Contractor-turned-whistleblower Joe Cauchi claimed in court today that Nationalist Party leader Simon Busuttil asked him whether he was aware that the PN would not be re-elected in 2013 when he discussed the alleged works-for-votes scandal involving the husband of former Gozo Minister Giovanna Debono.

Anthony Debono, a 59-year-old Nadur resident, is pleading not guilty to a total of 13 charges, including misappropriation of public funds, fraud, abuse of power, falsification of documents, making false declarations, committing crimes he was duty bound to prevent and preventing people from giving evidence.

As the officer-in-charge of the Gozo Ministry's Construction and Maintenance Unit (CMU), he is accused of being involved in a works-for-votes operation, through which the resources of the ministry were being used to carry out works for the benefit of individual constituents.

The allegations first surfaced on MaltaToday, which reported that a contractor - subsequently identified as Għarb resident Joe Cauchi, known as is-Sansun - claimed to be owed money for such private works and availed himself of the provisions of the Protection of the Whistleblower Act to lift the lid on the scheme. While other contractors were reported to have corroborated his claim, prosecuting inspector Ian Abdilla said, last week, that this was not the case.

Insp. Abdilla and fellow prosecuting inspector Rennie Stivala had testified in previous sittings, and the former was extensively cross-examined by defence counsel Joe Giglio last week.

It was Mr Cauchi's turn to testify before Magistrate Neville Camilleri in today's sitting, and he is accompanied by his lawyer Robert Abela.

After Insp. Abdilla presented the whistleblower's certificate, Mr Cauchi said that he has been working as a contractor since 1996, and that his brother and a few other people worked with him. He worked under the name Joe Cauchi Developments until 2006; since then he simply uses his name.

He said that he knew Mr Debono ever since he took over from Paul Lanzon at the helm of the CMU, noting that the first letter of acceptance he received from the accused dated back to July 2004.

Matter discussed with Simon Busuttil, Chris Said

Mr Cauchi recounted contacting the Gozo Ministry about the money he was owed, but also noted that before he did so, he spoke to Nationalist Party leader Simon Busuttil at his office in the party's headquarters in Pieta'. He also spoke to outgoing secretary-general Chris Said, and sent a document concerning payments to opposition whip David Agius.

Mr Debono made two payments to Mr Cauchi without an accompanying letter of acceptance, leading Mr Cauchi to question why the rest could not be settled. He ultimately emailed the chief of the ministry's Works Department, Joseph Portelli, over the money he was owed.

When asked why he sent this email, Mr Cauchi noted that he had frequently called the defendant to ask about the money he was owed, only to be told that things would be sorted out when possible.

"And time passed... keep in mind that this was work without a contract, irregular work (xogħol ta' taħwid)," he remarked.

Mr Cauchi said that Mr Debono would come to his house once a year - usually in December or February - bringing the necessary documentation to allow him to draw up the invoices to be paid for the irregular work he carried out.

A series of false invoices

Mr Cauchi presented some 70 invoices which he claimed were part of the works-for-votes scam, identifying Mr Debono's handwriting in them.

In reply to questions by Insp. Abdilla, he went through these invoices project by project: 22 irregular projects had been flagged by the prosecution.

The first invoice - covering 16 hours of works at Tal-Kunjat, Żebbuġ (Gozo) at Lm6 an hour - paved the way for things to come, with Mr Cauchi stating that these works had been made up to pay for other works.

As he went over the next invoice - 14 hours of works at Tal-Ħamra Road in Żebbuġ - Mr Cauchi said that he did not even know where this road was. Another invoice presented covered work using a high-up crane, which he had not used.

After being presented yet another invoice, Mr Cauchi said that "this work did not happen as written here. I did carry out work, but somewhere else."

Similar exchanges between Mr Cauchi and Insp. Abdilla followed as the whistleblower repeatedly confirmed that the invoices shown to him did not accurately reflect the work he had carried out, but simply served to allow him to be paid for it.

On a number of occasions, Mr Cauchi noted that the invoices lacked detail, including a lack of dates and invoices for the "hire of trucks" which did not specify where the trucks were needed.

As a result, he could not confirm whether he had carried out the works in question. But there were cases in which Mr Cauchi had actually carried out the work invoiced, a fact highlighted by Dr Giglio.

On one case, the laying of 20 truckloads of concrete near the Fontana fireworks factory in the limits of Għarb - which exploded in 2012, killing four people - he highlighted that the works were carried out close to the 2009 European Parliament election.

Once Mr Cauchi went through the lot, the topic turned to the allegedly irregular works.

Mr Cauchi had been questioned by the police on 1 April, after he received protection as a whistleblower. The next day, he accompanied the prosecuting inspectors on a tour of the areas in which the works were carried out.

Dispute between Għarb mayor and minister delayed payments

The first project in the list was works at the Għarb football ground - which is on public land devolved to the Għarb local council - work which took place in 2006 for which Mr Cauchi is yet to be paid.

