Former San Andrea School assistant head Trevor Templeman is standing by his claims of financial irregularities to the tune of over €4 million, despite two former colleagues taking legal action against him.

The school has launched an independent inquiry into a series of claims by the former assistant head, including allegations that former chairperson Kevin Spiteri defrauded the school of some €200,000 through “miscellaneous” transactions.

I have already discussed the matter with my lawyer and we will be replying to the legal action in the coming days- Trevor Templeman

In a widely circulated account he sent to parents, Templeman also claims that he was informed Spiteri benefitted from projects totalling some €4 million.

Templeman said he went public with the allegations after he was “sidelined and intimidated” by the school’s management team when he flagged the financial issues highlighted to him by the school’s principal, Stefania Bartolo.

Bartolo has filed a judicial protest calling upon Templeman to withdraw the “defamatory and untrue allegations” in her regard. On Thursday,  Leanne Spiteri, a finance clerk at San Andrea since July 2021, filed another judicial protest saying Templeman's email to parents was aimed at spreading totally false allegations and insinuations about her.

They both called on him to withdraw his claims.

'Witness can corroborate allegations'

Templeman said he continues to stand by the information he made public, saying that he even has a witness, assistant head Ruth Azzopardi, who can corroborate he was told of the allegations.

Azzopardi has confirmed to Times of Malta that she was in the same meeting with Templeman when the principal told them of the alleged financial mismanagement.

“I will not drop my claims. I have already discussed the matter with my lawyer and we will be replying to the legal action in the coming days. Unlike what Bartolo said, I have no vendetta against her. There were no arguments and I still respect her,” he said.

'Duty-bound to report information'

He insisted he took the financial mismanagement claims to chairperson Alex Tortell because the school has always been “like a second home” and he was duty-bound to report the information passed on to him by Bartolo to his superior.

“I reported the issue on June 1. I asked Tortell over and over for a meeting with the board and he only agreed after my seventh request, when I said I would go to the board of trustees.

“I still don’t understand why Bartolo shared the information with me and Azzopardi. I was never involved in the financial aspect and my role was unrelated to all that. I never asked for the information but, once I had it, I had to speak up and report,” he said.

Tortell “stepped aside” this week and Bartolo has suspended herself pending the result of the inquiry. 

Asked whether the school had ever attempted to stop him from going public with the claims, Templeman said this was not the case but he did experience “intimidation and bullying” from the management ahead of his resignation. He said Azzopardi was also a witness to all this.

Templeman has also alleged that the principal had told the pair about another staff member being paid €25,000 to keep quiet.