GRTU officials cautious after damning testimony

Paul Abela has defended his presidency of the retailers’ lobby group GRTU in the wake of allegations that he tampered with evidence in the Sandro Chetcuti case. Mr Abela would not comment on the ongoing case but insisted he had done nothing wrong throughout his presidency of the Chamber for Small and Medium Enterprises, GRTU, that warranted his resignation. “I am an elected president and the members will have the opportunity to judge me in January when my seat on the council will be subject to an election,” he said. Mr Chetcuti, an ex-GRTU mem­ber, is charged with assaulting the organisation’s director general Vince Farrugia in March 2010. The court on Monday heard a prosecution witness change her version of events, saying she had lied under oath. The witness, Sylvia Gauci, admitted she had not seen the assault. She alleged that Mr Farrugia, Mr Abela and GRTU officials Philip Fenech and Joe Attard had met other employees to decide what to tell the police in their official statements. The testimony, which the defence backed up with text messages sent by Mr Farrugia, raised question marks on the credibility of the GRTU’s top officials. But GRTU council members contacted yesterday...