After Mr Cauchi described the work, Insp. Abdilla questioned why he could not issue false invoices on this project as he had done for other work he carried out.

Mr Cauchi then emphasised that it was up to Mr Debono to choose which projects to settle when he visited him to draw up invoices, and that he never addressed this and other Għarb projects.

In this case, he revealed after swearing he was telling the truth, the problem was that Mr Debono and Għarb mayor David Apap Agius were involved in a dispute.

He said that Mr Apap Agius had been Ms Debono's canvasser, but that following an argument between the two parties, he ended up canvassing for Dr Said instead. As a result, he added, Mr Debono found it difficult to contact the mayor.

The claims drew chuckles from Ms Debono and her daughter, who attended the sitting.

As he moved on to the next project on the list - works on the 5-a-side football ground at the Għarb primary school - Mr Cauchi confirmed that he had never paid for concrete on CMU projects.

Mr Cauchi was also involved in the setting up of a platform in Wied Ġulja, to allow a statue commissioned by a member of the Għarb village feast committee to be displayed there.

He said that on this project, Mr Debono's involvement was limited: the Għarb mayor had specified what work was to be carried out, although the CMU supplied the material.

But when he sought payment from the Għarb local council, he received a letter from Mr Apap Agius' lawyer in which the mayor denied commissioning the work, even though he did not deny that Mr Cauchi carried it out.

Once more, he referred to the laying of a concrete to surface a road leading to the Għarb fireworks factory. He recounted being told to carry out this work quickly, as the family running the factory was not intending to vote in the coming elections.

Free work for Gozitans, but not foreigners

The next project was the laying of a concrete "parking area" outside an Għarb farmhouse.

In this case, unusually, the farmhouse's owner, identified as Brigita, paid him for labour, even though the concrete was supplied by the CMU.

Insp. Abdilla asked why the woman was invoiced in this case, and Mr Cauchi replied that Mr Debono wanted Gozitans to receive such works free of charge.

But in this case, the woman was a German national, so Mr Cauchi said that he was free to bill her for labour. This, he said, enabled him to recover some of the costs at a time when the amount owed to him was increasing.

The next project concerned works on a privately-owned wall in a rural part of Għarb. In this case, he said, the owner was Gozitan, so he was not invoiced.

Mr Cauchi also confirmed carrying out work on a ramp leading to a field elsewhere in his hometown, close to the Ta' Pinu church. The farmer the field belonged died there in 2013, when the tractor he was in overturned and crushed him as he was driving down a slope.

Election day project

Another project involved the laying on concrete on a ramp leading to a field in the limits of Żebbuġ, close to the locality's cemetery, work which took place on 9 March, 2013 - when the last general election took place. This ramp had already been surfaced with concrete, but the owner claimed that it caused flooding problems.

"I question whether this work needed to be done, concrete on concrete, but the owner insisted..." he said.

Next on the list was work to connect an Għasri home owned by a certain Renance to the sewer mains, but the project was botched as the mains they were connected to were actually private ones used by Gozo Farmhouses. Mr Debono, he said, mentioned that this work was being done as a favour, although he stressed that this did not mean that he was doing the work free of charge.

Last week, the defence had claimed that another project - the laying of concrete in an unregistered road in Fontana, aimed to prevent the flooding of underlying fields, rather than help serve garages as the prosecution claimed. But when asked about it, Mr Cauchi said that he was never told about any flooding problems.

Reservoir for CMU employee

The marathon sitting was suspended for 15 minutes before Insp. Abdilla moved on to another project, the widening of a bridge in Wied il-Lunzjata, which the prosecution claims was done to benefit a particular landowner.

Another aborted project followed: the planned construction of a passage through the Kerċem school grounds to provide access to privately-owned fields, a project which was stopped following the change in government. Works had started in February 2013, but after the general election, he received a call from a ministry official questioning what was happening.

Other works discussed included the dismantling of a wall - and related excavation works - on the wall of a farmhouse owned by a certain David Portelli, the owner of the Brookie's restaurant in Victoria. Mr Cauchi was not involved in the construction of a new wall, stating that he was not certain who carried out the work. He said that he was never tasked with working on the realignment on the adjacent street, as the defence had claimed last week.

Mr Cauchi was also tasked with working on the development of a wine cellar at Brookie's Restaurant, stating that Mr Debono had tasked him with carrying out the work. Mr Debono did not explain why the work was required.

Another project on the list was work on a privately-owned reservoir in the limits of Qala, and Mr Cauchi said that this land belonged to a certain George who worked at the CMU.

He testified that someone else had carried out excavations for this reservoir before he got involved, but the work was somewhat haphazard.

So in 2005, Mr Cauchi said, Mr Debono asked him to sort the project out. He went on site, and the excavations took place according to George's specification.

