Gozo Channel’s cafeteria theft racket had become 'addictive'

A former Gozo Channel employee who worked on board the vessels' cafeterias told the management last year that the theft racket had been going on for the last 12 years, with the "criminal acts being passed on to new employees".

The case only surfaced in court in May when nine Gozitan employees, some of whom had been employed with the company for as many as seven years, pleaded guilty to the theft charges. It is believed that at least €500,000 were stolen over six years.

These workers' contracts have now been terminated.

In a statement a female employee gave to the company's management in July of last year, she revealed the "criminal acts were passed on to other new employees who joined the company during the last 12 years".

"I had never been involved in such criminal acts but I entered a circle of criminal nature from which I could not get out," the unnamed employee told Gozo Channel.

The worker had been caught red-handed stealing from one of the cafeterias. During the company's investigation she insisted her actions "were part of a racket which involves a large number of cafeteria employees".

She claimed that employees solicited each other to verify the amount of sales so that sales are kept within a unified parameter.

Read the full report in Illum