Former FTS boss says minister knew of aide’s wrongdoing for a long time

Education Minister Evarist Bartolo accepted the resignation of Philip Rizzo as chief executive officer of the Foundation for Tomorrow’s Schools (FTS), while strongly denying Rizzo’s claims of a cover-up.

In a statement issued Friday, the Education Ministry said that in his resignation letter, Rizzo had accused Bartolo of failing to report cases involving allegations of corruption.

In his damning resignation letter, Rizzo accused Bartolo of not telling the truth, knowing about wrongdoing by his person of trust for a long time and trying to dissuade him from formally reporting that wrongdoing. "He repeatedly attempted to dissuade me from formalising my discovery of serious multiple wrongdoings (committed primarily by a member of your own family)... [Mr Bartolo] has known the true reasons since the last week of April 2016, and he repeatedly attempted to dissuade me from formalising my discovery of serious multiple wrongdoings (committed primarily by a member of your own family) until the last day of August 2016,” Rizzo told permanent secretary Joseph Caruana.

Stating that he has lost all trust in the Education Ministry headed by Bartolo, he wrote: “I have since come to the sad conclusions that the differences of ethics and appreciation and application of the law between myself and yourselves is unable to change through time, making it impossible for me to remain in the position of CEO of the FTS.”

The FTS ‘scandal’ hit the news on November 13 when MaltaToday announced Rizzo’s resignation. Edward Caruana, the brother of Joseph Caruana and a canvassar of Evarist Bartolo, was already in the news earlier this year following claims by a Gozitan contractor, Giovann Vella, who said he had asked for a €30,000 bribe in order to release some payments owed to him on works related to an extension of the Gozo sixth form.

In his letter, Bartolo categorically denied the accusations and pointed out that Rizzo had been given “full independence as to how to carry out the necessary reforms at FTS, including the transfer of personnel”.

The minister said there was no basis to Rizzo’s remarks that there was pressure to stop him from making  formal reports.

The letter Bartolo sent to Rizzo was also copied to the Commission against Corruption, the Internal Audit and Investigations Department and the Police Commissioner.

In a statement, Emanuel Camilleri, chairperson of the FTS strongly denied that he blocked any report being filed with the police.

He claimed that, on the contrary, he had written to Rizzo on 1 September 2016 to instruct him to take any action deemed necessary in light of the allegations.

Camilleri said he had always acted with integrity when approached with alleged wrongdoing.

"From day one action has been taken through the preparation of a strategic plan which has been formulated with the goal of strengthening various audit controls related to the financial and procurement regulations at FTS," the statement read.