Luqa council secretary presented forged receipt

Earlier this summer, the Labour-led Luqa local council was investigated over claims of misappropriation of public funds by the Internal Audit and Investigations department within the Office of the Prime Minister,

Last Sunday, sister newspaper Illum revealed that mayor John Schembri had signed a cheque for the sum of €4,720, thinking that it was a payment for patching works done in the locality by a private company. However, it transpired that Michael Borg, the former council executive secretary, had written down his own name in the recipient field instead of the name of the company which allegedly did the works.

MaltaToday can now reveal that the invoice presented to the Mayor in receipt of the payment, had also been forged.

The owner of the company, whose name cannot be mentioned, insists that not only had he not done any work for the locality in 2008, but he had never issued such an invoice in the same year.

The owner said that he has already been called to testify in court about the case.

Last Sunday, sister newspaper Illum revealed how the investigation began when a Nationalist councillor requested a copy of the petty cash statement which Borg, who retired earlier this year, refused to produce. 

This aroused suspicion, whereupon Mayor informed the departments concerned.

Pressed by Illum, Schembri last week admitted to having signing the €4,720 cheque without the name of the recipient. He said that Borg had approached him with the invoice and asked him to sign the cheque and the payment voucher, so any pending payments to the concerned company could be closed.

Schembri claims that up until the alleged fraud case had emerged in public, he had had complete trust in his executive secretary.

“Borg used to assure me that everything was as it should be,” Schembri told Illum. “However, the fact that he did not want to produce a summary of the petty cash alarmed me and so I had to report it.”

The investigation carried out by the Internal Audit had found discrepancies in the receipts for payments which were covered by the council’s petty cash. There were also discrepancies in other council receipts and in cash paid by the council for certain services rendered but which were not covered by receipts.

The allegations of financial irregularities and misappropriation of public funds date back to 2007, and run into thousands of euros.

In other media it was revealed that when questioned, Borg had denied taking any money and said the cash had been used to cover expenses incurred by members of the local council.

Director of Local Government Martin Bugelli confirmed that the investigation report has since been passed on to the Attorney General for further possible criminal action.