necessary action against Mr Caruana.

Speaking to the Times of Malta, Mr Bartolo admitted that Mr Caruana was originally appointed at the FTS as his person of trust.

However, he immediately distanced himself from Mr Caruana when this newspaper pointed out that he may now have to shoulder political responsibility for the allegations surrounding him.

“Mr Caruana was my person of trust, but he is no longer,” the veteran politician stressed. “I would have had to shoulder political responsibility if it resulted that I tried to hide any abuses allegedly conducted by my person of trust.

“This is not the case. I immediately ordered an internal investigation as soon as the allegations were made and when I was told by my people that there were indications that abuses had taken place, we passed everything to the police.

I would have had to shoulder political responsibility if it resulted that I tried to hide any abuses

“Let me make it clear. I always insist that, if allegations are made, they are backed by evidence. As soon as I was informed that there were indications that there was a case, the police were called in and I gave orders that Mr Caruana no longer be involved with anything to do with my ministry,” Mr Bartolo insisted.

Asked why the ministry did not take the same steps when, a year earlier, similar allegations were made against Mr Caruana by a Gozitan contractor, Mr Bartolo said that in that case as well, he had told those involved to go to the police.

In the summer of 2015, during a meeting at the Education Ministry, a senior FTS official informed Mr Bartolo that a Gozitan contractor building an extension to the sixth form in Victoria had alleged that Mr Caruana asked him for a bribe amounting to €30,000.

In the summer of 2015, a Gozitan contractor building an extension to the sixth form in Victoria alleged that Mr Caruana had asked him for a €30,000 bribe. Photo: Steve Zammit Lupi

However, instead of investigating the allegation, the police filed libel proceedings against the contractor for tarnishing the reputation of the minister’s aide.

From ongoing court procedures on the defamation case, it resulted that Joseph Caruana, the Education Ministry Permanent Secretary and who happens to be Edward Caruana’s brother, did not make a formal corruption claims report to the police, as he felt it was not necessary.

Pressed on why the police did not investigate the first corruption allegations, Mr Bartolo said that they should have investigated the first claims as well.

“We had passed on the information we had and they [the police] should have investigated,” he said.

“However, I think that it is this second case that they [the police] have to investigate the most,” Mr Bartolo insisted.

The second case of alleged corruption involving Mr Caruana and the FTS was reported first last Sunday by Malta Today in connection with the resignation of Philip Rizzo as CEO of the FTS.

However, the Times of Malta is informed that Mr Rizzo’s resignation may not be directly connected with the corruption claims against Mr Caruana.

Efforts to contact Mr Rizzo yesterday proved futile until the time of writing.

First case against Education Minister’s person of trust

Last April, The Sunday Times of Malta published the first claims of corruption against Mr Edward Caruana.

According to court testimony, the bribery claims go back to the summer of 2015, when a building contractor from Xewkija, Giovann Vella of GV Gozo Developments called a high official at the Foundation for Tomorrow’s Schools, claiming that Mr Caruana had asked him for €30,000 to facilitate government payments he was due.

The claims were repeated again on August 31, 2015, when Mr Bartolo called a meeting on the progress of construction at the sixth form in Victoria, Gozo.

During this meeting, it was Mr Caruana himself who brought up the corruption subject by asking whether it was true that the contractor had made bribery claims on the project. At that point, the Foundation’s chief operating officer, Arthur Muscat, informed the minister that the contractor (Mr Vella) had informed the FTS that Mr Caruana had asked for a €30,000 bribe so that he could request the quality assurance officer to certify the works and release the pending payments.

Mr Caruana, who is the brother of Mr Bartolo’s permanent secretary and also a canvasser of Mr Bartolo on the Rabat district, denied the allegation and filed a slander report against the contractor.

On this basis, without investigating the allegations of corruption and bribery, the police instituted slander procedures against Mr Vella.

In his court testimony on the defamation case, which is still ongoing, Mr Bartolo confirmed that bribery allegations had been made by the contractor against Mr Caruana.

Asked whether the ministry had filed a police report upon hearing these claims, he said that during that meeting he had told those present that when such claims were made “all the necessary measures should be taken”. Mr Bartolo also confirmed that all payment to the Gozitan contractor had been frozen, as works were not up to standard and needed to be remedied.

At the same procedures, Permanent Secretary Joseph Caruana told the court that, despite the claim made against his brother, he did not know anything about the progress of the works, as the issue did not fall within his remit. He again confirmed that payment to the contractor had been frozen due to shoddy work.

ivan.camilleri@timesofmalta.com