Footage lands St Paul’s Bay councillor in hot water

Updated at 7pm: adds Mr Vella's reaction Video footage showing St Paul’s Bay local councillor Joseph Vella in a compromising situation at his former place of work has been confirmed as “original” by his former employers, The Sunday Times of Malta has confirmed. After receiving the anonymous footage showing Mr Vella opening cash tills and taking money at his workplace, this newspaper made contact with the local councillor’s employer at the time to verify the originality of the footage. A spokesman for Valyou supermarket in Mellieħa, formerly known as Shoppers, confirmed the footage was taken by a CCTV system at their premises. “The footage you are referring to is original and we can confirm that following that episode Mr Vella is no longer employed by us,” the spokesman said. Asked whether the St Paul’s Bay local councillor was sacked, the spokesman said: “We did not sack him but forced him to resign. This is how we normally deal with employees caught stealing,” he said. This newspaper is informed that Mr Vella, elected as member of the St Paul’s Bay local council on the Nationalist Party ticket in 2015, was employed as an assistant manager at Mellieħa’s Shoppers supermarket and...