GRTU rebellion was final push to oust Vince Farrugia

The long-serving director-general of the Chamber of SMEs (GRTU) Vince Farrugia faced an internal rebellion from the executive council, which ended up with his resignation in a somewhat acrimonious manner.

Although Farrugia, 69, had already made clear his intention to step down as GRTU director earlier in January, it was a final push from GRTU president Paul Abela that on Monday saw the council "unanimously thank" - as the GRTU's press statement read - Farrugia for his service.

But various sources privy to the council's meeting all gave similar accounts of the way Farrugia faced accusations of accountability and other questions related to a successor best suited to lead the GRTU.

One source said Farrugia was questioned over the reimbursement of airline tickets and hotel reservations for his regular travel to Brussels, where he represents the GRTU on the European Economic and Social Committee.

But Farrugia yesterday denied to MaltaToday that he had been placed on the spot about the matter. "I claim a per diem allowance from the EESC that is then used to pay my travel and accommodation throughout my stay in Brussels. I book and collect the tickets myself, and the questions over whether the GRTU was reimbursing the same arrangements were totally uninformed," Farrugia said.

He also played down allegations raised by some council members over a "less than judicious" use of the GRTU's credit card facilities.

"You know how it works: when you're on business you don't think twice about how you're using the card when you're meeting up with other business people. Paul Abela and myself used the same facility."

Farrugia also defended himself against claims that the GRTU's accounts were a "closed affair" to the rest of the council, which demanded more auditing.

"We already have an internal audit and financial management team. Personally, I have no problem with carrying out any audit of the GRTU accounts."

Farrugia was not present for the entire meeting of the GRTU executive council that discussed his succession, which was preceded by an animated discussion with Farrugia present.

Farrugia did confirm that he has asked for a severance payment that will amount to at least one month for each of his 20 years. "I have a contract with the GRTU, and unless you work the contract to the end, there are severance considerations in such cases as this."

Farrugia earned over €38,000, a reliable GRTU source told MaltaToday yesterday.

Farrugia had little to say about the role played by Paul Abela throughout the meeting, where one council member was said to have pointed out that the GRTU director had "attracted unwarranted attention" and that he was not even liked by the present administration.

"Look, I'm not a young person," Farrugia told MaltaToday. "Paul Abela is the president and it's him who leads these meetings. In the past 20 years I built up this organisation to what it is today. But if critics start kicking at the leader when he is down... well, you know how it is, it's what they did to Pope Benedict," Farrugia said.

"Everyone was asking if I was going to be absent from the GRTU for another winter, since I will be working in the EESC, and I agreed that there was need for a successor." Farrugia will still represent the GRTU in the EESC.

A possible successor for his post, which is that of the GRTU's 'chief executive', could be Philip Fenech, another long-serving member of the GRTU council. Fenech commented back in 2009, when Farrugia was running for MEP, that if elected Farrugia would have to give up his post. "He would be very committed if elected as an MEP, and he will not be able to continue working on the day-to-day running of the organisation."

Rise and fall of Vince

Farrugia, formerly a Nationalist candidate for the European Parliament elections in 2009, was a redoubtable leader of the small business community in Malta, fronting the anti-VAT opposition in 1996 that was partly responsible for the Labour electoral victory of that year. But the dampened economic times of the Alfred Sant administration reintegrated him into the Nationalist stream, especially with the GRTU's support of EU accession.

Farrugia was a forceful speaker for small business, whose influence could sway the opinion of a crucial number of voters. The Nationalist government courted him, but Labour mistrusted him. As one GRTU council member, Mario Debono, stated, "The mutual, sometimes visceral, dislike between Alfred Sant and Vince Farrugia... persists up to this day."

One of his former supporters - construction developer Sandro Chetcuti - lauded Farrugia as a "second Mintoff" on account of his extraordinary negotiating skills. But in 2009, an aggravated quarrel inside the GRTU offices between Farrugia and Chetcuti led to charges of attempted murder filed against Chetcuti, then a vice-president of the GRTU.

But the court case revealed insalubrious details of the way witness accounts and even evidence could have been manipulated. Two medical experts appointed by the court put into doubt the evidence of radiologist Anthony Samuel - revealed in court to have dated Farrugia's daughter in the past - on the type of injuries Farrugia suffered when he was assaulted by Chetcuti.

Other witnesses disputed Farrugia's version of events, in terms of the way he was assaulted by Chetcuti, leading to the Attorney General downgrading the initial attempted charge to that of grievous bodily harm.

And SMS messages displayed in court by Chetcuti's defence team showed how Farrugia was in contact with other GRTU members, asking them to influence Malta Independent columnist Daphne Caruana Galizia to undermine Chetcuti in her personal blog. While Caruana Galizia obliged with a less-than-flattering portrait of Chetcuti and his Labour allegiance, it was ironically the selfsame blogger who, in February 2009, implored her readers not to vote for Farrugia in the European elections: "Not only an opportunist, but greedy with it. He's going to hang onto to his GRTU salary even when he's doing a full-time job in Brussels."