The former Sliema local council contracts manager, Stephen Buhagiar, was yesterday charged with offending and acting aggressively against a council public official.
Magistrate Jacqueline Padovani heard how Mr Buhagiar, a canvasser of Nationalist MP Robert Arrigo, bluffed about his power in the council when he assaulted the Labour local councillor in charge of road works, Martin Debono.
The incident took place some weeks before Sliema’s Sacred Heart feast in July 2010 when Mr Debono, together with former Sliema mayor Nikki Dimech and Nationalist local councillor Yves Calí made an onsite visit in Rudolph Street, Sliema.
Taking the witness stand, Mr Buhagiar explained that some feast enthusiasts had dug holes to erect flag posts to decorate Rudolph Street for the feast towards the end of March, just after resurfacing road works, worth some €100,000 had been concluded. The holes ruined the street’s permeability and went against the road works guarantee agreement signed.
On 23 March, the three councillors went in Mr Calí’s car to visit the site and see what had been going on and to find out who authorised the digging and whether the workers had any environment authority or transport authority permits.
It transpired that the contracts manager had instructed the feast enthusiasts to dig the holes. When Mr Debono called the accused to confirm, Mr Debono was told not to interfere and that Mr Buhagiar had a verbal permission from the council’s executive secretary, Joe Vella. It turned out that Mr Vella had just been replaced by a new executive secretary, Svetlana Curmi.
After the site visit, the three councillors went to the council premises in Mr Calí’s car. At one point, Mr Buhagiar approached their car, started banging his hands against the car and offended Mr Debono. The councillor went out of the car to speak to the accused, but he was aggressively pushed back. At that point Mr Dimech intervened to calm things down.
“There was no time to argue, he was aggressive. He told me I’m good for nothing, that I’m a zero, rubbish and that I have no power in the council because they (the Nationalists) are in power,” Mr Debono told the court.
Mr Debono added that the accused should have submitted weekly reports on the council’s contracts but it turned out that he never liaised with him regarding roadworks, while being contracts manager.
Mr Debono said he did not file a police report on the incident immediately because he was aware that Mr Buhagiar had just been dismissed from his job and Mr Debono did not want to cause him further trouble. He eventually learned that the accused had attacked another councillor, Edward Cuschieri, and decided to inform the police about his behaviour.
Some days after the incident, the accused was fired after the local council passed a motion in favour of his dismissal. His discharge stirred confusion in the local council and triggered a process which led to former mayor Nikki Dimech being accused of alleged bribery and ousted from the Nationalist Party to make way for a new mayor, Joanna Gonzi, following another council motion. The court asked the prosecution to submit a copy of the council minutes to determine the dates when the alleged incident took place and to determine whether the holes were dug on the pavement on the street’s edges and whether there were any flag pole holes before the street was resurfaced.
Mr Dimech’s and Mr Calí’s version of events corroborated what Mr Debono said.
Inspector Jesmond Micallef prosecuted.