The head of Valletta’s cultural agency has launched a scathing attack on philanthropist Bjorn Formosa, calling him “shameless” for having criticised the timing of a state-backed fundraiser.
Formosa was diagnosed with motor neurone condition ALS aged 28 and has raised more than €2 million for ALS-focused services in the past two years, having previously donated €100,000 of his own money to the cause. He is currently leading a project to build a second care home for ALS patients, after a first was oversubscribed.
On Friday, Formosa criticised the Malta Community Chest Fund Foundation for having announced a miniature version of annual charity telethon L-Istrina on September 20 – exactly one week before Formosa’s own fundraiser for the second Dar Bjorn is due to take place.
L-Istrina is usually held every year on December 26. The miniature version scheduled for September is intended to shore up donations to the MCCFF, which have reportedly dried up during the coronavirus pandemic.
The timing upset Formosa, who said the long shadow cast by L-Istrina would make it harder for smaller organisations like his to raise money.
“We had announced our date from the start of the year,” Formosa wrote on Facebook, saying the MCCFF announcement had come like a bolt from the blue.
“To add insult to injury, we have been relegated to TVM 2 while you can broadcast freely on TVM as if we were some kind of second class citizens,” he added.
Those comments did not go down well with Jason Micallef, who heads the Valletta Cultural Agency as well as Labour media arm ONE.
“A person must be more than shameless to attack L-Istrina on social media when they themselves benefited and continues to benefit from L-Istrina and the state to the tune of thousands over the years,” Micallef wrote, alluding to Formosa.
The care home which Formosa built and set up, Dar Bjorn in Qormi, has its running costs paid for by the state. Last October, then-prime minister Joseph Muscat had said that running costs for a second Dar Bjorn would also be paid for.
Micallef, who has made headlines in the past for his controversial social media posts, went on to say that Formosa’s criticism was “disrespectful” towards all those who donated money to the MCCFF cause over the years.
Formosa responded by posting a video in which he told followers that aid he received from the MCCFF was stopped abruptly last March “in the middle of the pandemic, leaving me without so much needed support because they said I was receiving government funds”.
All those funds went to Dar Bjorn patients, he said, leaving him with a €3,000 monthly medical bill to pay from his own pocket.
In a subsequent post, he addressed Micallef directly.
“Thank you for your comments Mr Micallef. I forgive you and am always willing to help you”.
He said that he was willing to work with the MCCFF to reach an amicable solution.
"Organisations should help one another. I myself attend L-Istrina each December," he wrote.
Formosa declined to comment further when approached by Times of Malta.
Many of Micallef’s Facebooks followers were not so taciturn – among them Formosa’s wife and mother.
“You call my son shameless,” Formosa’s mother wrote, “when he gave everything to this cause. We do not want to undermine L-Istrina, but a compromise could have been reached on the fundraiser’s date.”
His wife Maria was also leapt to Formosa’s defence.
“[Bjorn] at no point attacked L-Istrina or the MCCF. He condemned the decision to hold the L-Istrina one week before the Dar Bjorn fundraiser. It’s not right to do that, no charity should step on another because it is politically backed,” she wrote.
The MCCFF is overseen by the Office of the President.
Micallef declined to comment further. Attempts to reach the MCCF for comment were unsuccessful.