An official responsible for approving payments for a €250,000 tender had insisted on personally verifying that machinery related to the project was in place before green-lighting payments, she told a court on Monday.
Isabella Testaferrata de Noto was testifying in the compilation of evidence against former Labour Party general secretary Jimmy Magro who is pleading not guilty to corruption charges allegedly stemming from the 2014 project.
Testaferrata de Noto served as executive secretary of the Local Councils Association at the time while Magro served as a special consultant to the association, heading a unit that was responsible for EU-funded projects.
One of those was a pilot project involving the purchase of an electromechanical compost machine to process domestic organic waste.
Payment vouchers in terms of the tender had to be approved by the association, said Testaferrata de Noto, recalling how she had insisted on seeing the machinery on site and would not hand out payments unless she verified that the machine was in place.
She had gone to a Luqa field where the composter had been set up under a shed, in line with planning requirements.
Asked whether the machinery was functioning or dormant, the witness replied, “I asked to see it work.”
To avoid missing out on thousands of EU funds and also not to hold up the project, the association had added a clause when filling in the relative paperwork, stating that the machinery was in place but not yet functioning.
After the onsite inspection, the association could properly assess the situation, said the witness, recalling the machinery in a section of the Luqa field.
The witness also recalled how subsequently, officers from the Internal Audit and Investigations Department and then the police, led by superintendent Yvonne Farrugia, had turned up at the association’s offices, asking for correspondence and files linked to the project.
Identifying Magro in court, the witness said that EU projects were handled by him and his team.
The case revolves around allegations flagged by failed bidder Victor Bonello after the composting tender had been awarded in August 2015.
Bonello testified at a previous sitting that Magro had allegedly leaked details about the tender before it was published and had proposed a meeting “to discuss the commercial take into this,” telling the interested bidder that he had pending tax bills and holiday expenses to settle.
The tender was awarded to a rival bidder, with Bonello telling the court "I got 0%" despite his composter outperforming that offered by the firm that was given the project.
Asked whether Bonello had spoken to her in any way, Testaferrata de Noto said that he had once sought direction for filing an appeal.
“I directed him to the procedure detailed under the tender document,” the witness said.
“Do you recall that Bonello had a right to appeal to the Public Contracts Review Board and did not?” asked Magro’s lawyer, Michael Sciriha.
But the witness said that she would not know, explaining that as far as she recalled, there had been no communication to that effect.
Presiding magistrate Ian Farrugia made a practical suggestion at the end of the court session, noting that that involved large volumes of documentary evidence such as this one, the prosecution should scan documents and present them in court in digital format.
That would make them much easier to access, the magistrate noted.
The case continues next month.
Inspector Wayne Borg prosecuted.
Lawyer Matthew Xuereb was also defence counsel.