Zammit Dimech exonerated of involuntary homicide charges

A Court has today dismissed involuntary homicide charges brought against opposition MP Francis Zammit Dimech.

He was among eight people facing charges of involuntary homicide of a Latvian man who died during the construction of a hotel in Mellieha in 2012.

In reaction, the PN called on Prime Minister Joseph Muscat to apologise to the former minister, accusing him of instigating division and resorting to dirty tactics.

The opposition said that for three months, Muscat and the Labour media “embarked on a character assassination campaign” against Zammit Dimech.

It added that Muscat went as afar as calling for Zammit Dimech’s resignation.

Zammit Dimech was charged in his capacity as a former director of Seabank Hotel and Catering Limited and in today's sitting a visibly emotional MP fought back tears as he was absolved of responsibility for the worker's death.

Seabank Hotel owner Silvio Debono and CEO Arthur Gauci were also found to have no case to answer to with regards to all charges. Giannella De Marco, MarioDe Marco and Michael Sciriha were their lawyers.

However, B&B Construction owner Angelo Bartolo, B&B Holdings and Investments general manager Etienne Bartolo, structural engineer Pierre Farrugia, architect Robert Sant and Rueben Gatt are facing indictment.

Unlike the contractors, Farrugia, Sant and Gatt did not contest the prima facie case.

In her judgment exonerating Zammit Dimech and the other directors, Magistrate Doreen Clarke held that while there appeared to be a case to answer with regards Architects Sant, Gatt and Farrugia and the contractors, voluntary negligent conduct did not appear to have been proved with regards to the Seabank Hotel directors.

The court held that, "on the basis of the evidence, there did not appear to be a causal link between the directors and the death of Artamonovs" because there was no apparent involvement of the directors of the two companies in the decisions which led to the fatal collapse.

The MP is no longer a director and legal representative of Seabank Hotel and Catering Ltd after resigning his post upon being appointed foreign affairs minister in January 2013. He had been appointed director two years earlier.

27-year old Maksims Artamonovs was the only victim of the tragic incident in which he was crushed beneath a mound of rubble. The Latvian man’s body was recovered 24 hours after the collapse following an 18-hour search guided by sniffer dogs. He was dismantling scaffolding in a newly built car park beneath a wooden dome-like structure, which was to become a nightclub.

Artamonovs – who was employed by B&B Construction – was his family’s sole breadwinner, supporting his mother, sister and her young daughter, who all lived in Latvia where he was ultimately buried.