Debono's 'very good friend'

Last on the list were works on a quarry owned by a certain Sammy Camilleri, who Mr Cauchi described as a very good friend of Mr Debono. Mr Debono, he said, helped Mr Camilleri on a lot of things.

In this case, he said, he was variously tasked to carry out works by Mr Camilleri and Mr Debono, but said that Mr Camilleri expected Mr Debono to finance the works through the CMU.

The works Mr Cauchi was tasked with carrying out include excavation work on Mr Camilleri's quarry and the laying out of sewer pipes apparently provided by the CMU. He said that Mr Debono was not happy with Mr Camilleri's impositions.

Mr Cauchi's men also carried out excavation works to prepare for the construction of a dovecote in land owned by Mr Camilleri in Wied il-Mielaħ, limits of Għarb.

Mr Cauchi did note that he had invoiced Mr Camilleri for other work he carried out over the years for him.

Payments made through personal funds

When he was asked on the money he was owed, Mr Cauchi acknowledged that there had been an error in his calculations which he discovered in recent days, but confirmed that he was still owed €34,995, excluding VAT and excluding the cash payments made by Mr Debono. He said that he had been paid a total of €45,000, and that he was paid in full for works carried out before 2006.

He was then asked about the payments Mr Debono made, and said that the accused paid a visit to his home on February 2014, and paid him €10,000 in cash. Mr Debono, he said, told him not to speak about what happened, as there were other contractors in a similar position he still had to pay.

Mr Debono paid another visit to Mr Cauchi last December, and once more paid him €10,000 in cash.

This time round, Mr Debono told him that he was paying him out of pocket, using money that was meant to go to his children. Mr Debono, he said, lamented that it was not fair that he had to pay for all the work while the Għarb mayor paid nothing, even though much of the work was for his benefit.

He clarified that as a result, he was still owed €14,995, going up to €18,595 including VAT.

After a second 15-minute break, Mr Cauchi was asked why he felt he should involve himself in such practices, and he said that he did so as there was a long line of people seeking such work, and that if he did not involve himself, someone else would get the work.

 'Didn't you know we would not be re-elected?'

Before cross-examination by Dr Giglio begun, Mr Cauchi once more went over his meetings with PN officials, including Dr Busuttil.

He said that he communicated with PN whip David Agius by email, and that after he sent him information, Mr Agius told him that he would investigate and get back to him. However, no other emails were sent by the MP.

Mr Cauchi also claimed that Dr Busuttil questioned why he continued carrying out works for Mr Debono as the general election was nearing, going over the point in more detail during cross-examination.

Dr Giglio asked Mr Cauchi to explain how he came forward with his claims, and the contractor confirmed that the motivating factor was the money that he was owed.

Mr Cauchi said that the Gozo Ministry told him that this was a whistleblower case, and that while Gozo Minister Anton Refalo did not involve himself when he met ministry officials, he revealed all the details he said in court today.

The lawyer also asked a number of questions concerning his meeting with Dr Busuttil, stating that during this meeting, the PN leader passed a remark that was "not that good," in his words.

"In all sincerity, he asked 'why did you keep doing these works in the end, didn't you know that we weren't going to be re-elected'," he said.

In reply to another question, Mr Cauchi said that the false invoices were brought up in his meeting with Dr Busuttil, although he could not state whether he went into detail. Dr Busuttil, he said, also noted that he was not in government when the alleged irregularities took place.

Mr Cauchi also confirmed that after his status as a whistleblower was confirmed, no one spoke to him about the matter until the police called him for questioning.

Defence questions prosecution's proof, Attorney General's role

Magistrate Camilleri is set to decide whether to put Mr Debono under a bill of indictment in the next sitting, which will take place next Tuesday.

Before the sitting was concluded, however, Dr Giglio made a statement in which he said that the defence would not contest this and explained why.

He said that in the defence's opinion, there was not even enough prima facie evidence to meet the grade necessary to place the defendant under a bill of indictment, and said that the fact that Mr Debono was constrained to go through the compilation of evidence prejudiced his case.

Dr Giglio also said that he would request the Police Commissioner to present a copy of the police file to the defence.

But the lawyer also argued that the Attorney General's dual role as the official responsible for prosecution as well as the issuance of a whistleblower's certificate created a serious conflict of interest, and that this seriously prejudiced his client, particularly since the motivation behind the decision to issue the certificate could not be made known to the defence.

He highlighted that a court has already ruled that such a conflict of interest violated people's right to a fair hearing, and said that the defence was reserving the right to take all necessary steps to address it.

Insp. Abdilla subsequently noted that the prosecution objected to handing over the police file, pointing out that the only details which the defence had no access to was the testimony of those who would be testifying at a later stage.

He also insisted that Dr Giglio's remarks were an insult to the court, deeming them a declaration made for the benefit of the journalists present.

Magistrate Camilleri gave the Attorney General's Office 48 hours to address the defence's claims, before putting off the case to next Tuesday.