Home Affairs Minister Carmelo Abela said that former PL Deputy Leader candidate Clyde Joe Cassar, employed at the Human Resources department of the Agency for the Welfare of Asylum Seekers (AWAS) under the Home Affairs Ministry, has no criminal record.
Asked point blank by this newspaper yesterday, Mr Abela said that Mr Cassar had no criminal record, yet a judgement in 2012 saw him plead guilty to forgery. Mr Cassar was given a two-year suspended jail sentence and a general interdiction which “disqualifies the person sentenced from any public office or employment, generally” as stated in the criminal code.
The story first surfaced on Daphne Caruana Galizia’s blog.
When asked yesterday morning whether Mr Cassar should hold such a position given the suspended sentence, the Minister said – “I’m told that he had presented all his documents when he was going to be employed, and through the documents this is not what happened. From all the documents provided, there was no kind of criminal record”.
Pressed about the suspended sentence, the Minister said – “I’m saying this from the information passed on to me this morning (Tuesday). I was not aware prior to this, however following a (blog) report I asked for details. They assured me that the procedure, which I am still verifying was followed. However the person who I want to ask for more information is currently sick. Prima Facie, all procedures seem to have been observed and he was also employed somewhere else with a definite contract. He was then employed here and when the documents were requested it did not show what (the blog report) said happened”.
Contacted later for clarification, the Minister explained that he received an email stating that the interdiction was revoked and the judgement was changed, however he had not seen the second judgement himself.
This newsroom called a number of sources, who confirmed that Mr Cassar was given a suspended sentence by the courts back in 2012.
He had contested the Labour Party deputy leadership back in 2008, however lost out to incumbent Toni Abela. He worked as an immigration officer, and was found guilty of forgery back in 2012 after he pleaded guilty before the courts.The case revolved around an Egyptian man, who the court had heard needed to return to his country for an operation. Cassar, in that judgement, admitted that he had played his part in forging a passport stamp, and received a two-year jail term suspended for four years. He had also been charged with committing a crime when he was a public officer.
This newsroom also found the notice published on the Government Gazette published on May 7 2013, stating that the general perpetual interdiction order given by the Court in its judgement of the December 16 2012 against the said Clyde Joe Cassar was revoked by the Court of Magistrates (Malta) as a Court of Criminal Judicature (Magistrate Gabriella Vella who also gave the original court sentence). The notice quoted the following as the reason – “Interdiction, whether for life or for a stated time, may, upon the application of the person sentenced to such punishment and on good grounds being shown to the satisfaction of the court by which the sentence was awarded, be discontinued at any time by order of the said court”.