Gharb mayor re-elected after resigning over usury charges

David Agius Apap has been re-elected mayor of Għarb's local council, afetr havign last resigned from the post he held uninterruptedly for the past sixteen years, in December 2013.

Apap Agius was arraigned in court in February, facing charges of usury and money-laundering.

In a short statement sent to the press back in December 2013, Apap Agius said he was resigning from mayor and from the Nationalist Party, to keep his seat as an independent councillor.

It was only on 3 March, 2014, that a new mayor - Louis Apap - was appointed after the resignation of Apap Agius. But Apap Agius has now resigned his post a mere month after taking office.

He was re-elected by four votes in favour, while one Labour councillor, Emanuel Muscat, abstained.

“In light of recent articles which appeared in the media, I am resigning to defend better my case and refrain from tarnishing my party’s reputation. Allegations which were made by a person acting in a malicious way aimed to bring me down,” Apap Agius said in the statement.

Investigations in to the case of usury started in 2006 and went on for three years. The sums of money involved allegedly amount to hundreds of thousands. The usury victim had to reportedly change his place of residence in the past months, after he received several threats to drop the charges against Apap Agius.

In March 2013, the councillors elected were Apap Agius, Emanuel Muscat, Lisa Marie Brooke, Carmen Vella and Louis Apap.